CD REVIEW: Gadji-Gadjo fires up party with a gypsy flair

By Diana Nollen

The liner notes are in French but the music is universal.

 “Sur le Toit des Voisins (Neighbors on the Roof)” is a wild spin through gypsy and klezmer music that stirs the soul and rouses your inner beat to action.

Gadji-Gadjo, a collection of six musicians from Montreal, puts new spins on Old World traditions on its second CD. The result is a nonstop party that will raise any roof.

The spirit of the CD is translated into English on the liner notes, musing about how nice it would be to create green roofs, growing flowers and vegetables there, and adding a final ingredient of music. “Roofs around the world alive with sounds, smells and festivities, so that the best place to be would be ... Your neighbor's roof.”

Whether gathering on a roof or around a fire, all 13 cuts on this CD would fuel the festivities.

The first cut, “Sher Evreiskii Nardinii Tanets,” kicks it all off with a Ukrainian fervor, before quieting the mood with solo a cappella vocal oohs on “Perds-Pas Ta Langue!” The other musicians chime in to create an eerie tone before unleashing some blistering horn and something akin to vocal percussion.

Accordion, blazing violin, clarinet and bass clarinet stream through the rest of the album, complementing each other in surprising ways. One of the prettiest cuts is “Reverie Ephemere,” with delicate glockenspiel plinking merrily through the dream state.

“Allegro Diabolico” changes the mood with its bombastic flair before coming back to the album's gypsy roots on “Bihav Haitshito Ande Phuv.” This song livens things with its joyous hand-clapping section, skittering clarinet and strong percussive backbeat.

Most appropriately right now is “Gargantuburlesque,” which sounds very much like circus music. Ironically, accordion player and band leader Melanie Bergeron, who wrote the song, also performed with another band on the Cirque du Soleil album “Corteo.”

So circus fans can see Cirque du Soleil's shows this weekend at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids and head down Third Street SE to see Bergeron's band in action Sunday night at CSPS.

FAST TAKEInformation: www.legionarts.org/music/Gadji.htm or www.gadji-gadjo.com

Title: “Sur le Toit des Voisins (Neighbors On the Roof)”

Artist: Gadji-Gadjo

Label: Outside Music for Mange Ta Main! Productions

Performance: 7 p.m. Sunday, March 14, 2010, at CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $14 at www.Midwestix.com or $18 at the door