Csaba Toth Bagi Release Concert

The NY Gypsy Festival presents Csaba Toth Bagi, Which Way East & Electric Balkan Junkyard

The NY Gypsy Festival celebrates its seventh year with another outstanding performance schedule and a total of nine shows from Sept 9 – 29, 2011. 15 artists from Macedonia, Spain, Turkey, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, UK, US and Canada display the spirit of the Gypsy diaspora, tenacity and vivaciousness at Drom in September.

Festival Passes discounted! $25 for 7 shows -> Apply code "gypsy91211" to redeem your discount here

Find out more on the offical NY Gypsy Festival website

Please join us for this special night of Balkan Fusion, Jazz and Blues at the NY Gypsy Festival.

featuring
Csaba TothBagi Quartet - 9pm
led by Hungarian jazz guitarist Csaba with a band of musicians straight out of Serbia, Hungary and Macedonia weaving their own electric fusion of traditional folk with blues, jazz, and rock.

Come out and support them for their premier US gig with Csaba's original compositions and traditional interpretations

with
Which Way East Quartet - 8pm
featuring the phenomenal voice of Eva Primack and violinist Jesse Kotansky with accordion and guitar/tambura/our

&

Jordan Shapiro's Electric Balkan Junkyard - 10:30pm
playing the Balkan dance hits you've come to love but in an entirely new way, on Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes and
electric guitar with electric bass and drum kit - yes!

Csaba Toth Bagi (Serbia/Hungary)

Guitarist and singer Csaba Toth Bagi has been a fixture of the Hungarian music scene since his teenage years, well known for his powerful voice and his soulful and technically brilliant guitar playing. His rootsy blues and jazz style is greatly influenced by his Balkan upbringing, his Hungarian musical education and his years touring internationally with renowned guitarist Al Di Meola. Raised in Serbia in a family of musicians who later settled in southern Hungary in 1993 during the Yugoslavian war. Csaba recorded his first blues album at the age of 16. Other new albums followed including “A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix” and “Nelkuled (Without You),” a melodic collection of vocal compositions influenced by traditional Hungarian style with a pop delivery.   Csaba has been touring and performing throughout Eastern Europe with his bands which often include traditional Gypsy instrumentalists. In 2004, his trio CsaboWabo was chosen to represent Hungary at the Jazz in the Park European Union Exhibition and Festival in Bangkok, Thailand. Additionally he worked with Ennio Morricone as musical director and guitar player at the National Theatre and Open Air Theatre of Szeged, Hungary. Currently Csaba is finishing his latest project of original compositions combining traditional Macedonian, Serbian and Hungarian melodies and rhythms into a jazz structure. The project has excited the attention of US jazz musicians Al Di Meola, Dave Weckl, Ernie Adams and Butch Thomas; Cuban percussionist Gumbi Ortiz; Italian accordionist Fausto Beccalossi and Macedonian keyboard player Vasil Hadzimanov, who have all added their own personal style to this unique fusion recording.

Official Website

Which Way East

The goal of Which Way East is to explore the connections between Balkan traditional music and the contemporary music scene of New York City. From Plovdiv to Kingston, from cocek rhythms to stepper's beats, Which Way East speaks a musical dialect that is as comfortable in the concert hall as it is in the club and folk dance festival. .. Individually, the members of Which Way East have experience living and touring all over the world. They have studied and performed music in Turkey, Transylvania, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and China (to name a few). Its members have performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls around the globe, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Riverfront Stadium, The Royal Albert Hall, Preservation Hall, and the Royal Festival Hall. .. Which Way East began in Union Square when an accordion player (Patrick Harison) hollered at a young man with a violin under his arm (Jesse Kotansky). The two quickly realized they shared much musical ground and began playing, and soon after they were joined by Rich Stein (percussion), Jordan Scannella (bass), and Eva Salina Primack (vocals)