IMPORT-EXPORT

Import-Export:
Flying in the Balkan-Container
Piles of shipping containers, a swanky old Mercedes and a (dull?)
goose – the brown-orange poster leaves a lot of room for associations
with the transactions of Import-Export. This doesn’t look safe and
clean, rather dubious and strange! Which, in fact, is the intention:
Just like those dodgy import-export companies blur the lines between
legal and illegal business, the musicians in the project “Import-
Export” operate in such a manner. Or, as the New Yorker expat Fa
Ventilato sums it up with a grin: “We don’t mind being ominous,
maybe even dangerous”. Tellingly, the band logo is reminding of a
razorblade.
Raving Gypsy Music
Ventilato, Goran Kovacevic (Accordion) and Patrick Kessler (Double
Bass) form the core of Import-Export. As expert for new combinations
(«Criminal Edits») and confrontations – for example Johnny Cash vs.
AC/DC – laptop performer Ventilato, better known under the name
“Fuckintosh”, uses records of music by Serbian gypsies as well as
recent samples as the fundament for the musicians. Completing the
combo is Carlo Lorenzi, drummer and doyen of many different
projects (Plasmatic Food), who is also part of the Elektro-Folkband
Flora.
They all have a penchant for (not only musical) nomadizing, and in
this case, it starts with their enthusiasm for Serbian gypsy folklore.
Patrick Kessler came up with an interview answer to explain the
concept:
«Radio Tup-Tup: What exactly do you import? – Import-Export:
Driving through the night in the snow from Zurich to St.Gallen.
Just get back from the Bregovic concert. The driver puts a tape into
the deck, we start to fly. It’s a recording from the Club Balkan in
Belgrad, contemporary Roma Folklore. Mikica J. bangs away on his
keyboard and is mauling the Pitch blend. Maestro Perica Jovanovic
modulates the accordion with raging speed. Suddenly, from the
feedback, Gurbets violin emerges, floats into the night.”
Kessler and Kovacevic marvel in the crazy maelstrom of the gypsy
music, where all veers to the front, all channels are fully open,
blasting away and heating the atmosphere. They conjure up the
emblematic image of the violin player with a bank note pasted onto
his sweaty forehead, in return for an encore.
Gypsy Balkan Brass Beats
Clichees may be free to fly around your ears at Import-Export, but
always meant to be short hints, referential jibes. “We sweep over the
Balkan carpet, and also underneath it,” says Kovacevic. In the open
arrangements, Ventilato’s electronica finds its befitting space, but
also leaves the field open to the “imported” guest: the Bulgarian
trumpet player Sachko (aka Alexander) Wladigeroff. A fiendish on the
brass, claim the importers full of praise. A “rumpelstilt” who plays
flugelhorn and trumpet at the same time, and “most possibly could
also play with his ears.”
More information about the musicians in Import-Export and their wide
network:
www.proflora.ch
www.dusaorchestra.com
www.killingmusicathome.com
www.freedomfries.at
www.bucovina.de
www.rohbaurecords.ch