Founded in Istanbul in 2006 Baro Banda (aka GeckoRomanProject) has created a sound which truly represents the bridging of East and West. From heavy Turkish Romany grooves to drum’n'bass, dub, funk, jazz, hip hop and other influences Baro Banda specialize in the unexpected…

The band is collaboration between 6 Romany, Australian and Turkish musicians playing Underground Gypsy Roots Music combined with modern electronic sounds.

Vocalist/guitarist Murat Yucel (Australia/Turkey);
Gypsy clarinet master Savas Zurnaci (Turkey);
and saxophonist Alisha Brooks (Australia) – are joined by their rhythm section, together with various electronic devices to create a new dimension in world roots music.

“…the hottest new addition to the gypsy music playground…these genies of Istanbul will grant your musical wishes…”

BARO BANDA - Istanbul

DJ CLICK - Paris

CROOKED FIDDLE BAND - Melbourne

Polymorphic artist DJ Click has long been an accomplice of the most ebullient projects: with the extravert Rona Hartner for tsigane traditions as well as the gnawas of Essaouira, pending his Zuco 103 brasileiro or African mixes with Issa Bagayogo. His field of predilection: moisture-filled dance floors where his mixes ardently pulsate a range of Mediterranean musical styles. Incorporating tsigane, oriental, klezmer, flamenco or gnawi rhythms, DJ Click delivers techno, drum'n bass on another mode, and in another time zone... Those of the future! A universal, communicative and festive language, with tonic accents and over- energized tempos, making bodies talk...

He produced a dozen cds in his studio, numerous remixes like those of Warsaw Village Band, Mahala Raï Banda, Burhan Öçal, Boogie Balagan or Rachid Taha, and his no visa music was released on prestigious compilations. DJ Click is an adventuresome alchemist who infuses rural with urban and extracts living music from electronic mechanics.

He realized a radio broadcast for several years on the indie Férarock network, and organized famous parties, booking trans-European artists to shake the venues and clubs in Paris. His worldtronica touch has paved the way for a truly international league of cultural diversification. On stage, he invents a new kind of digital folk, inviting the musicians he has met to play on his machines. Booked on main festivals, clubs and international fairs, from South Korea to Brazil, from Balkan to North Africa, he spreads his style all over the world zone.

“The Crooked Fiddle Band are completely surprising. The music is original and quixotic, and yet has the strength of some deep and strong roots. I can't say I've ever heard anything else like it!.” Brian Eno

The Crooked Fiddle Band have built a reputation as one of Australia's most intense live music experiences. Gearing up for their third tour to Europe and UK in 2012, with their high octane performances compelling audiences into a joyous frenzy of dancing and revelry in response to the dark, ecstatic energy and medieval battle-like climaxes.

Their first full-length album, “Overgrown Tales” was recorded in Chicago in early 2011 with legendary engineer Steve Albini in his Electrical Audio studios. Whilst the worst snowstorms in 15 years blanketed the city, Albini (Joanna Newsom, Nirvana, The Pixies, Gogol Bordello) captured the band live and raw – with a set of tunes that roam across a wide range of styles and influences whilst maintaining an intense yet cinematic energy. Driven by the beautiful and furious fiddling of Jess Randall, and underpinned by a rhythm section featuring Gordon Wallace (bouzouki, guitar, banjo, mandolin), Mark Stevens (double bass, Appalachian dulcimer, charango) and Joe Gould (drum kit, hand percussion, garbage bin, vocals) the Crooked Fiddle Band sound blasts, rocks and grooves to the point of dementia.

Combining stunning musicianship with a rhythm and energy aimed straight at romantic hearts and dancing feet, the Crooked Fiddle Band intertwine folk traditions with modern evolutions and have impressed all who have encountered them such as Damien Dempsey who they have supported and Brian Eno, who invited the band to participate in his Luminous Festival at the Sydney Opera House.

“For us, there is a direct link between folk traditions and blast beats: it is the unstoppable energy, that intensity that hits you in the chest and forces you to move,” says The Crooked Fiddle Band’s Gordon Wallace. “Chainsaw folk” is our attempt to craft a new beast from these influences – coherent but mutated and we can’t wait to hit Europe hard this summer.”

Overgrown Tales roams across a wide range of styles and influences yet maintains an intense, vivid energy and Gordon Wallace from the band describes the new album as “Like finding a folk tale deep in the forest, rooted in tradition but with the newest of shoots and a few thorns.”

LOLO LOVINA - Sydney

With members from Ukraine, Hungary and Australia, Gypsy world fusion band Lolo Lovina draw influences from across Eastern Europe, French chanson and Tango. The band features part Australian, part Hungarian Rromani-Gypsy singer Sarah Bedak, double bassist Jara Johnson -Anderson, Romanian accordionist & saxophonist Leonid Beshei, guitarist David Carr, Matthew Baistow & on tenor banjo. Lolo Lovina play with a range of exceptional guests including Sam Golding on Trumpet and Sousaphone

Sydney born singer Sarah Bedák fronts the band with a truly captivating voice. Her ancestry is Budapest Romani-Gypsy (her grandfather was a well-known violinist from Budapest who played with Sandor Lakatos & The Bobe Gaspar Erno Orchestra). Sarah has just returned from a study tour of Serbia and Hungary where she had the opportunity to study with and collaborate with members of Kal, Boban Markovic Orkestra and Andro Drom.

Ukrainian accordionist Leonid Beshlei grew up in Bukovina and has played gypsy music & jazz across the Europe, USSR and at all the major festivals & venues in Australia.