A Lejazzetal | Theatr Mwldan Co-Production

Touring 2006

This pumping, turbo-charged Gypsy wedding band from Macedonia are wild, audacious and absolutely electrifying!  Their explosive sound combines shredding trumpets, thumping Turkish, Macedonian and Bulgarian rhythms and the fattest, funkiest horn riffs since the glory days of James Brown. 

The path to their world wide popularity began with their appearance in the acclaimed film ‘Time Of The Gypsies’. Since then the utterly wonderful Original Kocani Orkestar have reinforced their global reputation as one of the great live music experiences.

Like most of the brass bands (or Nefesli Orkestars) of the Romany tradition, the Original Kocani Orkestar consists of members of specific families, chiefly the Veliov family, who are descended from the Gypsy clans of the Balkans on the father’s side and from Turkish Romany on the mother’s. Lead by trumpeter ‘King’ Naat, whose father and son are in the band, Naat has the traditional responsibility of passing the knowledge of the old songs and dances to future generations. 

"The ten-man Kocani Orkestar's twin trumpets, flugelhorns and saxophones, along with tuba, accordion, parkesion and darbuka produce an effervescent, jazz-inflected repertoire of festival, wedding and funeral music from Macedonia and neighboring Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Turkey." - Michael Stone, RootsWorld