Goran Bregovic
Welcome to Goran Bregovic
Wrasse WRASS241
****
Full Price (70 mins)
The musical life of Bosnia’s prodigal son is a tale of two Gorans: an artful importer of Western rock to hungry local teens in the 70s; then a slick exporter of sparkling Gypsy trumpet-led dance music and melancholy voices to an equally hungry Europe in the 90s. This newly packaged “Best Of” brings together hits from his extensive catalogue of film soundtrack work and export-minded solo albums over the last twenty years. Bregovic’s genius lies in being able to make potentially alien music instantly accessible: songs like ‘In the Death Car’ with Iggy Pop, all drawling, laconic vocal over a chugging Balkan trumpet groove and the theatrical naïve-funk of ‘Man From Reno’ with Scott Walker are unlikely collaborations to say the least, but Bregovic pulls them off with utter style. The soundtrack hits are all present and correct: his anthemic reinventions of ‘Mesecina’, ‘Ederlezi’ and the lush tango ‘Ausencia’ with Cesaria Evora undoubted highlights that still sound fresh after all these years. Overall a good introduction to the man and his music.