Ahilea - Café Svetlana (2009)

Macedonian producer and DJ Ahilea has brought together a fantastic group of musicians for a wild ride along the Autoput. So fasten your seatbelts and brace yourselves for a new and visionary take on Balkan music. This man is so hot that he gets daily requests for new tracks from DJs the world over. But Ahilea has taken his time on this one. Where others might cut corners, he has crafted his tracks with care, using his heart as well as his head to kit out the virtual juke-box of Café Svetlana. Café Svetlana? It is the stuff of legend – frequented by the great anarchist, poet and prominent Munich bohemian Erich Mühsam. Today, tucked away in a little side-street in Vienna, it can only be found by those who are humming the right tune as they turn the right corner... and when they do, they enter a whole new world. As Shantel discovered one day:

"I've been around a lot in the last few years and I've met so many musicians, producers and DJs. Ahilea from Vienna is a wonderful shlaviner* who does his thing with real style and substance. The music he brings us is in his blood. He's one of my favourite drinking buddies. I'm thrilled that he's making his international debut with Essay Recordings!” Shantel

The sound of Café Svetlana recognises the multi-ethnicity and culture of the Balkans. But instead of flying the nationalistic flag, this is music to be savoured with a glass of sljivo, palinka, raki or tsuika, an open mind and respect for the musicians. Every style comes into its own here: Greek rembetiko, Turkish and Macedonian belly-dancing, Serbian and Rumanian folk dances, Roma songs, Albanian-Epirotic clarinet sounds, thunderous brass and the mournful yet cliché-free lament of the fiddle. All with a touch of fresh beats & grooves, basslines and finely chiselled loops from the master of the mixing deck. That's the sound: Nu Pop Music from the Balkans to take you from the bar to the dancefloor and all the way to the sofa back home!

Track list:

01. Cafe Svetlana
02. Come On Bejbe
03. In Da Balkan Style
04. Kalabalak
05. Oldskulski
06. Coffee & Tulumba
07. Let Me Show You More & More
08. Monopolis
09. Dont Call Me Al
10. Dolsko Kolsko
11. Spiritus Tango
12. O Mangas
13. Autoput
14. Kolo Moser
15. Usti Usti
16. Out Of Town
17. Electro Carsija (Secret Bonus Track on Promo CD only)

MySpace: www.myspace.com/exportimporttunes

Record Label: www.essayrecordings.com