La Cherga

LA CHERGA create 21st Century electro-roots music with a pan-Balkanic consciousness. La Cherga consist of six musicians, all from former Yugoslavia. Lead singer IRINA KARAMARKOVIĆ is a refugee from the Kosovo conflict while NEVENKO BUĆAN, a Croat electronics wizard with a taste for dubbed out Balkan grooves, also fled the fiery nationalism that destroyed Tito's Yugoslavia. Other members come from Bosnia and Macedonia. LA CHERGA came together in Germany and Austria as these musicians began to feel out a new musical identity, sharing what Irina calls a "Post Pessimist" philosophy, working on cultural exchange projects, differentiating between war profiteers and anti-war profiteers. LA CHERGA (named after a Balkan rag rug, appropriate for these musical recyclers) began weaving a sonic collage, inventing a Balkan internationalist music & manifesto: their sound drawing on the best of both East and West (skanking rhythms and sour horns/boiling dub versus Detroit techno) while Irina sings of freeing your mind from mental slavery. Bringing together Balkan brass, jazz vocals, Jamaican grooves and electronic beats might sound like a musical recipe for disaster but LA CHERGA rip up the rule book and demonstrate how to build musical and cultural bridges. Grab some friends, something good to drink and turn up the music: LA CHERGA create radical unity party music. Irina Karamarković - Vocals Nevenko Bućan - Programming & Electronics Muamer Gazibegović - Guitar Trajko Velkov - Trumpet & Flugelhorn Kiril Kuzmanov - Alto & Sopran Saxophone Nino Škiljić - Bass, Programming & Keyboards guests: Richard Winkler - Clarinet Coach Khaled - Percussion