Sergiu Popa comes from Chisinau, in Moldova, but now lives in Montreal, Canada, and from here he provides us with his first album "Accordeon Obsession". The gypsy origins are immediately evident in his music but he manages, with a touch of talent to contaminate ( in the best sense of the word) this music with latin, jazz, and fusion, thereby giving us a final product that is diverse and can be listened to without prejudging ones reaction. I will immediately highlight one track that does not work for me and that is the last one where Popa leaves his usual style behind and with an electronic deviation produces an arrangement of Brahms 3rd symphony which is a little too kitsch. Even if this track is not that good, the rest of the Cd is sufficiently intriguing: from the tracks with the bassist Georgi Stankov who seems sometimes to have come from Weather Report , to the particularly balkan tango in "Armenian Tango" to the fascinating duo with the flautist Romeo Vaduva. Sergiu Popa intelligently finds a path through the traditional music of eastern europe and as well as re-interpretations he proposes his own compostions also like "Dor De Casa" (Missing Home") that portrays in musical terms that feeling of being distant from ones homeland and ones family. So if you decide to buy "Accordeon Obsession" you should know that you will be not only listening to balkan music but also given the subtitle "Gypsy Fusion" - you will listen to good music. Here is a musician that deserves wider recognition. Reviewed by Renato Belardinelli |
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