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In the quest for authentic world musics, few labels support young white teenagers eager to re-live other cultures. Not all traditions (so they assume) have a universal code that can be broken without living the history embedded in the lyrics.
 Beirut channel the spirits of gypsies, tramps and thieves on the worldly debut, Gulag Orkestar. |
But sometimes art transcends such assumptions, a happy fact proven by Beirut’s Zach Condon on his debut disc, Gulag Orkestar. This New Mexico teen sings in the moaning, bluesy croon of a weary middle-aged man of a central Europe that exists as much in his heart as in history, accompanied by a quietly mournful Gypsy band consisting mostly of himself.
Is it a freakish imitation? Condon avoids that trap by combining a subtle attention to the arrangements of this genre with a gut ability to make the connection between his blues and the sardonic despair of his musical parents, creating a previously nonexisting bridge between Gypsy alienation and our own lack of connection with each other.
