Feedback: Balkan brass and Southern soul at the Black Market

The Raya Brass Band will appear at Black Market on Friday.

Since opening quietly this winter, the Black Market Moto-Saloon has slowly become a local hot spot for live music. Musically adventurous Charlottesvillians already know the intersection of Market and Meade as one of the best places to catch exciting tunes in town, as the quasi-legal warehouse venue DUST occupied that space for many years; now that same space has been fully renovated as a proper restaurant, bar, and venue by Mattheus Frankovich, former owner and founder of the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar.

Although the dealings are now above-the-table, the musical selection is proving no less exciting; on Friday, April 13, the Raya Brass Band from Brooklyn will bring their infectiously energetic rhythms to the Saloon, playing music based in Balkan and Romany wedding traditions. The DJ duo from Grits & Gravy will spin vintage soul and funk 45s before and after their set, providing an all-American counterpoint that should make for a melting pot of toe-tapping revelry. The dancing gets underway at 10pm.