As borders have opened and computer technology has improved communications, the exchange of information between countries on opposite sides of the world has become commonplace. Gone are the days where the only music you could listen was what was available on the local radio or what you were able to pick up via short wave on clear nights. Now you can simply turn on your computer and the whole world is at your fingertips.
Music and video from every country in the world can be heard and seen with just a click of the mouse while more and more sites have been set up to encourage collaborations between musicians thousands of miles apart who might never meet except through their exchanges of music. A bass player in Belgrade can contribute a rhythm track for a guitar player in New York and a drummer and keyboardist in Tokyo.
With the amount and variety of music people are now exposed to, it should come as no surprise to discover that musical styles are no longer confined or defined by a person's geographic location. Still, that doesn't stop it being somewhat disconcerting to hear the familiar pulse of a reggae beat being played underneath the commanding tones of the clear voiced Bosnian native Adisa Zvekic - other band members are from Croatia, Macedonia and Jamaica - on the new disc from La Cherga, Revolve, being released in North America on the Asphalt Tango label on June 14, 2011.
A new addition to the band for this recording, Zvekic joins with the other members in continuing their forays into fusing Eastern European and Balkan with British and Jamaican style dub music.
As odd sounding as that mix might first appear, after listening to the 11 tracks on this disc, one is left thinking there is either less difference between musical styles than you might imagine. Or, La Cherga have found some secret formula which allows them to mix seemingly disparate ingredients together harmoniously.It soon become obvious that the reality lies somewhere in the middle of those two thoughts.
Right from the disc's opening track, "Melaha", we can't help but acknowledge how well the syncopated reggae beat works with the sounds of the Balkan style brass it accompanies on this tune. Bands like Great Britain's UB40 had used a horn section to great effect in their pop/reggae tunes of the 1980s and there are echoes of that sound in this song. Yet the horns don't just accentuate the rhythm, they also provide a flavour to the song which separates it from being just another pop tune.
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