Fri 5/30 @ 8PM
Sun 6/1 @ 7PM
This weekend’s going to be one big, long celebration for lovers of music from eastern Europe.
Start the party Friday over at Mahall’s where the Balkan Bloc Party will be taking place. Balkan Bloc is a quartet of local musicians, featuring Walt Mahovlich on clarinet, sax and frula, Justin Greenwald on accordion, keyboards and vocals, Adam Good on guitar and Milo Destanovski handling a variety of percussion instruments. Together they’ll be sharing sounds from up and down the southeastern region of Europe where different factions may be at war but the cultures unite in the sounds of their music. They’ll inviting you to come drink, eat and dance the night away. Admission is $10.
Don’t drink and eat TOO much though, because you’ll want to do it again Sunday evening when the Trio Balkan Strings (pictured) comes to Nighttown in a concert sponsored by Cleveland Heights’ Roots of American Music.
The trio — featuring guitarst Zoran Starcevic and his two guitar-playing sons —performs a veritable kaleidiscope of original music that even includes Oriental and classical influences, as well as Serbian, Romanian, Macedonian, Greek, Hungarian, gypsy and other eastern European sounds, blended into a jazz base. They’re noted for their showmanship too, including all three playing a single guitar.
Tickets are $15.