Gogol Bordello

Infobox musical artist
Name = Gogol Bordello


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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = New York, New York, nowrap|United States
Genre = Gypsy punk
Gypsy folk
Folk punk
Years_active = 1999–present
Label = Rubrick, SideOneDummy
Associated_acts = Madonna
Balkan Beat Box
URL = [http://www.gogolbordello.com/ www.gogolbordello.com]
Current_members = Eugene Hütz
Sergey Ryabtsev
Yuri Lemeshev
Thomas Gobena
Oren Kaplan
Eliot Ferguson
Pamela Jintana Racine
Elizabeth Sun
Pedro Erazo
Past_members = Karl Alvarez
Rea Mochiach
Sasha Kazatchkoff
Vlad Solovar
Ori Kaplan
Susan Donaldson

Gogol Bordello is a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gogol Bordello at bbc.co.uk | work = | publisher = [http://www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk] | date= 22 June 2007 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2007/artists/gogolbordello/ | format = Web | doi = | accessdate = 2007-07-09] Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as its core members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub as well as multiple languages. Phill Jupitus has once described the band as "a bit like The Clash and The Pogues having a fight... in Eastern Europe," while Kenneth Partridge of The Hartford Courant described lead singer Eugene Hütz's voice as "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog". [cite web | title = New Music Reviews | url= http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_RelishArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352388035&path=!news!yesterday&s=1037645509099 | date= 16 August 2007 | accessdate = 2007-08-24 | format = Web]

History and influences

Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, was an ideological influence because he "smuggled" Ukrainian culture into Russian society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with Gypsy/East-European music in the English-speaking world.cite episode | title = Gogol Bordello: Music from 'Gypsy Punks' | url = http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5371385 | series = In Performance | airdate = 2006-04-29 | season = | number = ] "Bordello" refers to a brothel or a "gentleman's club". The band was originally titled Hütz and the Béla Bartóks, but Eugene Hütz says that they decided to change the name because "nobody knows who the hell Béla Bartók is in the United States". The band played their first show as the unofficial band at an after-hours club called Pizdetz on Ridge Street, where they became the house band and DJ Hütz became the house DJ.

Gogol Bordello's first single was released in 1999, and since then they have released four full-length albums, and one EP. In 2005 the band signed to punk label SideOneDummy Records. The band has toured tirelessly throughout Europe and America on numerous international festivals and toured with such diverse bands as Primus, Flogging Molly, and Cake. In an interview with NPR, frontman Eugene Hütz cites Jimi Hendrix and Parliament-Funkadelic as among the band's main musical influences.

ingles and collaborations

* The recording of "Start Wearing Purple", on their first album, "Voi-La Intruder" pioneered their UK success.fact|date=August 2007
* Their song, "Occurrence on the Border", was featured on the 4th Punk Rock Strike compilation put out by Springman Records.
* "Start Wearing Purple" was re-recorded and a video was produced for their third LP, "Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike" and became their first North American single. The song and variations thereof can be heard throughout the 2005 movie "Everything Is Illuminated". The song is also the unofficial theme song of the Baltimore Ravens.
* "I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again" has a short interlude of an arrangement of Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) in B minor played on strings.
* "Not a Crime" and "Wonderlust King" were chosen as the second and third North American singles, both accompanied by a music video.
* "Through The Roof 'n' Underground" is featured several times in the movie . (In which one of the main characters is based on Eugene Hütz.)
* "Wonderlust King" was featured in the trailer for the Morgan Spurlock documentary "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?".

Several of the band members also take part in a dub and electronic side project with members of Balkan Beat Box entitled J.U.F. (Jewish-Ukrainian Freundschaft).

Eugene Hütz has also collaborted with the Kolpakov Trio and recorded music with them.

Gogol Bordello have also collaborated with Madonna (see below).

Appearances

Television

The band was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live (March 22, 2006 and September 5, 2007), on The Late Show with David Letterman ( July 31, 2007), on The Henry Rollins Show (August 10, 2007), and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (July 30, 2008).

Music festivals

Gogol Bordello has appeared in many festivals worldwide throughout the past decade. However, a significant step towards greater publicity was made when Eugene Hütz and violinist Sergey Ryabtsev joined Madonna on stage. Hütz and Ryabtsev performed "La Isla Bonita / Lela Pala Tute" with Madonna at the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007.Citation | last= Bowen | first= Rebecca | author-link= | publication-date= 10 July 2007 | date= | year= 2007 | title= Gogol Bordello and Madonna continue collaboration | periodical= Paste (magazine) | publication-place= News online | place= | publisher= | volume= | issue= | pages= | url= http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4447/news/music/gogol_bordello_and_madonna_continue_collaboration | doi= | oclc= | accessdate = 2007-07-23] Gogol Bordello made its first appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 1st, 2008. The band has also played Bonnaroo 2007 and 2008. They also performed with Les Claypool and Kirk Hammett in SuperJam of Bonnaroo 2008 where the songs of Tom Waits were performed. Gogol Bordello also performed on the first day of Virgin Mobile Festival on August 9, 2008. They performed in Austin for ACL 2008 on September 26th. The performed at the L.A. Weekly Detour Festival on October 4, 2008 along with bands such as Data Rock and The Mars Volta. They also performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2008 in San Francisco on October 5th.

Film

* 2005In Liev Schreiber's directoial debut Everything Is Illuminated, role of Alexander Perchov was played by Eugene Hütz. Film also starred Elijah Wood and other Gogol Bordello members.
* 2006The band's music was the backbone of the soundtrack for the film where Eugene was a main character played by Shea Whigham.
* 2008Entire band has been featured in another directorial debut - Madonna's short film Filth and Wisdom, starring Eugene Hütz as one of the main characters. Madonna also allowed Eugene to add one own dialogue into the script.

Line-up

Current members

* Eugene Hütz (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, fire bucket) - Ukraine
* Sergey Ryabtsev (violin, backing vocals) - Russia
* Yuri Lemeshev (accordion, backing vocals) - Russia
* Oren Kaplan (guitar, backing vocals) - Israel
* Thomas Gobena (basscite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gogol Bordello | work = Official MySpace Page | publisher = MySpace.com | date= 11/10/2006 | url = http://www.myspace.com/gogolbordello | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2006-10-11 ] backing vocals) - Ethiopia
* Eliot Ferguson (drums, backing vocals) – Florida, USA
* Pamela Jintana Racine (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance) - Thai-American
* Elizabeth Sun (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance) - Chinese Scottish
* Pedro Erazo (percussion, MC) - Ecuadorcite web | last = Cooper | first = Ryan | title = An Interview with Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello | publisher = About.com | date = 2007 | url = http://punkmusic.about.com/od/interviews/a/Eugenehutz.htm | format = Web | accessdate = 2007-09-09 ]
* Stevhen Iancu (accordion) - Japanese-Romanian, a fill-in for Yuri Lemeshev and also of the gypsy-punk bands Reverend Glasseye, Romashka and [http://www.myspace.com/thedolomitesoriginal Dolomites] fact|date=December 2007

Former members

* Karl Alvarez (bass)
* Rea Mochiach (bass, percussion, electronics (on the albums), beat programming (on the albums, backing vocals) - Israel
* Sasha Kazatchkoff (accordion)
* Vlad Solovar (guitar)
* Ori Kaplan - saxophone, (co leads Balkan Beat Box with Tamir Muskat), backing vocals, (no relation to Oren Kaplan) - Israel
* Susan Donaldson (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance)
*James Ward (fill-in accordionist for some interview, has appeared in some videos) (Scottish)

Discography

Albums

* "Voi-La Intruder"–1999 (Rubric Records)
* "Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony" - September 2002 (Rubric Records), 2XLP - December 2006
* "" - August 2005 (SideOneDummy Records), 2XLP - March 2006
* "Super Taranta!" - 10 July 2007 (SideOneDummy Records) US #115, [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fpfuxq90ldfe~T5 Billboard] , Allmusic] UK #67, 2XLP - July 2007

EPs

* "East Infection" - January 2005 (Rubric Records)

ingles

* "When The Trickster Starts A-Poking" - 2002. Rubric Records.
* "Start Wearing Purple" - February 2006. SideOneDummy Records.
* "Not a Crime" - August 2006. SideOneDummy.
* "Wonderlust King" - August 2007. SideOneDummy. #11 UK Indie

Compilations

* "Punk Rock Strike Vol. 4" - 2003. Springman Records.
* "2005 Warped Tour Compilation" - 2005. SideOneDummy Records.
* "2006 Warped Tour Compilation" - 2006. SideOneDummy Records.
* "Gypsy Beats and Balkan Bangers" - 2006. Atlantic Jaxx.
* "The Rough Guide to Planet Rock" - 2006. World Music Network.
* "2007 Warped Tour Compilation" - 2007. SideOneDummy Records.

ide-projects

* "Gogol Bordello vs. Tamir Muskat" - August 2004. A collaboration between Gogol Bordello and members of Balkan Beat Box, under the name J.U.F., an acronym for Jewish-Ukrainian Freundschaft. Stinky Records.

Filmography

* 2005 - "Everything Is Illuminated" - Eugene Hütz played one of the main characters in the movie and members of the band (Sergei Ryabtsev, Yuri Lemeshev, Pamela Racine) make appearances.
* 2008 - Filth and Wisdom - The entire band appeared in a short film directed by Madonnacite web | last = | first = | authorlink = IMDb | coauthors = IMDb | title = Filth and Wisdom (2008) | work = | publisher = [http://www.imdb.com www.imdb.com] | date = 7 August 2007 | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042499/ | format = Web | doi = | accessdate = 2007-08-07 ] .

2006 - Wristcutters: a Love Story - "Eugene," played by American actor Shea Whigham,is partly based on Eugene Hütz of the band Gogol Bordello, whose music ("Through the Roof and Underground" and "Occurrence on the Border") features in the film as that recorded by character Eugene's old band.

References

External links

* [http://www.gogolbordello.com Official Web Site]
* [http://www.avenue-b.net Avenue B (official forum)]
* [http://www.myspace.com/gogolbordello MySpace Profile]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:olozefuk2gf5~T1 AllMusic Entry]
* [http://ucrania-mozambique.blogspot.com/2007/08/gogol-bordello-em-portugal.html Gogol Bordello in Portugal]
* [http://www.bmoretunes.com/?page_id=33 Interview with Eugene Hutz] by Greg Szeto of Bmore Live
* [http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/interviews/premium-dancing-with-gogol-bordello/ Interview on BYT]
* [http://www.themusicnazi.com/?p=663 Gogol Bordello - Cult(ure) Music]

* [http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/gogol-bordello_0408.htm Interview with Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz] by musicOMH.com
* [http://www.musictowers.com/news/features/interview-gogol-bordello-ta-ra-ta-ranta Interview with Tommy Gobena from Gogol Bordello]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5371385 Interview at NPR's Studio 4A (2006) with several songs performed]
* [http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=3357 An interview with Eugene Hutz in the Hartford Advocate]
* [http://blogs.laweekly.com/play/interviews/gogol-bordellos-eugene-hutz-ta/ October 2008 L.A. Weekly interview with Eugene Hutz]