Gypsy rhythms in summer
Mecky Balog Quartet with swing at the Salvator Community Center

June 12, 1991 SZ
Gypsy Rhythms in Summer
Mecky Balog Quartet with Swing at the Salvator Community Center

Traditions are long-lasting, and once established, they are difficult to break. The Weilmdorf Cultural Association knows this well, holding a summer evening concert every year, regardless of the heat. This year, too, the temperature in the "well-heated" Salvator Community Center was likely to send visitors scalding a cold shower.

Nevertheless, many guests came to see the "Mecky Balog Quartet," which the Stuttgart Cultural Office had booked for Weilimdorf. These are four young musicians dedicated to Gypsy swing in the style of Django Reinhardt, who made a name for himself in Paris in the 1920s with his solo guitar.

This is, of course, a claim that needs to be fulfilled, and the evening did leave a somewhat skeptical impression. Where the group fully surrendered to the drive of the swing rhythm, a certain Reinhardt-esque spark of sound emerged, the kind that can still be felt today in vintage records. Unfortunately, the quartet also dabbled in the unspeakable "Gypsy schmaltz" that supposedly evokes the "romanticism" of that ancient traveling people.

In light of the Sinti reality of our century, this remains nothing but tinsel. Mecky Balog's solo guitar displayed brilliant runs, though one might have wished for more nuanced phrasing. Alexander Kraus, as the "devil's violinist," combined youthful skill with musical audacity. Joschi Graf's rhythm guitar was heavily distorted. His somewhat unfortunate love of singing, however, was unmistakable.

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