Piranha Records at cdRoots

Piranha Records

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Please note!
Most of our CDs have been imported from Europe or Asia. They are not all shrink-wrapped, and I am not going to con you by wrapping them here just to make you think they have been sterilized in America. I guarantee that the CDs and the contents are all brand new and in perfect condition. Whenever I can, I use recycled shipping materials. They may not look as pretty on the outside, but they save money and keep the trash dumps a little bit emptier.
Thanks- Cliff, cdRoots

Piranha Records
Swimming amongst the sharks since 1987, this independent label from Germany has been at the cutting edge of 'world music' the whole time.

Ashkelon - Emil Zrihan
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-zrihan)
Emil Zrihan is a Sephardic singer from Rabat, Morocco and cantor of the synagogue in Ashkelon, Israel. On this recording, he is backed by an ensemble of ud, violin, accordion, darabouka, percussion, guitar and bass, in a selection of traditional Moroccan and Judeo-Moroccan works. Originally released in 1999.

A Night in Berlin - BalkanBeats
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2338)
Robert Soko has been throwing parties in Berlin since 1993. He was the first to coin the term BalkanBeats to try and define his mix of music from the Balkans. BalkanBeats are Serbian Gypsy brass and folk melodies reinterpreted, given electronic beats and blended with western styles such as ska and rock. In the recent past the phenomenon has caught on in other cities around the world where Balkan immigrants live. BalkanBeats parties rave all the way from Frankfurt and Vienna to New York and Melbourne. Robert grew up in Zenica, central Bosnia, listening to western music: rock and roll, punk and ska. In 1990 he left Bosnia for Berlin. He took a job as a taxi driver and started hanging out at the Arcanoa, a punk bar in Berlin's immigrant quarter Kreuzberg with his ex-pat friends. The Arcanoa became their second home. Soko put on his first parties there, playing his Yugo music for fifty German marks and beer for free. He celebrated socialist holidays: Tito's birthday, Day of Women. May First. The parties were a mix of irony and nostalgia and Soko was surprised to see how many people came, as nostalgia for Yugoslav socialism was not the 'in thing' in those days of growing Balkan nationalism. And yet the parties grew. Then something happened. After years of listening and playing western-derived rock, punk and ska, Soko found himself returning to his ethnic Balkan music roots, the roots he had rejected as a youth in Bosnia. This was largely due to two figures, Goran Bregovic and Emir Kusturica. Bregovic who revamped Balkan Gypsy melodies, making Balkan music palatable for a western audience, and Kusturica, for whose Gypsy inspired films Bregovic did the soundtracks. And Soko played new/old Balkan music. And people loved it. Women grooved to it. Guys pogoed to it. It was a sensation. The press took notice. From the Arcanoa, Soko moved onwards and upwards, first to the Mudd Club, then to the Lido, all the while spreading the party fever to other cities around Europe, to New York, L.A., South Africa and Brazil. The enhanced CD features a Slideshow, which takes the viewer through a BalkanBeats night in Berlin with music by Fanfare Ciocarlia. Listen tp Markovic Orchestar | Listen to dunklebunt

Devla - Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2339)
Clad in a suave white suit, it's not impossible to imagine why urban legends credit gypsy trumpet king Boban Markovic with getting his homeland out of a recent jam: Markovic's spit-fire precision is rumored to have so seduced Bill Clinton that the saxophone playing president called off the further NATO bombing of Serbia. True or not, one thing is clear: Markovic and his son and prized protégé Marko are the bomb in Balkan brass dance music, harnessing the absolute flexibility of Miles Davis and the cool funk of Herb Alpert in the ultimate expression of their Southern Serbian Rroma roots. Their latest album as the Boban and Marko Markovic Orkestar, Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven, flies effortlessly between echoes of the Ottoman Empire and down-and-dirty grooves that would make P-Funk's jaws drop. Listen 1 | Listen 2

Hunger Gives You A Headache - Cascabulho
$9.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1469)
Cascabulho is one of the most creative and impressive bands formed in the 1990's in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brasil. They are part of the 'mangue beat' movement, a youthful forro sound. Their creative use of local and global influences results in Brazilian music of high quality. 'Fome dį dor de cabeēa,' the band's first album (2000), is dedicated to the memory of the performer, composer and revolutionary musician Jackson do Pandeiro. Listen!

Fuji Satisfaction - Bantu, featuring Ayuba
$11.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1998)
Adé Bantu is one of the defining figures of German HipHop. Born and raised in Lagos,Nigeria, then relocated to Cologne, his AfroPean blend draws from his forefathers' heritage and his experience of the African diaspora alike. He uses urban styles and sounds from R'n'B through HipHop to Ragga to contribute to the soundtrack of a global Africa: rooted in Yoruba history yet ripe with Western production, deeply sensual yet utterly spiritual, thoroughly individual and highly political. He is joined by Adewale Ayuba, a master of Nigeria's next generation of Fuji music.

Live in Youth Club Belgrade - Darko Rundek and Cargo Orkestar
$19.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir0205)
During the long Balkan civil war, Darko Rundek, cosmopolitan singer, songwriter and composer, moved to Paris where he gathered a new family around him - the members of Cargo Orkestar. The French magazine Vibrations has called him a melange of d'Higelin, Gainsbourg, Bertrand Cantat and Bashung. The Daily Times put him in the category of post-modern troubadours like Tom Waits and Paulo Conte. Recorded live in Belgrade at The Youth Club, this show serves as proof that the ex-frontman of the legendary new wave rock band Haustor still enjoys a dedicated crowd of fans in the Balkans.

Raindrops and Elephants - dunkelbunt
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2335)
Vienna-based [dunkelbunt] is part of a DJ movement that transcends standard Central European techno and house music by drawing inspiration from other genres and cultures. His remixes for artists as various as Balkan Beat Box, 17 Hippies and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band have gained him international renown. A passionate blender of spices in his spare time, [dunkelbunt] sees composing and cooking as related arts. On Raindrops and Elephants, [dunkelbunt] has applied his passion for blending to selected Piranha tracks from Simentera, Frank London, Watcha Clan and more.

Sarabah: Tales from the Flipside of Paradise - Sister Fa
$19.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2334)
Senegal's 'Queen of hip-hop.' For a woman to break through in an almost exclusively male field within a male-dominated society was a long, hard journey. Struggle breeds compassion, and Sister Fa uses her international album debut to speak out against the injustices rampant in her native country. Warm and unmistakably African, her raps, in Wolof, Manding, Jola and French, roll elegantly over beats as well as traditional sounds (kora and djembe), delivering tracks far removed from rap clichés, and more influenced by 80s old school hip-hop than current rap trends.

Diaspora Hi-Fi - A Mediterranean Caravan - Watcha Clan
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2230)
It's been ten years since Watcha Clan burst on to Europe's new world-beat scene. With a best-selling début CD to its credit (20,000 units worldwide), here the Clan whisks us on a wild ride from the dance fl oors of London to France's Provence, from the Balkan mountains to the Maghreb seaside, from roots to rebellion. North and South, Arabic and Hebrew are re-united on this album, which features the exuberant vocals of Marseilles-born Sista K. Diaspora Hi-Fi presents an intoxicating blend of new reggae, jungle and electronic club beats with traditional sounds. Includes a bonus live video version of the Clan's fave, "Eli."

Nwahulwana (Marrabenta goes to Hollywood) - Wazimbo and Marrabenta Star de Moēambique
$19.99
(cdRoots# hm-wazimbo)
The city-sound of Maputo is ready to mesmerise, energise, elevate and educate all newcomers to the magical Marrabenta style. 'Nwahulwana' - Marrabenta“s most powerful ballad, sung by Mozambique“s top singer Wazimbo - emerged on the soundtrack of 'The Pledge', Sean Penn“s ' film. This release includes 10 classic recordings from the legendary Harare sessions plus a music video of the title song.

Mhm A-ha Oh Yeah Da-Da - Darko Rundek
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2005)
Croatian born, Paris-based Rundek and his Cargo Orkestar are a band unto themselves, shamelessly mixing European roots with rock, jazz, film music and just plain oddness in a manner only rivaled by Serbian Boris Kovac. Their songs tell of the loneliness of the exile and the placelessness of the Internet, the realities of a modern metropolis and the utopia of a love that transcends all borders, recited and sung in a number of languages. It's all cool and callous, wonderfully played and very original.

Descarga Oriental: The New York Sessions - Maurice El Medioni - Roberto Rodriguez
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir2003)
Rai pioneer and and master of the PianOriental Maurice El Médioni from Oran, Algeria meets Latin drummer Roberto Rodriguez (from Havana, Cuba, and part of the sound of Miami Sound Machine, Lester Bowie and Chachao). They met in New York for a Descarga Oriental, dreaming of routes that never were and bringing two distinct global roots into a new 21st century collusion.

Double Check (2 CDs) - Stella Chiwese
$28.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1900)
Something new, something old - two sides Of Zimbabwe's mbira queen. A completely new recording created in Zimbabwe, the unfortunately titled first CD 'Trance Hits,' is an album with references to spirits, a policeman possessed by the sounds of the m'bira, a singing fish and a song she dreamed her grandmother was singing to her. The second, 'Classic Hits,' features re-released tracks with her original band, The Earthquake and produced by a selection of Brit procuders int he 90s including John Peel, Hijaz Mustapha (aka Ben Mandelson) and Colin Bass (and a special guest appearance of the rhythm section of 3 Mustaphas 3). For old and new friends alike, this is a welcome and recommended recording.

Proibido Cochilar - Cabruera
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1999)
Cabruźra present 'the next generation of samba' on a CD subtitled 'Sambas for Sleepless Nights.' Inspired by the Mangue Beat movement led by the late great Chico Science, this ensemble from the northeast of Brazil spice up the forró roots of their rural origins with urban-global influences - rock, funk, jazz, rap, reggae, jungle, eElectro, even a bit of retro-lounge all find a place in here.

The Promise: The King of Balkan Brass - Boban Markovic Orkestar
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-marko05)
Boban Markovic, his orchestra, and once again, his trumpeter son Marko move from Vladicin Han in Serbia's deep sout through the various Balkans and the Gypsy roots that have been their mainstay. Ancient meets the post-modern in a decidedly different recording produced by Ben Mandelson and Rob Keyloch.

World after History - Boris Kovac and La Campanella
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1997)
With La Campanella, Boris Kovac, composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist from the Vojvodina part of Yugoslavia, spins off his critically acclaimed La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica project. La Campanella's Pannonian-Mediterranean round-trip creates sentimental spaces, interrelated by the threads of nostalgia, joy, tristesa, romantic enthusiasm and melancholy. 'I can't change or stop history. I just could say, 'History is over for a moment for the time of music we play on this album.'' - BK

Brother Moses Smote The Water - Klezmatics with Joshua Nelson and Kathryn Farmer
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1896)
Klezmer meets gospel: the one and only Klezmatics, with renowned gospel artists Joshua Nelson and Kathryn Farmer, breathe new life into songs from both the Jewish and African-American heriage to tell a story of inspiration and social action, while weaving a revelatory dialogue between cultures and musial styles. Their first live album, recorded during the HeimatKlänge at MuseumsInselFestival in Berlin, Germany, includes 8 new and 2 classic songs.

Tarefero de mis Pagos - Chango Spasiuk
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1895)
Accordion master Chango Spasiuk has come to be seen as the guardian angel of chamamé, the most influental champion of the 'music with the deepest swing in Argentina.' In many ways his contribution to the revitalisation of these folk traditions can be compared to the influence that his fellow countryman Astor Piazzolla has had in the contemporary development of tango. Tarefero de mis Pagos was produced on location in Buenos Aires by Ben Mandelson.

Cafe Oran - Maurice el Medioni and his PianOrientale
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-oran)
Pianist Maurice El Médioni combines North African, Andalusian, Jewish, Cuban and western jazz and pop with his ownunique keyboard technique. The backing orchestra is a stellar cast of Moroccan singer Michel Rebibo, Frank London on trumpet and David Krakauer on clarinet (both from the Klezmatics), bassist Sabah Habas Mustapha (of 3 Mustaphas 3), Egyptian percussionist Mahmoud Fadl, and drummer/percussionist Marco Maimaran.

Ruke - Darko Rundek and Cargo Orkestar
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-pir1894)
Darko Rundek, singer, poet, actor, theatre director and frontman of the late Yugo-cult band Haustor, took a holiday from his solo-career for the adventures of a real Cargo Orkestar. The comédie des sens of Paris meet the European spleen of Zagreb, cosmopolitan influences of immigration clash with Balkan traditions. Join the Cargo Orkestar for a mysterious musical journey, rough and real, made of questioning, pain, joy and humour. Listen

Boban I Marko - Balkan Brass fest - Boban Markovic Orkestar
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-marko)
Undoubtedly one of the best Balkan Gypsy brass bands, famed for their contribution to the soundtrack of Emir Kusturicas Underground. This album features 15-year-old Marko Markovic - son of the bandleader and, true to Gypsy tradition, a young man deeply attached to his instrument ever since he took his first breath.

The Drummers Of The Nile In Town: Cairosonic - Mahmoud Fadl
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fadl-cairo)
oin Mahmoud Fadl on his walk down Cairo's Mohamed 'Ali Street, the notorious musicians' hang out, where he meets up with master drummers Mohammed Kallo Sobhi and Magdi Berbish, the Khalil family (flagship of Said musicianship) and the legendary Hasaballah Brass Band, the one and only brass band in Egypt.

Umm Kalthum 7000 - Mahmoud Fadl
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fadl-7000)
Subtitled 'A Million Arabs Can't Be Wrong' and featuring Salwa Abou Greisha

Hiphop Khasene - Solomon and Socalled
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-socalled)
Solomon and Socalled's cast of musicians, including special guest. David Krakauer, turn an authentic Eastern European Jewish wedding, the khasene, into a hiphop extravaganza complete with old-school Yiddish freestylin' on the mike from shtetl-MC Michael Alpert. Come join the wedding party, share in ancient marriage rituals and celebrate the union of fiddle and microphone! The album also includes a special, exclusive remix from Smadj.

Baro Biao - Fanfare Ciocarlia
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fanfare-baro)
The Romanian Gypsy brass band

Iag Bari - Fanfare Ciocarlia
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fanfare-iag)
the 2001 release from the greatest of the Gypsy brass bands.

Radio Pascani - Fanfare Ciocarlia
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fanfare-radio)
The Romanian Gypsy brass band

FM 99.00 Dub Manifest - Fermin Muguruza
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-fermin1)

Ballads At The End Of Time / La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica Part Two - Boris Kovac and Ladaaba Orchest
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-kovac-ballads)
Just imagine: The morning after the apocalypse Are we still alive? We wonder. It would appear so. There“s no end to this world There“s no rest for the soul There“s no past There“s no future Now is eternal '

The Last Balkan Tango: An Apocalyptic Dance Party - Boris Kovac and Ladaaba Orchest
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-kovac-tango)
Contempory music from a dark wellspring of Balkan folk roots, offered by this composer/saxophonist and an orchestra of accordion, reeds, bass and more.

Real Nubian - Ali Hassan Kuban
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-kuban)
Cairo Wedding Classics from the king of Nubian pop

Live in Belgrade: The best trumpet of Guca - Boban Markovic Orkestar
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-markovic-live)
LIVE, the quintessestial Balkan brass band hits it hard and fast, and prove why they are one of the most noted of the genre.

In a Beirut Mood - Jalilah's Raks Sharki 6
$17.99
(cdRoots# hm-sharki-mood)

3: Journey of the Gipsy Dancer - Jalilah's Raks Sharki
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-sharki3)
with Musicians of the Nile, Sharkiat and Hossam Shaker

4: The Rhythm Workshop - Jalilah's Raks Sharki
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-sharki4)

5: Stars of the Casino Opera - Jalilah's Raks Sharki
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-sharki5)
with Ihsan Al-Mounzer

Shaatnez - Sephardic Songs of the Balkans - Ruth Yaakov Ensemble
$18.99
(cdRoots# hm-yaakov)
religious and secular music of the Sephardic Jews in the Balkans, most sung in Ladino