Brass Menažeri (pronounced “Menagerie”) is San Francisco’s original & hottest Balkan Romani (“Gypsy”) Brass Band. Our music cascades through Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Greece & even Rajasthan with wild rhythms, new sensibilities, innovative arrangements & original compositions, expanding the traditions while we remain rooted within them.
Directed by trumpeter & clarinetist Peter Jaques, Brass Menazeri unites the Bay Area’s foremost interpreters & reimaginers of the Balkan traditions.
a coupla video samples:
Long before the current Balkan brass music craze was iconified by crossover artists like Beirut and NY’s Balkan Beat Box, the nine musicians of the San Francisco Bay Area’s powerhouse Brass Menažeri Balkan Brass Band were already getting deep into the tradition, developed over centuries by the Rom (Gypsy) communities of Serbia, Macedonia and Greece, which yields music as alive with ecstatic celebration as with despairing laments. The band draws on many of the characteristics common throughout the Balkans: brazen horn lines, odd-metered rhythms, riveting, close harmonies, soulful improvisations, and a mission to make people dance.
Now a wider audience is taking notice, as Brass Menažeri’s powerful performances drive some of the most fresh and exciting live shows in the Bay Area, including SF Weekly’s “Best Crazed Gypsy Brass Band Dance Party”, Kafana Balkan, that has packed most of San Francisco’s venues over its 3 year history.
The reissue of their 2008 album Vranjski San (Vranje Dream) showcases the collective’s exuberant, road-tightened sound and repertoire of traditional Balkan music with songs in Rromanes, Bosnian and Greek languages complemented by original compositions and Indian rhythms. Vranjski San is a piece of 21st century international music brought to you from the burgeoning Bay Area arts scene by Brass Menazeri and Porto Franco Records.
credits:
- Winner of the SF Weekly’s 2008 Music awards in the “Best International Band” category!
- Headlined Vancouver BC’s Trubaci Brass Festival, 2011.
- Co-Headlined first ever Seattle Folk Festival, 2010.
- Seven sold out “Kafana Balkan” shows at Rickshaw Stop, SF (capacity 500) since 2008.
- Headlined & sold out SF’s historic Great American Music Hall, 2008.
- Performed at Monterey Jazz Festival, 2008.
members:
- Peter Jaques, director, clarinet & truba (rotary flugelhorn)
- Briget Boyle (Kitka), vocals & snare drum
- Sheldon Brown (Clarinet Thing; formerly of Club Foot Orchestra, Omar Sosa), alto saxophone + Eb clarinet
- Darren Johnston (Nice Guy Trio, Reasons for Moving, & much more), trumpet
- Larry Leight (Emily Anne’s Dlights, Tin Cup Serenade), trombone
- Rachel MacFarlane, vocals & baritone horn
- Eric Oberthaler (Sweet Can, ArcheDream for Humankind, Gamelan X), trumpet
- Michele Simon (Helladelics, formerly of Kitka, Anoush), tupan & vocals
- Evan Stuart, sousaphone
- Alex Zendzian, baritone horn
