When Worlds Collide

Slavic Soul Party To Play At UD’s Boll Theater

If you were unable to catch the infectious rhythms, the blazing horn lines and the irrepressible energy of Slavic Soul Party during the most recent Cityfolk festival, you have another opportunity coming up on Thursday September 18th at the Boll Theater on the University of Dayton Campus. I was able to interview Matt Moran, bandleader of Slavic Soul Party, and I we discussed how they were received in Dayton at the Cityfolk festival, the nature or Slavic Soul Party’s definitive sound as well as future projects. As for their previous performance in Dayton, Matt and the group have fond memories of the festival.

“The crowd danced the whole time, and didn't want us to stop playing.” Matt recounted. “We left the stage and played in the audience at the end, and people were freaking out.”

When asked to describe Slavic’s peculiar mix of influences and general sound to the uninitiated, Matt expressed it thusly:

“Balkan/Funk/Gypsy/Soul.” Matt described. “The kind of music that's irresistible; it's familiar yet new. It's catchy. It makes you want to dance because the nine people playing it are right in front of your face working their butts off and having a great time.”

While a lot of groups that run the periphery of the world music scene seem to reverberate with multiple influences layered on top of one another, Slavic Soul Party appears to prefer deconstructing the sound until they are left with the purity and the whole essence of energy that has become their signature expression.

“We’ve got such a richness in what we do already; using Balkan brass, Gypsy accordion, American Funk, Hip-hop rhythms and jazz improvisation, and all the other sounds that seep in to your consciousness when you live in New York’s outer boroughs.” Matt stated. “Why try and force another intellectual agenda on it? We've got everything we need right here in our band and in our ears.”

Most groups, regardless of what genre, seem to succumb to the siren song of overproduction. Matt and the group are keenly aware of this pitfall and make a very conscious effort to avoid it.

“I'm really not a fan of the producer's idea to throw a couple different genres together - the "this on top of that" concept. I'm all about working influences deep inside of you, and then letting them come out organically. So the best collaborations come from within the band; Peter's Serbian accordion and my American grooves or John's jazz improvisations over a driving oompah groove from the low brass.”

As for Slavic Soul Party’s future works, Matt described what they have been working on recently.

“We're developing a new body of work with vocalist Eva Salina with totally new settings of very old traditional Balkan songs.” he said. “These are heartbreakingly gorgeous songs, and we're going to make them grind and jump and groove in a totally new way. Dayton's going to get a little foreshadowing of this project. Eva will be with us and we'll be playing a few of our new pieces.” He went on to detail what concertgoers could expect. “We've got lots of East European traditional tunes in our repertoire! Scores of them. From anthems like Djelem, Djelem to hits like Mesecina to little known gems like Rusi Kosi.”

With the group touring all around the world, I just knew that Matt had to have a litany of stories that bordered on Spinal Tap moments. Matt obliged, providing me with several highlights of their world travels.

“On the way from Istanbul to Serbia, the band stays at a funky, very cool little hostel in Sofia, Bulgaria.” he began. “We thought we had this two-room area to ourselves, so we come in after an amazing meal of Bulgarian monastic cuisine very late and a little, let's say... liberated. Of course we're loud.” Matt recounts. “Well, it turns out that on the other side of a curtain that we thought covered a wall, there was a sleeping Russian women's basketball team that had to get up really early.”

Just be thankful I chose not to put in the one about the "naked medieval English man.”
With their sometimes hectic schedule and their variety of interests, I wondered what they did in their free time, if in fact they got any free time.

“Everyone leads a very calm life in New York.” Matt stated simply. “Usually, when we're not playing together, we're reading translations of Russian novels on our stoops or trying to find the perfect temperature to brew Oolong tea at.”

Slavic Soul Party will be appearing at the Kennedy Union’s Boll Theater on the University of Dayton’s campus at 300 College Park on September 18th at 8:00pm. Tickets are available online at artseries.udayton.edu or by calling (937) 229-2545. You can also check out Slavic Soul Party’s music at slavicsoulparty.com.

(This article originally appeared in the Dayton City Paper.)