Kerekes Band - Pimasz (Ethno Funk) (2006)

An irresistible groove of tumbling bass-lines, driving drums and wildly spiralling flute riffs. The cover dubs the music ‘Ethno Funk’ (they themselves call it ‘Magyar Funk’) and shows a cartoon picture of a man in a John Travolta Saturday Night Fever pose with flared trousers and Hungarian traditional dress. Need I say more?
Well, the band was formed in 1995 and have paid their homage and their dues to their country's musical roots. From the opening track, 'Csango Boogie', they take their traditional instruments - the koboz (lute), aviola (with a flattened bridge to allow three strings to be played at once) and the flute (played by virtuoso player and band leader Zsombor Feher) - on a fantastic musical voyage that skirts punk, funk and dance, with traditional Hungarian music and some fine drumming and production underpinning it. The band must absolutely rock live.
With its swirling pipes the music reminds one a little of Afro Celt Sound System, but it has a rougher edge and can also tone it down to a gentleness, as shown in 'Searching' and the quasi-dubby 'Ket Pasztor', both of which find it impossible not to build up the sound in their second halves. Although fused with energy and dynamism, the CD is a slightly relentless listening experience if taken in one sitting, but it's a shot in the arm in short bursts. This band is certainly one to catch.