All of Life Is There

The West Philly Orchestra looks to Balkanize the city.

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Nov 13, 2007

folk/world

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With virtually every three-block subsection of the city sneering with hipster civic pride/superiority, residents have long borne witness to the Balkanization of Philly. But for the last year, Gregg Mervine has taken that process literally, leading the West Philadelphia Orchestra, a 15-piece ensemble gathering its membership from the city's jazz, experimental, classical and indie scenes to play Balkan-inspired music. The band of gypsies now includes members of Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Normal Love and other local groups. The WPO recently released a compilation CD to commemorate its first anniversary and will be celebrating the milestone at Tritone this weekend. Percussionist/bandleader Mervine discussed being a West Philly gypsy via e-mail.

City Paper: How does a guy from West Philly end up playing Balkan music?

Gregg Mervine: I play klezmer and gypsy music with several New York-based bands, but I detest driving, especially up the turnpike on Saturday nights, so I decided to create a Philadelphia band. I made charts of my favorite tunes last summer — tunes from Romica Puceanu, Taraf de Haidouks, Bakije Bakic, Toni Iordachi, etc. — and organized a weekly jam session on my porch. Those original guys that stuck around became the core of the band — Janos Perge (violin), Jack Ohly (bass, tapon), Jacob Mitas (viola), Kimbal Brown (trumpet), Amnon Friedlin (accordion, guitar) and Brendan Cooney (banjo-cimbalom, trombone).

CP: What's the attraction of this music?

GM: Balkan music can rival the Sex Pistols in energy, Mavado in groove and Mingus and Liszt in terms of spontaneity, sophistication and expressivity. The groove, the sorrow of the melodies, the soul of the singers — all of life is there. Many groups play for the party alone, or emphasize the expressivity and lose the energy, but I like to go in all these directions at once, utilizing the contrasts. Because of the diversity of our musicians and the different ways we perceive music, this happens almost by accident. We encourage every musician to find their own voice within the context.

CP: What does West Philly have in common with the Balkans?

GM: Hmmm ... I'd need to write an essay to work this out. Simply, the music speaks to us, explains our lives and this world somehow. Many Balkan bands name themselves after their town (Etrapole Brass Band, Kocani Orkestar), so the name is conventional.

CP: What was your initial concept for the group, and how did that change as you gathered your membership?

GM: At first, I just wanted to understand and play traditional Balkan music better, then rock some house parties and popularize this amazing music. After saxophonist Elliot Levin, violinist Katt Hernandez, trombonist Larry Toft, and trumpeter Patrick Hughes joined, and some nice gigs came our way, we became more ambitious, allowing our imaginations some sway, and so now we're developing unconventional arrangements of traditional tunes and writing original material that takes inspiration from but isn't totally faithful to the southeastern European musical traditions. Now that we know the traditions, we're allowing ourselves creative license.

CP: How supportive has Philly been?

GM: We developed a supportive fan base really quickly, even before we played respectably well; we know how we could and should sound, whereas most folks don't. New crowds are always intrigued by the spirit of the music. We've ignited frenetic dance parties, and yet our strings have given calm, more spiritual concerts. The cosmos is with us too — for example, we bought a sousaphone for Steve Duffy to play for $100 at a thrift store in Norristown. And children really go crazy for us. Touring Philly's kindergarten classrooms would be the ultimate.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Sun., Nov. 18, 9 p.m., $5, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, tritonebar.com, myspace.com/westphiladelphiaorchestra.

 

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