press

Album Onderweg/En Route van Ik en den Theo: review op Boekrecensies Blog

14/09/2022 - 11:00

"Ideal to break the routine when you have to sit in the car for a long time (...) But as said, you can sing the songs just as well alone and together on the bike. In public transport, of course, is another story..."

Marga van der Vet wrote a nice review for the new album Onderweg / En Route by Ik en den Theo on Boekrecensies Blog.

To read the full review: click on Boekrecensiesblog or on the pdf-document on the right.

4 étoiles ★★★★☆ pour Mec Yek et son nouvel album Taisa dans Songlines!

17/03/2022 - 16:15

"One of the most notable influences is jazz; the sax and trumpet solos interweave in very satisfying counterpoint underpinned by the rhythm section of percussion, bass and accordion (…) A wide musical catchment that reflects the group’s diverse backgrounds as well as the itinerant heritage of the Roma people"

An excellent article awarding 4 stars to Mec Yek’s new album: "Taisa", by Tom Newel in the English magazine Songlines !

Read the full article by clicking on the link on the right!

A 3-star review for the new Mec Yek album Taisa in RnR Magazine

21/01/2022 - 16:45

Taisa revels in its jauntiness, whilst the band are adept at providing restless rhythms amidst a joyful approach that would excite any audience

A great 3-star review of Mec Yek's new album Taisa by Simon Roxland in the English RnR Magazine!

Read the full review by clicking the link on the right.

Taisa enters the World Music Charts Europe at #9

09/12/2021 - 18:30

We need more champagne!

Our album Taisa by Mec Yek has also made it to #9 in the - very prestigious -World Music Charts Europe

We're in the Top 10, can you believe it?!

And we're in the good company of fellow Belgians from Tamala, produced by Muziekpublique, who rank at #8

See the whole listing of 20 tracks and artists at https://wmce.de

THE WMCE are radio-Worldmusic-specialists from twentyfour European countries who select their individual top ten favourites out of current Worldmusic releases from their playlists and the top ten is then published as the WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE.

Mec Yek made it into the Transglobal World Music Chart

03/12/2021 - 18:00

Happy to announce that our album Taisa by Mec Yek made it's debut in the Transglobal World Music Chart!

Sparkling new at #34.

Have a look at the full list on the Transglobal World Music Chart Website

Mec Yek new album Taisa review by MixedWorldMusic.com

03/12/2021 - 16:30

Katia en Milka kunnen een keel opzetten van je welste, maar ook zo verleidelijk koeren dat het de luisteraar week wordt in de benen

"Katia and Milka can put on a throat of your finest, but also coo so seductively that it makes the listener go week in the legs"

Thank you for the appreciation MixedWorldMusic.com!
About our album Taisa by Mec Yek :

"Katia and Milka can raise a throat like a jack-in-the-box, but can also coo so seductively that the listener's legs go numb. The men of Jaune Toujours not only provide propulsive and cleverly arranged ensemble playing as backing, but also fine soloistic interventions on accordion, soprano sax, clarinet or trumpet."

Read the full review (in Dutch) at MixedWorldMusic.com!

Small p.s. for the purists among us: the review mentions Macedonian traditionals, but that should be Roma traditionals, more specifically from the Romungri tradition.

And Roma as in the (gypsy) people, not the Italian city.

Amazing review by Seuras Og for At The Barrier

30/11/2021 - 18:30

Manic and maverick Roma ska-punk gypsy jazz from Belgium, without a violin in sight

Well... It doesn't happen very often, but this review has left us speechless for a moment.

Only once in a very while is a band lucky enough to be reviewed by a big eared listener like Seuras Og. He somehow managed to pinpoint some of the exact influences and intentions song by song.

Thank you for this At The Barrier.

We really want to encourage you to read the whole thing, so we've chosen a general quote to get your appetite up, but please read through until desert:

"But this is no sanitised curio brought out for chin stroking WOMAD bean munchers(*), this is rough, ready and raw, akin to Les Negresses Vertes at their most alarming, the vocals savage and untutored, the whole reminiscent of the streets in a mediterranean port that you probably should avoid, the smell of sweat, cheap perfume and drains that fully show just how long it has been since the Romans came. These, I should add, are all good things, with a hefty dollop of Balkan influence, some ska and anything else the cat brought in. Heady stuff!"

*WOMAD bean munchers, we love you though and hope to have the opportunity to come back to perform for you amongst the other WOMAD Festival-ers

Read it HERE

A little p.s. is needed to point out that we never intended to make a difference between Katia and Milka in the vocal/voice section, as Seuras suspects. That must be a typo in the press release and is not stated this way in the artwork with the CD. They are both equal front women and needless to say we're immensely proud to have them.