Gypsy Fever is back

Monkey Records presents Gypsy Fever 4! A wild night of all things East European and Gypsy featuring the Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band, The Jews Brothers, Club Manouche, DJ Balkanetic and DJ Rasa. The fourth instalment in the Gypsy Fever parties promises to be the best yet with a shift to the more spacious environment of the Kings Arms and a stellar line-up of three bands and two djs doing their best to sweep you off your feet with irresistible rhythms and sounds from Eastern Europe and beyond.

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The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band
Hailing from the slums and ghettos of Auckland (the Prague of the South), The Benka Boradovsky Bordello band is a highly theatrical musical group specialising in music of Eastern European, Gypsy and Jewish flavour, along with some Western European influences. With music ranging from old to new, originals to standards, vocal to instrumental; they are remarkable in their ability to get everyone up and dancing, regardless of age, musical taste, or level of drunkenness. Benka's globetrotting voice sings in a wide variety of languages, with lyrics in Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romani, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, English and more. If references are necessary, they sound like Tom Waits, Shane McGowan and Franz Kafka drunk too much vodka and thought they were in 1950's Yugoslavia.

The Jews Brothers
With a rare combination of virtuoso musicianship and wicked self parody, this eclectic, eccentric, energetic band from New Zealand radiates musical mischief and mayhem wherever it goes. Its exhilarating foot-stomping hand-clapping repertoire, both original and traditional features wild Eastern-European dance medleys, neo-40s' New York swing, gypsy "hot club", schmaltzy waltzes and funky dance grooves. If you can't dance to this band you gotta problem!

Club Manouche
Manouche is one of many French words for the Roma/Gypsy people. Club Manouche came together in Auckland, Nouvelle Zealand to play "manouche" style gypsy swing with two guitars and a bass. Gypsy Jazz (also known as "Gypsy Swing") is an idiom sometimes said to have been started by guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz." Club Manouche do play a few Rheinhardt tunes but the core of their music is comprised of Valses, an important component in the Gypsy jazz repertoire, Peruvian Tunes, French Chansons, re-interpretations of classics and their own original compositions.

DJ Balkanetic
As well as organising Gypsy Fever, DJ Balkanetic has been shaking dance-floors at festivals, clubs and parties around New Zealand for the last couple of years with a highly uplifting infectious blend of Balkan beats, klezmer and gypsy music.