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Description: The Turkish clarinet player and Romanian brass band play gypsy roots music.
Phone: 0871663 2500
Website: www.southbankcetre.co.uk
Extra info: Telephones, Air Conditioning, Pub, Food
Not what you would expect: Selim Sesler put on a steamy show
This is the third year of London’s Balkan Fever festival and it’s come of age. Saturday’s opening concert of Roma performers from Romania and Turkey was enlivened by some expats, but most people were simply fans of music that knows how to party.
Looking like a balding bank manager, clarinettist Selim Sesler seems an unlikely party animal — but his Turkish clarinet soars, swoops and dives like a bird over the choppy waters of the Bosphorous.
Party music like this can seem out of place on the stage, but Sesler’s playing is wonderfully sophisticated and engaging. His trio of violin, kanun zither and rattling darbuka drum kept things bubbling while he held his clarinet aloft and wiggled his paunch to indicate this was belly-dance music. The steamy solos seemed particularly appropriate on the hot night.
Finally, Romania’s Fanfare Vagabontu, the support band, returned to lead people, pied piper-like, out into the foyer. The brass band had seemed awkward in a line on stage but here they were in their element playing the crowd who revelled around them. The Balkan fever kicked in.
A lithe young woman in a pork-pie hat and flowery dress started dancing to tease wild solos out of Sesler and the trumpeters. Squeals and whoops all round. It might have been the Balkans — the long queue for a drink and the lack of cigarette smoke were the only giveaways.
Festival continues until 6 June
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
