Balkan beats come to Pitt this Sunday

Balkan Beat Box Sunday, 8:30 p.m. William Pitt Union (412) 648-7814 Free… Balkan Beat Box Sunday, 8:30 p.m. William Pitt Union (412) 648-7814 Free with student ID

There’s a new sound emanating from the New York underground these days. It’s not the garage rock of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or even the classic punk that made CBGBs the stuff of legend. Instead, the newest product of the city’s thriving indie scene is Mediterranean-flavored electronica, and it’s making its way to Pittsburgh.

This Sunday, the William Pitt Union will open its doors to the traveling sextet known as Balkan Beat Box. The event is sponsored by the Hillel Jewish University Center as part of this weekend’s welcome back festivities and is free with a valid student ID.

Though the touring band consists of six multi-instrumentalists, Balkan Beat Box began as the vision of just two men: Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan. The project started a few years ago, when Muskat and Kaplan played together in the band Firewater.

A collaborative project with Gogol Bordello got the Israeli duo thinking about a partnership of their own, and Balkan Beat Box was born.

“It kind of started as a fun thing to do for our DJ nights and it evolved into a full, encompassing life project. It’s who we are and where we came from – relating to the Mediterranean and the Middle East and the political education,” Kaplan said in a recent interview with The Pitt News.

With roots steeped in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is almost assumed that the efforts of Balkan Beat Box must have political undertones. That, however, is not its main agenda.

“First of all, we’re musicians,” contested Kaplan, “we’re not politicians.” That said, the music they make and the people with whom they make it send a serious message. “With the music we can create this utopia. We wish for peace and we wish for dialogue. And we do it ourselves in our daily lives with our guests, with our musicians.”

Clearly, the music Balkan Beat Box creates has definitive, far-reaching goals. As for the creative process, Kaplan describes the method as being anything but definitive.

“There’s no set way. It’s a very non-traditional way of working. Tamir [Muskat] is on the computer and we shift things. But everybody’s come from such an organic, acoustic background that the end result is that people think the record is almost a live show.”

It’s this organic vibe that earned the band a slot at this summer’s Bonnaroo music festival, a melting pot of musical talent and variety.

In a sense, Balkan Beat Box represents a microcosm of the same musical diversity. Their influences range from Arabic pop to North African tribal beats to American hip-hop.

“I love Missy Elliot. I like Sean Paul,” Kaplan said. Despite taking inspiration from such dissimilar sources, the final product of Balkan Beat Box proves to be far greater than the sum of its parts.

While the distinct influences can be heard on each track of the band’s self-titled debut, the sounds have a way of melding together to create an eclectic yet cohesive high-energy sound.

By collaborating with an international assortment of musicians, Balkan Beat Box is able to add a worldly flavor to both studio work and live shows. But that’s not the only perk of engaging in the global music community. In fact, Kaplan admitted that the best part of Balkan Beat Box had less to do with the music than with the people creating it.

“We have a lot of amazing friends, all over the world. From Japan to Turkey to Brazil to Australia, we have a lot of fans and work with a lot of great artists. It’s not a band in a box. It’s like an extended family of artists, with a similar idea,” Kaplan said.

So what should students expect from this Sunday’s family reunion? In short, a good time. “The live shows are very exciting. It’s kind of a circus vibe to it, and a party atmosphere,” Kaplan said, adding, “It’s very exciting, very wild.”