WOMAD

Mitsoura

From Hungary

You’ve got to admire the sense of adventure shown by those Eastern European bands previously obscured by that impenetrable Iron Curtain. With democracy came a clearer view and exposure to sounds from beyond the Bloc (which were then rapidly assimilated). The ragga-ified Bucovina Club gave the region’s cross-pollinating music a wider stage, while the recent Gypsy Beats & Balkan Bangers compilation (co-authored by one half of Basement Jaxx) has further shown how dance music culture has made easterly progress. And then there’s Hungarian outfit Mitsoura. A six-piece from the throbbing musical epicentre of Budapest, they may come with a discernible local accent (plenty of fiddles, the odd splash of clarinet) but their sound is a transglobal one, strongly influenced in particular by the music of India. In fact, when the bubbling tablas and banging dholaks kick in on the bass-heavy bigger numbers, we’re rather reminded of Asian Dub Foundation (but with the yappy rapping replaced by singer Mitsou’s distinctive helium-filled vocals). Ambient and contemplative one moment, thrusting and anthemic the next – Mitsoura show there’s more to modern dance music than four-to-the-floor uniformity.In A Few Words… How they make dance music in Hungary