Grandmothers and frogs may not be the preferred Thursday night companions, but the Bosnian folk-rock band, Zabe i Babe, which literally translates into that elderly amphibious mix, is performing in Brace Commons tonight.
Far better than their name implies, which is really equivalent to the American expression "apples and oranges," Zabe i Babe will perform an eclectic medley of songs from their debut album, Drumovi.
The songs are a blend of techno, rock and folk music, many of which are extremely catchy. The band bills its style as "Balkan vocals dosed with Gypsy dance beats and hard core rock."
Sarejevo native and now Dartmouth College Music Professor Minja Lausevic formed the band in 1992 for a Yale University symposium on music and politics in Eastern Europe, and it has continued to perform ever since.
"It just seemed to work. All the people in the band enjoyed the music and there was a strange and interesting energy about it ... it wound up being a lot of fun," band member Tim Eriksen told The Dartmouth.
Eriksen said the band's music varies from traditional Bosnian fare to selections influenced by the United States.
"Our take on the music is certainly influenced by our individual experiences," Eriksen said. "We have two sides, the traditional unaccompanied singing and the pop music side."
With almost twenty tracks, this band covers an extremely unique spectrum of styles on its single album.
"It's definitely true that no band would play the variety that we play," Eriksen said. "The idea was really to show some of the variety of music."
Several of the songs from the album come from traditional, folk Balkan music.
"Traditional music plays a much more central role in the [Bosnian] culture. There are a number of songs there that hundreds of bands play which ultimately came from the Gypsies."
Eriksen said one of the band's goals is to show a different Bosnian face than the common American vision of the war-torn former Yugoslavia. "Part of [Lausevic's] intention was to represent something from the region other than the violence ... presented from the media."
Eriksen said the band is well known in the Balkan nation and often gathers a wide and diverse audience.
"At shows we have Americans and people from the former Yugoslavia ... it's been getting a lot of attention world wide."
The Dartmouth concert is being filmed for broadcast on Bosnian television.
The other members of the band are drummer Peter Irvine, vocalist Donna Kwon and fiddler and vocalist Rani Arbo. Eriksen is another vocalist and plays the guitar and bass. Lausevic plays the keyboard and sings.
Eriksen said students should attend the performance expecting to be more involved in the music than they might expect.
"It sounds a little exotic because the only images of Bosnia we have are these distant, smoky ones but the fact is the music is really inviting and creates a party. They should expect to have a good time."
