What the press has to say about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes

 

Image of the Taos News Tempo Magazine October 18, 2012 clipping about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm) Design © 2013 Modal Music, Inc. (tm) All rights reserved.

 

Taos News Tempo Magazine
October 18, 2012 clipping.

 

Image of the Pioneer Press April 21, 2011 clipping about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm)

 

Pioneer Press
April 21, 2011 clipping.

 

Image of the Wabeno Forest Republican August 3, 2011 clipping about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm)

 

Wabeno Forest Republican
August 3, 2011 clipping.

 

Evanston Round Table November 23, 2011 Review of On The World Beat

 

On the World Beat” begins with “Ushti, Ushti, Baba,” a folk song that enacts the moment in a wedding when a young woman’s dowry is brought out and she will be soon leaving her home. Addictively energetic, it is a lilting Balkan Rom tune that demands to be danced to. The kaval is prominent, as are the horn (Peter Bartels) and tuba (Steven Hart).

 

Sala, Sala” – is next, a busy, chromatically built Greek folk tune. The tune climbs up and descends around its center in half steps; without the resolution of the kind Western ears are used to, its forward motion is nonetheless compelling.

 

The most moving song is “Djelem, Djelem,” adopted as the “International Anthem of the Romani People” at the First World Romani Congress in London in 1971. The tune is based on that of a traditional Serbian Romani love song. The lyrics by Zarko Ivanovich begin, “I have travelled long roads” and express grief for the many killed by the Nazis and urge the Roma people to “stand up” and succeed. The chorus, a double repetition of “Ay Romale, Ay Chavale,” is a call to their people: “Oh, Roma / Oh, brothers!” Words and melody both are haunting and memorable.

 

The Distler-Doehrer family plays an astonishing number of instruments; Jutta sings and plays mandolin, guitar and fiddle; Terran plays kaval, guitar, percussion, and sings; daughter Zoï plays percussion and also sings.

 

The kaval is a wind instrument, an end-blown flute played in the Balkans, Turkey, Hungary and northern Greece. Mr. Doehrer says his is styled after the Bulgarian instrument, though it is tuned to concert C rather than the more common D. His instrument has adaptations such as an offset final hole for ease in playing. “Elision is much easier with the fingers flat on,” says Mr. Doehrer. The concert C tuning, which lengthens the instrument, gives it a “deeper, richer tone … darker and warmer.”

 

Other tunes on the CD are the klezmer song, “Der Rebbe ist Gegangen”; “Ven Ermoza,” a Sephardic song; “Din Al Fatar,” a Bulgarian / Rumanian tune in 7/8 time and “Twelfth Street Rag,” an American Dixieland tune by Euday Bowman, which sounds just a little different, but no less entertaining, when played with a kaval. The bleak intoning at the beginning of “Valravnen,” a Danish medieval tryllevise, or “magic ballad,” lightens, becoming danceable.

 

On the World Beat” is an exceptionally interesting and enjoyable CD. For all the different origins of its songs, one attribute stands out: All of them insist that their listeners start toe-tapping, hand-clapping or finger-snapping, and finally, that they get up and dance.

 

— Natalie Wainwright,
Arts and Life reviewer

 

Image of page one of two of the Evanston Round Table November 23, 2011 clipping about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm)

 

Evanston Round Table
November 23, 2011 clipping, page one of two.

 

Image of page two of two of the Evanston Round Table November 23, 2011 clipping about Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm)

 

Evanston Round Table
November 23, 2011 clipping, page two of two.

 

  • Photo of Jutta & the Hi-Dukes leading a dance

 

Videos by Earth Star Graphics (tm). Web design, photos, videos, band names, company name, and text © 2013, Modal Music, Inc. (tm). All rights reserved. Duet photo by Wally Reichert. © 2003 Modal Music, Inc. Trio photo by Betina Distler. © 2012 Modal Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Quartet photo by Rumiana Shumanov. © 2009, Modal Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Quintet photo by Jim Godsey. © 2010 Modal Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Banner image of dance class © 2012 Modal Music, Inc. All rights reserved. All other photos, unless otherwise indicated, © Modal Music, Inc. Audio sound recordings and Video sound recordings (P) performance rights Modal Music, Inc. (tm). All rights reserved. “Modal Music, Inc.”, “Modal Music”, “Modal Music Records”, “Modal Music Market”, “Modal Market”, “Fine ethnic entertainment since 1988”, “Quality entertainment since 1988”, “Jutta & the Hi-Dukes”, “Jutta & the Hi-Duke”, “Hi-Dukes”, “Hi-Duke”, “Euro Roots World Music”, “Euro Roots”, “Balkan Gypsy Dixie Klezmer”, “Balkan Beats”, “Meet Your Neighbor’s Folk Music”, “Ethnorobics”, “On The World Beat”, “Ensemble M’chaiya”, “M’chaiya”, “Chicago’s Original Klezmer Band”, “Chicago’s Original Revival Klezmer Band”, “Trad Roots and New Beats to move the heart and feet”, “Trad Roots and Gypsy Beats to move your heart and feet”, “Terran’s Greek Band”, “Greek Music Beyond Boundaries”, “Old style acoustic Greek dance music”, “Nordland Band”, “Nordland”, “Warm music from cool lands to melt your heart”, “Two For Tea”, “Les Beaux Chemins”, “Balkan Rhythm Band”, “The Jazziest Balkan Dance Band Around”, “Razzemetazz”, “Swingin’ Pop From The Past”, “Swingin’ Songs From The Golden Era Of Pop”, “World Hillbilly Swing Band”, and “Globe Toddlers” are all trademarks of Modal Music, Inc. (tm). All rights reserved.

 

Terran @ HiDukes dot com / ModalMusic @ juno dot com / Info @ ModalMusic dot com
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