Kicking Brass

Thanks to a recent collaboration with the fabulous Mike Savino, I was tipped off about the annual Golden Festival (its official site is overloaded), a raucous all-night fete of Balkan and gypsy music held way uptown (near 207th and Broadway). It was a sweaty, brassy, stringy night in the company of upwards of 40 ensembles, headlined by the incomparable Zlatne Uste—a brass band that never takes the stage, sits down, or uses microphones, just blasts its kicking tunes in the center of a swirling dance floor. Savino was playing a more chambery gig with Ljova, a Russian violist with a seductively arrhythmic style. I won't miss this one again.