Album Notes

LUMINESCENT ORCHESTRII IS: Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty
tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats
and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins,
resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and bass.

The members of the Orchestrii come from different scenes in New York
City, yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music.
Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an
old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer,
and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist. It is not uncommon to find
Sxip playing tampon applicators with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus,
Rima composing music for a Lorca puppet show, Benjy schlepping his
bass to a jazz gig, or Sarah fiddling away at some all-night old-time
session.



Since 2002, when the band was formed, the Luminescent Orchestrii has
toured the East Coast, England, Scotland, and Germany, and have
traveled to Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Serbia for inspiration.
They most recently returned from Serbia's Dragočevo Trumpet Festival,
a 47-year-old festival that takes place in the small town of Guča,
where hordes of competing gypsy brass bands take to the streets and
restaurants.

"The balancing of frenzy and finesse is evidently a trademark
Luminescent Orchestrii approach, displayed to its utmost in the
insanely frenetic dance tunes... The three violins flirt willfully
with a cacophony teasingly offset by elegant classical flourishes,
swirling and eddying above the rhythm section's bruisingly aggressive
but sharply-aimed attack. ****" -- The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland)



The Luminescent Orchestrii has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival (UK), The Spitz (UK), The Blue Note (Germany) , Malzhauz
(Germany), The Trowbridge Festival (UK), The Orkney Islands (UK), The
Penn State Arts Festival (USA), The Lake Eden Arts Festival (USA), The
Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival (USA), The Knitting Factory (NYC),
Joe's Pub (NYC), The DUMBO Arts Festival (NYC), The Brooklyn Museum of
Art, and many underground parties in New York City.