Album Notes

Orkestar Zirkonium is a Balkan-inspired mobile brass-and-drum band cast through an American lens. Our repertoire includes songs on loan from Eastern Europe's phenomenal brass band tradition, as well as a number of original compositions.

Orkestar Zirkonium was founded by a core group of Seattle musicians in 2003, and has over the years accumulated over a dozen members. The band plays in a variety of incarnations and lineups; the versatile percussion section includes bass drum, snare, dumbek, and percussion instruments such as cymbals, tambourine, and qarqabats.

Our desire is to facilitate joyous musical spectacles in unexpected locales. Our performances range from the completely unsanctioned to the civically sponsored: We maraud through grocery stores, throw dance parties in fountains and parks, and take over parties as surprise (and, sometimes, invited) guests; we burst uninvited into taverns, play for families at city festivals, provide the soundtrack for underground casinos, and entertain wedding-goers.