The Pan Global Cargo of Darko Rundek

Mhm A-Ha Oh Yeah Da-Da is the latest release by Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar on Piranha Musik. The CD’s songs tell of the loneliness of exile, the placelessness of the internet, the reality of modern metropolis, and the utopia of a love that transcends all borders.

The title, Mhm A-Ha Oh Yeah Da-Da , is a pan-global translation of colloquial affirmation. While an indication of mutual understanding, many of the songs on the album focus on the struggle to find common linguistic ground, like the story of “Helga,” which recounts a budding romance between a German woman and a foreigner on the streets of Berlin, or the narrator in the opening track “U-Bahn,” who speaks in three different languages—French, German, and English—as he tries to navigate his way through a foreign train station.Musically, the songs on

Mhm A-Ha Oh Yeah Da-Da reflect the experimentation with
different influences that each band member brings. Refusing to be bound to one
particular style or language, the album ranges from the cabaret-like “Slick
Señorita” to the Balkan dance rhythms of “Kolo;” from the eerily poetic
atmosphere of “12 Ptica” to the slightly pornographic scat of “Wanadoo.”

Electronic musician Vedran Peternel, who first collaborated with Darko to
transmit radio broadcasts from a cargo ship in the Adriatic during the civil
war, provides samples and loops of acoustic instruments as the basis of many of
the songs.

Other musical collaborators include violinist Isabel; Dušan Vraniæ and Ðani Pervan, instrumentalists who were once flown
out of Sarajevo during the civil war; French double bass player Bruno Arnal;
French/Portuguese trombonist Emmanuel Ferraz; and Igor Pavlica, former trumpeter
of Haustor.

Also included is a bonus video track of “Svitanje,” a sentimental
homage to the perfect timelessness of love through the ages.

Buy

Mhm A-Ha Oh Yeah Da-Da.