Tomislav Goluban – Kaj Blues Etno (Spona CD194, 2016)
Tomislav Goluban is one of the best harmonica players in Central Europe. His album Kaj Blues Etno divides the musical pieces into three types.
Kaj makes reference to Kajkavian, which is a Croatian dialect from Zagorje in Central Croatia. Here, Goluban delivers a mix of Kajkavian pop and folk combined with jazz.
The Blues songs are pretty self-explanatory. In this set, Goluban plays songs in Croatian and instrumentals in a delta and country blues format, with notable harmonica solos.
The last set, titled Etno, is what we would call world music or world fusion. Goluban performs traditional and original pieces where he combines blues with jazz and folk music. And, even though blues has been performed in many languages other than English before, the novelty here is that Tomislav Goluban incorporates traditional Croatian musical instruments into the mix such as tambura, bagpipe, and a few others.
Kaj Blues Etno includes numerous guests although the backbone of the band consists of Tomislav Goluban on harmonica, vocals; Adalbert Turner, Hana Hegedušić, Nikola Santro, Ivana Kurs Podvorec on vocals; Mike Sponza on guitar; Damir Halilić Hal on mandolin, guitar; Miroslav Evačić on tambura; Toni Starešinić on keyboards; Marko First on violin; Stjepan Večković on bagpipe, double flute; Damjan Grbac on double bass; and Branko Trajkov on percussions. Two ensembles also participate in the recording, the Zagrje Brass Quintet and Ansambl Zabok.
Tomislav Goluban is a prominent Croatian blues harmonica musician, who has been playing for two decades. He does solo, duo and full band performances. Goluban has won several of Croatia’s most prestigious annual national music awards. He’s the founder of the ethno blues festival in his home region of Zagorje, northwest of the Croatian capital of Zagreb; he also works with young people, exposing them to the harmonica and music in general and hosts a blues radio show on the Croatian national radio station.
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Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
