Balkan Taksim - Zalina

Song of the Day
Hosted by Kevin Cole
This week's picks for Song of the Day were chosen by Kevin Cole, host of The Afternoon Show on KEXP, highlighting standout artists from the 2020 Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, Netherlands. Today's Song of the Day is “Zalina” by Balkan Taksim, a 2019 self-released single.
photo by Andra Hera
written by Janice Headley

True to their name, Balkan Taksim take the traditional folk music of their homeland and combine it with psychedelic electronic beats that their Romanian ancestors never could've imagined. Formed by multi-instrumentalist Sașa-Liviu Stoianovici and producer Alin Zăbrăuțeanu, the band thrive on stage, hypnotizing the hips of the audience. 

In a press release, Stoianovici explains that today's featured track is "about a strong-minded, beautiful girl and a man who is desperately in love with her. Musically, the song epitomises some of the directions we're pursuing, with its Romanian traditional vocals and keyboard stylings and laid-back yet dance floor-oriented trip-hop electronics." 

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