KAL (Serbia)

Rock'n'Roma: These gypsy rebels from Belgrade show us how to mesh their Balkan gypsy heritage with today‘s indie-rock world. "Kal" means "black" in Romanes – and it’s not merely an allusion to the leather jackets the band wears, but also to the dismal suburbs they come from.

KAL has played in all the small clubs along the Danube. International success came with a # 1 on the World Music charts in 2006. Front man Dragan Ristic makes old Roma music traditions for today’s audiences. Skillfully weaving elements of hip-hop, dub-delays in the otherwise fiddle and accordion-dominated music – underscored with a dose of the political. Ristic: "don’t expect me to be just a musician."