Balkan Beat Box hail from a specific place—Israel—but their sound is global in the truest possible sense. Their deeply heterogenous music trips readily through hip-hop, pop, and dance, sure, but they also also interpolate klezmer, reggae, salsa, cumbia—we can keep going on this if you want, but in the interest of keeping this thing short, we’ll just say that these dudes haven’t met a sound they didn’t want to try out.
On April 22, they’ll hit the UC Theatre Taube Family Music Hall in Berkeley on the first night of a North American tour presented by FLOOD and the non-profit Stupid Cancer. Should you find yourself in attendance, you can enter to win a BBB prize pack that includes a fresh vinyl copy of their new album, Shout It Out, as well as a Crosley table upon which to play it.
In preparation for the tour, Balkan Beat Box invited their fans to remix Shout It Out’s title track, and today we’re pleased to be premiering the winners—who, somewhat fittingly, hail from different continents, neither of which is the band’s home continent. Shout-outs are due to Steve B. Isaac from New York and Cantine Garruto from Torino, Italy, whose mixes were chosen from among the entrants to the contest, which was hosted by Indaba. Give ’em both a listen below, and pick up your tickets for the tour here.
