Part political rally, part Eastern European wedding and part chaos, a Gogol Bordello concert is a famously high-energy affair that’s not to be missed. The band’s sound is a genre-skipping grab bag, taking cues from traditional Gypsy music, punk rock, dub, metal and everything in between.
Holding this musical circus together is singer Eugene Hutz, who was born in the Ukraine but fled the country with his family after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. He spent the next seven years moving among refugee camps in Eastern Europe, picking up an array of cultural influences along the way.
“Ukraine is the center of Eastern Europe, so I was exposed to many of the elements of my music there,” he says. “The farther away I got, the more nostalgic I was for it.”
Eventually, Hutz’s family settled in Vermont and the singer soon moved to New York, where he hooked up with an international group of musicians—including a Russian accordion player, a Gypsy fiddler, an Israeli guitarist and an American drummer—to create a sound he often describes as “Gypsy punk cabaret.”
Hutz spoke with us about the challenges of bringing Gypsy culture to the masses, why Gogol Bordello was banned from some New York clubs and what it’s like to perform with Madonna.
How did you discover punk music growing up in the Ukraine?
The black market, baby!
Historically, a lot of people have looked down on Gypsies. Is part of your goal to change people's perception of Gypsy culture?
Historically a lot of people also worship Gypsies, so obviously they’ve never left anybody indifferent and they’ve certainly never bored anybody. But I guess there’s time for true information about Gypsy culture, history, crafts and music to arrive and reduce social hysteria around it.
Is it ever difficult to walk the line between educating and entertaining your fans?
That’s the best line to walk. If art is powerful, it will grasp the imagination of the widest spectrum of people. To not use that for education, what a fucking waste!
You're working on a movie with Madonna. What's it about?
It comes out in October. Wait until then and you’ll see.
What was it like sharing the stage with her at Live 8? Isn't her music the kind of thing that punk was rebelling against?
Everywhere we go, we bring our music with us in an un-dissolvable manner. It’s raw, acoustically driven troubadour music rooted in the Romani Gypsy tradition, and to have Madonna give it a spotlight and help us promote a new positive idea of Romanis is a big deal. Much thanks to her. I had all my Gypsy friends from Russia, Ukraine, Italy, France, Sweden and Brazil, calling me for weeks after we performed with her. It actually helped us move along some social issues, and that’s what punk rock is all about.
Gogol Bordello is known for its incredible live shows. Is there a tradition of showmanship in Gypsy culture?
Absolutely. It’s one of its main elements. It's all about outplaying everyone in sight.
Is it true that you were banned from some venues in New York City because your concerts were too raucous?
It is true. But when you push championship discipline to unthinkable levels of virtuosity, shit happens. The funny part is, those were the venues considered to be the most raucous in the city. Apparently not.
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