Ferus Mustafov - King Ferus (1992)

The Rom (Gypsies) moved into the Balkans in the 14th century from India, and their musical contribution to a landscape already teeming with Eastern European, Greek and Turkish styles is a ferocious virtuosity of form and function. As expected, these songs are incredibly complex, with stuttering beats, fragmented horn figures and endlessly circling reeds. Ferus rides the style like a rocket, but one that never reaches escape velocity -- he's a lot less jazz-influenced than Ivo Papasov, for example. . The album also features amazing accordion© Carl Hoyt /TiVo