Ismail Lumnovski & Inspector Gadje
Ismail Lumanovski (mastermind of New York Gypsy All-Stars) + Inspector Gadje released their debut album Live At Kafana Balkan in March of 2017. There’s been a buzz from the start for this pairing, which consistently draws sold out crowds propelled by high energy, soaring, funky, dirty, ecstatic brass. The New York Times called Lumanovski a "brilliant, fearless young clarinetist, “ and the San Francisco Chronicle calls Gadje "An instant party atmosphere..." so you can imagine the virtuosity and sway this dynamic project inspires.
"The Bay Area’s powerhouse Balkan brass ensemble..." - San Jose Mercury News
"...how to keep culture alive through partying..." 48 Hills
Inspector Gadje
With up to 14 musicians (12 horns and 2 percussionists), Bay Area-San Francisco-based Inspector Gadje brings a big sound to the beautiful and bumpin’ brass band music of the Balkans of south-eastern Europe. Hearing Inspector Gadje is love at first listen. The driving, tight groove of low brass and drums with soaring melodies from trumpets, saxophones, and clarinet incite joy and dance from the very first downbeat. Inspector Gadje ignites the dance floor and makes the party wherever they play, be it clubs (including notable venues such as the MGM Arena, Fox Theater, Palace Of Fine Arts, The Independent, Ashkenaz, Café du Nord, The New Parish, Rickshaw Stop, and Yoshi’s to name a few) weddings, parties, and street festivals.
Original inspiration for the group came from many years of collaboration between the Brass Liberation Orchestra (BLO), a progressive social activist street band, and the Voice of Roma, a non-profit organization that supports Romani community and cultural causes world-wide.
The New Album :: Live at Kafana Balkan
Two years into their cross cultural and continental collaboration, Inspector Gadje and Ismail Lumanovski are set to release their first CD together on March 4th 2017. There’s been a buzz from the start for this pairing, which consistently draws sold out crowds for all-night sweat soaked dance parties propelled by high energy, soaring, funky, dirty, ecstatic brass. Now those sounds, energy, excitement, sweat, drama, love and emotion can in some way make it out of the live dance party and into the party anywhere with a sound system.
While Lumanovski and Inspector Gadje each stand tall as performers in their own right, together they have a certain synergy and magic that take their music to new heights. Tight and adventurous arrangements, grooves that get under the skin and into the feet, and epic solos come together for music that touches the heart, stirs the soul, and moves the body.
ismail lumanovski
The extraordinary clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski is a musical force of passion and dynamic virtuosity. Already of international distinction, Lumanovski has launched a major career as a soloist, chamber musician in both classical and Balkan styles. Blending the firey spirit of folk music with the discipline of classical music, his performances throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Korea and China have received uproarious critical acclaim.
Lumanovski performs internationally, leads the New York Gypsy Allstars, and is perhaps the first Roma clarinet player to graduate from the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Time Out New York remarked that he’s "A showboat of a performer . . . an adventurous, modern-minded front man," while the New York Times has waxed poetic about his musical prowess.