Zoran Predin and The Gypsy Swing Band

The new album by Zoran Predin "Pod srečno zvezdo" ("Under a Lucky Star") has been released.

Predin's newest album Pod srečno zvezdo (Under a Lucky Star) presents Zoran in his top shape as an author. It is a fact that in a global genre like gypsy swing vocals like Zoran's are a rare sight, and the album also introduces some atypical instruments and a significantly different sound production.

Of course everything would be in vain had not album also included intriguing, top notch poetic lyrics and melodies. This time Predin and his outstanding band of musicians have a great deal to offer. The album opens with Čez pol stoletja (In Half a Century), a musical vision of the future, where Predin summons the love of his current life to join him in the next. They will both forget everything they know, so this will not be simple to achieve. The next song is Od četrtka na pon'deljek (Thursday to Monday), a witty description of how new earrings and a tattoo around one's belly button might come to be. This is followed by the title track Pod srečno zvezdo (Under a Lucky Star), which is, at this moment, certainly a musical curiosity in the Slovenian music production – such musicianship and atmosphere definitely cannot be found anywhere else at this moment. This is a timeless ballad, bound to embrace and console us again and again. Nova metla (New Broom) is a typical non compromising gypsy swing, which demonstrates all the attributes of this musical genre, demanding superior instrumentalists and powerful musicianship, through an excellent arrangement by the rhythm guitar player Rok Predin, exquisite solos of the guitarist Igor Bezget and rolling rhythms of double bass player Nikola Matošič and drummer Gašper Bertoncelj. A musical saw by Boštjan Gombač opens the ballad Moj vsakdanji kruh (My Daily Bread), which describes the mental state of Slovenia in the year 2006. It is more of a social than political song and it has already evoked several ovations during its live performances. The next track, Alfa samec (Alpha Male), was forbidden in its first version – placed on the black lists of radio stations, so this version depicts our fallen deity even more precisely. Witty and cheerful. Bilečanka (Song of Bileća) is like a light at the end of the tunnel, bringing us back to safety, among honest people. In perhaps the most catchy riff of the track Rompompom, Predin takes up the role of a musical guide, showing us through the song and advising us during the individual parts about where we are and what we should pay attention to. Entertaining and catchy. We can hardly wait for live performances. Frizerska narodna (Hairdressers' Folk Song) is a mega hit with the potential of Predin's song Lidija – an ironic and sarcastic tune about the state of mind in our country. It compares Slovenia to an ass, which has cracked in half and is thus caught in constant quarrels. The album concludes with another pearl. The Radetzky March, a waltz by Johann Strauss Sr., which is traditionally performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in conclusion of the annual New Year's Concert, brilliantly arranged by Igor Bezget, is undoubtedly one of the stars of this album.

A lot of superb music and witty lyrics, a bundle of honest poetics and ironic jests.

Maja Širok