Briga now on CBC Radio 2 Concerts on Demand website

Every year, Musique Multi Montreal hosts a world music extravaganza of shows and cultural workshops, held at one of the city's many "Maisons de Cultures". The 20th edition of the festival this year was held from april 13th to the 24th and Briga, along with Les Gitans de Sarajevo, had the opportunity to do a double bill together. The event, called "Bienvenue chez les Roms" showcased Montreal bands that are heavily influenced by the Balkan, eastern European, and Spanish Roma music. Les Gitans de Sarajevo opened up the evening, followed by a few songs played with guest flamenco artist Marcos Marin.

Briga came on after the intermission, and we got to play a 45 min set. It was an amazing performance and I'm glad it was recorded live by CBC radio. At the end of our set, the rest of the musicians from Les Gitans de Sarajevo joined us on stage for a killer version of Edith Piaf's "Johnny, tu n'es pas un Ange". I must admit that it is quite a feeling to be backed up by a full brass band:



The night was truly amazing, and you can hear it live on CBC Radio 2's Concerts on Demand series. Just click on http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20100424gitan to get to the listening page.

Now all shows have magical moments, and ours had a slight ridiculous twist to it at the end of the night. As we were wrapping up the show with only 1 minute left to go, all of us on stage singing "Caje Sukaria" in honour of our lovely Queen of Gypsies Esma Redzepova, a funny sound with flashing lights took over the hall. Having left the back door to the venue open so that the CBC cables could come into the building, someone had sneaked in and pulled the fire alarm. We were all evacuated from the building. But all wasn't lost, Jeremi and I decided to get the band together and play an acoustic session outside of the venue so that we wouldn't lose our crowd. Sure enough, the people stayed and we lured most of them back into the Maison de Culture, just in time to enjoy the after party with our buddies, the band OBATALA.

Here's a youtube clip of our impromptu performance. Cheers!