It is easy to overgeneralize the hippy and gypsy culture as circle bongo playing or maybe some arm swaying to the Grateful Dead. In fact, the culture is multi-faceted, and more to the point of my post – gypsies really know their music and how to party. Incredibly emotional/spiritual hitting songs with heavy tribal beats and a free and open attitude to expression means some of the best festivals or parties you’ll ever be to. There are also some incredibly exotic and beautiful women like Beats Antique’s Zoe (artistically depicted above). If you have never seen a belly dancer or hula hoop dancer, you are in for something on a whole other level of sexy.
Because Beats Antique‘s writer is so eloquent, I’ll just rehash some words from their website in a stream of consciousness manner: Vaporous violins and Danny Elfman-esque dementia; glitchy, laser-guided harmonica Blues Traveler; between restless pop hooks and vibrant Eastern European dance loops. All an intricate collection of heavy beats and sub bass with world music chasing its tail. Merge of technology, live instrumentation and seductive performance (belly dancing). Seen them thrice live, always a trip and back.
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Cat Skillz – Beats Antique (Inspired Flight Remix)
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Govinda the alter-ego of Shane Madden. From experiences learning violin with mysterious masters on his journeys to find his gypsy roots across the globe and his passion for modern design and technology, the current sound of Govinda was born.
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Coming from the west coast of Elven Country, Kaminanda‘s playground of deep Midtempo grooves, tribal rhythms, creative trip hop, complex Dub and lush downtempo textures takes the listener/dancer on a journey traversing diverse landscapes reflecting the evolution of our collective consciousness.
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Shakedown – Grateful Dead (Kaminanda Remix)
I know I said the whole hippy culture isn’t about the Grateful Dead, but I can also say that it is ALL about the Grateful Dead. A bonus electro remix of a classic done by UDNTPRTY (Craig Heneveld). Get groovin y’all!
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Grateful Dead – Althea (UDNTPRTY)
-Patch
“A noisy multitudinous throng
The crowd of gypsies streams along
The plains of Bessarabia.
Their camp by the riverside today
Is pitched and set for their nighttime stay.
In ragged tents spread far and wide
Like freedom is their sojourn there,
Under the skies in the midnight air. “
-excerpt from Aleksandr Pushkin’s The Gypsies