Gogol Bordello -1999

Gogol Bordello is a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows.[1] Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as its core members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub as well as multiple languages. Phill Jupitus has once described the band as "a bit like The Clash and The Pogues having a fight... in Eastern Europe,"[1] while Kenneth Partridge of The Hartford Courant described lead singer Eugene Hütz's voice as "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog".
History and influences
Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, was an ideological influence because he "smuggled" Ukrainian culture into Russian society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with Gypsy/East-European music in the English-speaking world.[3] "Bordello" refers to a brothel or a "gentleman's club". The band was originally titled Hütz and the Béla Bartóks, but Eugene Hütz says that they decided to change the name because "nobody knows who the hell Béla Bartók is in the United States".[3] The band played their first show as the unofficial band at an after-hours club called Pizdetz on Ridge Street, where they became the house band and DJ Hütz became the house DJ.

Gogol Bordello's first single was released in 1999, and since then they have released four full-length albums, and one EP. In 2005 the band signed to punk label SideOneDummy Records. The band has toured tirelessly throughout Europe and America on numerous international festivals and toured with such diverse bands as Primus, Flogging Molly, and Cake. In an interview with NPR, frontman Eugene Hütz cites Jimi Hendrix and Parliament-Funkadelic as among the band's main musical influences.[3]
Current members
Eugene Hütz (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, fire bucket) - Ukraine
Sergey Ryabtsev (violin, backing vocals) - Russia
Yuri Lemeshev (accordion, backing vocals) - Russia
Oren Kaplan (guitar, backing vocals) - Israel
Thomas Gobena (bass[5] backing vocals) - Ethiopia
Eliot Ferguson (drums, backing vocals) – Florida, USA
Pamela Jintana Racine (percussion, backing vocals, dance, general performance) - Thai-American
Elizabeth Sun (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance) - Chinese Scottish
Pedro Erazo (percussion, MC) - Ecuador
Stevhen Iancu (accordion) - Japanese-Romanian, a fill-in for Yuri Lemeshev and also of the gypsy-punk bands Reverend Glasseye, Romashka and Dolomites[citation needed]

Former members
Karl Alvarez (bass)
Rea Mochiach (bass, percussion, electronics (on the albums), beat programming (on the albums, backing vocals) - Israel
Sasha Kazatchkoff (accordion)
Vlad Solovar (guitar)
Ori Kaplan - saxophone, (co leads Balkan Beat Box with Tamir Muskat), backing vocals, (no relation to Oren Kaplan) - Israel
Susan Donaldson (percussion, backing vocals, dance, general performance)

Discography

Albums
Voi-La Intruder–1999 (Rubric Records)
Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony - September 2002 (Rubric Records), 2XLP - December 2006
Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - August 2005 (SideOneDummy Records), 2XLP - March 2006
Super Taranta! - 10 July 2007 (SideOneDummy Records) US #115,[7] UK #67, 2XLP - July 2007