Balkan Bump

Balkan Bump is the project of Will Magid, a trumpet player, producer and ethnomusicologist based in Oakland, California, who combines Balkan and Eastern European brass melodies, Middle Eastern sounds and American hip hop with bass-driven electronic production. Magid grew up in Palo Alto, began trumpet at ten, played in the SFJazz High School All-Stars Big Band, opening for Herbie Hancock and performing at Lincoln Center, and took a degree in ethnomusicology at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music. Before Balkan Bump he led a fifteen-piece Afrobeat band in Southern California, toured as keyboardist with the indie rock group Mount Auburn, formed the Will Magid Trio in San Francisco, and co-led the eleven-piece Alligator Spacewalk with members of Jazz Mafia. He launched Balkan Bump in 2017 on Gramatik's Lowtemp label; the debut single Aymo, featuring Talib Kweli, arrived that October and was later used in a 2020 Porsche Super Bowl commercial, followed by a self-titled EP in March 2018. The album Osmanity, released October 2020, is built largely from collaborations, with tracks alongside Beats Antique, CloZee, Poldoore and The Geek x Vrv and features from clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski and qanun player Ali Paris. Desert Drip followed in July 2023, with a remix edition after it, and later singles include Shadow Carvan with David Satori and Axel Thesleff. Magid has also worked with Bonobo, Erykah Badu, Pretty Lights and Gift of Gab of Blackalicious. Live, the project scales from a solo set to an ensemble of up to twelve musicians, bringing sitar, saz, oud, clarinet and trumpet against the electronic backing; it has played Coachella, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest and Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

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