AM:PM PR Employee to Raise Funds for Bosnian Flood Relief
Fenbi at Sirens in Port Townsend
Several years ago I performed part-time in a pseudo world music band called The Fenbi International Superstars. Willamette Week reporter Nick Jaina caught a Fenbi show at a punk venue on Alberta called The Know in 2010 and wrote:
“Portland’s Fenbi International Superstars have fomented a welcome frenzy. The six-piece borrows its twin loves for gypsy punk and throaty sing-alongs from the likes of Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly, and like both those groups FIS realizes that the essential element in that witch’s brew is a palpable sense of fun, though a talented fiddle player doesn’t hurt … Fenbi International Superstars hit their marks exactly, executing accordion flourishes, scissor kicks, and back-of-the-throat odes to drunkenness with a fine balance of exactitude and slop.”
It was during a world music class in college that I first became interested in “gypsy” music. That interest led me to explore the history and people of the Balkans. It was through Bill Carter‘s 5-star memoir “Fools Rush In” that I truly caught the Bosnian bug, and was able to visit the country in 2012 as they commemorated 20-years since the beginning of the 90’s war.
Tonight our band is reuniting for the first time in three years to stumble our way through old songs and to raise money for Bosnian flood relief for a region that has just experienced devastating 100-year floods that have altered and shifted already treacherous land-mine fields and caused devastation across the country, which already experiences 44% unemployment. Here is a recent article about the floods: Click Here
While we can’t promise scissor kicks (or even amplification) we can promise that we’ll have a grand ol’ time at one of our favorite local haunts, the 442 Soccer Bar at 17th and Hawthorne. We’ll perform from 7-8 p.m.
For the Facebook invite: Click on this link
If you are unable to attend, please consider a donation to the Bosnian Red Cross.
UPDATE: We raised over $600 for Bosnian flood relief efforts, and to help one individual who had lost most of his home.
I took a photo of this contemporary dwelling in 2012, check out those bullet and grenade marks!