Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band’s sound is inspired by Gypsy music.
The band incorporates accordion and violin (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with punk and dub.The band has appeared in a number of popular films, most notably in 2005’s Everything Is Illuminated in which the lead singer, Eugene Hütz, co-starred with Elijah Wood in a dramedy and adventure story about the Nazi purges in Ukraine. The entire group was present for one shot in which they played a brass band in a set that included the Star Spangled Banner.
They also played the traditional Yiddish tune “Bublitschki”. Gogol Bordello contributed the song “Start Wearing Purple” to the film’s score. The band also has their own documentary called “Gogol Bordello Non-Stop”. This documentary was filmed in 2008 and follows the band’s progress. In 2012, the band recorded a song titled Let’s Get Crazy for Coca Cola’s Euro 2012 advertising campaign.
How did they get their name? “Gogol” comes from Nikolai Gogol, a classical Russian writer, born in today’s Ukraine (Gogol himself used the older common name “Little-Russia”). He serves as an ideological influence for the band because he “smuggled” Ukrainian culture into Russian society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with Gypsy/East-European music in the English-speaking world.
“Bordello,” in Italian, 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 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 where they became the house band and DJ Hütz became the house DJ.
The band has toured tirelessly throughout Europe and America. They have made numerous appearances at international festivals and have 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] They have mentioned Manu Chao, Fugazi, Zvuki Mu, Karamelo Santo, Sasha Kolpakov and The Clash as influences as well.
Current members:
Eugene Hütz (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion) – Ukraine (1999–present)
Sergey Ryabtsev (violin, backing vocals) – Russia (2000–present)
Elizabeth Sun (percussion, backing vocals, dance, general performance) – China/Scotland (2004–present)
Thomas “Tommy T” Gobena (bass[10] backing vocals) – Ethiopia (2006–present)
Pedro Erazo (percussion, MC) – Ecuador[11] (2007–present)
Oliver Charles (drums) – USA (2009–present)
Michael Ward (Guitar / Backing Vocals) – USA (2012–present)
Pasha Newmerzhitsky (accordion; backing vocals) – Belarus (2013–present)
