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I am not sure exactly what Shukar Collective are trying to do here, and in my confusion I went back to their first album Urban Gypsy which to my surprise is an interesting and artfully handled experiment in fusing ursar with studio editing techniques. It is a very good album, with a balance between the original Shukar members (the Gypsies) and the composers and producers (the Gadjo). However, Rromatek falls short and the technique and original idea seems to have got lost in the desk of the recording studio. It is more drum and bass (at times) or dub (at times) than anything else. And frankly, I would rather not listen to it, unlike Urban Gypsy which ranks up their with DJ ClicK’s work.

Unfortunately, this album encompasses the worst of a techno sampling library and edits out the best of Gypsy song. In past reviews, I have said that perhaps there are some forms of Gypsy music that just won’t work in the UK. I think this might be one of those. It won’t appeal, I don’t think, to those who love Rrom music because there is just so little of it remaining in the tracks. It may be that because Gypsy music is so much more familiar to Continental party goers that this is an obvious culmination.

I do like a bit of bleep bleep occassionally but this is too much, where Electroputas do something similar with flamenco and rumba, somehow they make it work and it is exciting to listen too. I can’t even recommend one track on this album really. ‘Napolament’ is interesting and seems to be the only ‘song’ that holds any remnant of a melody. Perhaps this is music for 5am in a field in Romania with 3000 others, but other than that it fails to move me.