Juno Plus Podcast 81: KEMAΛ (Berceuse Heroique)

The man behind one of our favourite labels turns in a selection of Southern and Eastern European folk music. 

If you a regular reader of Juno Plus you will be familiar with the Debussy-referencing Berceuse Heroique, a label which has continually impressed us since we first stumbled upon it whilst perusing SoundCloud roughly a year ago, chancing upon their planned release of a rare outing from Russian producer Gesloten Cirkel and an equally rare remix from Boddika under his Transportation AAD alias. Inaugurated by the vicious Lowlands electro of Ekman, Berceuse Heroique cut an amusingly cantankerous swathe through the minefield of “uncompromising techno” in 2013, taking in releases from MGUN, the aforementioned Gesloten Cirkel, and L’estasi Dell’oro, all of which were complemented by some politically loaded DIY art. These releases were more than sufficient to ensure that Berceuse Heroique ranked as the one newcomer on our Top 10 Labels of 2013 list, and the label has kept up its impressive approach this year.

Emboldened by the arrival of two superb archival releases on the affiliated ΚΕΜΑΛ label, 2014 has seen Berceuse Heroique reissue some classic West London broken beat from 4 Hero’s Dego under his Tom & Jerry alias replete with a rather handsome poster from illustrator Ken Sortais. Another Ekman record together with Vereker mix has just been released, and the coming months will see further BH 12″s from Skudge White/R-Zone graduate Koehler, a split release between Ekman and Breaker 1 2, and a Tuff Sherm 12″ featuring a deep, deep Delroy Edwards remix. What else the label has planned is unknown, as despite agreeing to submit a mix to our podcast series, the Berceuse Heroique founder (known simply as Gizmo) politely requested to skip the usual round of questions and answers that accompany our fortnightly mixes.

Having roundly loved the ΚΕΜΑΛ mix for The Trilogy Tapes Knyx series last August, when the opportunity arose to welcome Gizmo into our own podcast series, the notion of receiving a similar mix was put forward. The resultant 90 minutes features all manner of traditional Persian, Greek, and Turkish folk music with a dash of Lubomyr Melnyk’s latest works included for good measure. Those seeking something more danceable from ΚΕΜΑΛ are advised to head to South London this Saturday, as he is playing at Simulacra Studios with Will Bankhead, Dnuos Ytivil artist Batu and more – further details on that can be found here.