Bessarabian Groove (Studio 12 / Tonica Worldmusic, 2006) is a studio album from the Monique Lansdorp String Trio, presenting klezmer and Eastern European traditional music in a stripped-down violin, guitar, and bass format. Lansdorp plays violin throughout; Mike Horwitz plays guitar; and Laura Cesar plays double bass, with Horwitz also handling recording and mixing. The trio formed after meeting at a folk festival in Corsica in 2004, and the album draws its repertoire from Moldovan, Romanian, and Ashkenazic Jewish dance-music traditions — a doina, Moldavian fantasies, and klezmer tunes performed without percussion in a chamber-ensemble format that foregrounds the melodic voice of Lansdorp's fiddle. The album's title invokes the Bessarabian region of Eastern Europe — historically contested territory between Romania and Moldova — as a geographic touchstone for the musical traditions the trio navigates.
Tracklist
- 1 Doina Monica 1:17
- 2 Mayn Elternu2019s Fargenign 2:50
- 3 Sadegurer Tsushspil 1:33
- 4 Sadegurer Chusidl 4:13
- 5 Moniqueu2019s Moldavian Fantasy 3:31
- 6 Hora Laura 2:43
- 7 Bass Freylekhs 2:37
- 8 Hora Me 3:25
- 9 Galitzianer Boogie 4:18
- 10 Blue Racenica 2:59
- 11 Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine alt version 3:00
- 12 Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mountains Source Recording 1:22
- 13 Bonaparte Crossing The Carpathians 1:47
- 14 Horny Doina & Bessarabian Joc 3:34
- 15 Brave Old Polka 2:01
- 16 Utrecht Jig 0:53
- 17 Hete Bulgaar 3:12
- 18 Kiss My Axe 3:09
- 19 Bucovina Groove 3:57
- 20 Dobra Noc 2:43
