Super Rats take you on a hijacked Balkan taxi ride through the backstreets of Bucharest.
At the heart of the band is the cimbalom – a ramshackle 145-stringed Austro-Hungarian contraption that sounds like the offspring of a honkytonk piano and a xylophone. Blistering accordion, sinuous violin, and thumping double bass complete this award-winning group.
Exciting, authentic and thoroughly-researched performances
Canberra Critics’ Circle Award 2019
From diverse and colourful strands – Ottoman court music, raw Balkan peasant folk, the legendary inventiveness of Roma (gypsy) musicians, a handful of tango and jazz – Super Rats weave a magic carpet to whisk you away to other times and places.
Think of that magnificently brisk soundtrack from The Grand Budapest Hotel and you’re somewhere in the ballpark…
Adelaide Advertiser
Band leader and Australia’s ‘chief cimbalom nerd’ Tim Meyen studied with master traditional musicians in Romania for over a decade before assembling a hand-picked crew of rolled-gold local musicians to present the rich tradition of Romanian folk music in Australia. Together they careen through authentic muzică lăutarească with panache, humour and dedication, sure to please curious ears.
A dedicated and hard-working band!
Mrs. Nineta Bărbulescu,
Band members
Tim Meyen –cimbalom
Alister Price –accordion
Pip Thompson –violin
Simon Milman –double bass
Tight, rhythmically complex …
Michael Coghlan,
An exhilarating performance … complex but still had a warmth and rhythmic earthiness …
Rob Kennedy,
So why Super Rats?
Super Rats is a pun. It sounds like the Romanian word supărați, meaning “annoyed ones”. So far, no-one has laughed at this, but there’s still hope.