Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as some of

Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as some of its members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub as well as multiple languages. Phill Jupitus has described the band as "a bit like The Clash having a fight with The Pogues in Eastern Europe," while Kenneth Partridge of The Hartford Courant described lead singer Eugene Hütz's voice as "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog."

Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, was an ideological influence because he "smuggled" Ukrainian culture into European literary society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with their music in the English speaking world." 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 the hell Béla Bartók is in the United States." The band played their first show as the unofficial band at an after-hours club called Pizdetz on Ridge Street, where they became the house band and DJ Hũtz became the house DJ.