Swing of Sahara
Reviews on "Balk 'n' Roll":

Variety music in Smoking Blue
Well this was quite amusing. A band of blues-jazz chaps being partial to western guitars and gypsy jazz compose variety music in smoking blue for an imaginary show, which you would like having seen now that you’ve heard it. During several instrumental compositions Swing of Sahara raise a cinematic atmosphere with rides across the prairie, beautiful women wearing a boa… well, maybe it’s only me.
I would have liked it to be even more wild, even more dragging. They are probably best at live concerts, but that too is exactly the way the album is recorded.

Trelleborgs Allehanda, May '06

Swing of Sahara - “Balk ‘n’ Roll”
Ok, here’s an album with a character of its own. The cover is like taken from a comic book or a children’s book. Amongst the instruments we hear a trumpet, a flugelhorn, a subdoublebassbalalajka (?!) and accordion. Swing of Sahara are Danish, but they say they play music from a land of fantasy somewhere between Balkan and South America. The record company Heptown is Swedish, as we know. The music is in the best way described through a genuine mixture of genres. You will find Surf-pop, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Jazz, Latin, Mexican, a bit of Western, and of course Balkan music. Most of “Balk ‘n’ Roll” is instrumental music, except for a few pieces.
Does this sound divided? Well in writing it might seem so, but on an album it works a lot better than you might expect in the first case. It takes an open mind though to cope with the album in its entirety. Some of the thirteen pieces appeal to me more than other and some parts are slightly messy.
To mention some of the highlights it will be the twisted rock ‘n’ roll-hit “El Canibal”, the voice and the soft swing in “Hajen” with its childish lyrics, and the optimistic melody in “Spanjolskij”. But there is more to it, which you can enjoy, and if you need more than that Swing of Sahara released the album Nothing Toulouse in 2003. Only take a dive in this land of fantasy.

Zero Music Magazine, May '06

Swing of Sahara lineup:
Andreas Ugorskij – guitars
Peter Dobronyi – guitar, accordion and crooning
Ole Algreen Reimer – trumpet and flugelhorn
Jesper Lund – contrabass balalaika
Sigurd Djurhuus – drums, percussion and assorted trash