Songlines June 2011 Orkestra del Sol - Lung Capacity ****

"Lung Capacity is a storming, relentless set that reproduces all the fire and energy of their full-blooded live excursions...This is a record that's a formidable calling card"

Jazzwise May 2011 Orkestra del Sol - Lung Capacity ***

"...getting the incendiary live sound of Edinburgh nine piece Orkestra del Sol on to CD...Lung Capacity is a testament to their capacity for writing big-hearted, big-sounding numbers..."

The List Mar-Apr 2011 Orkestra del Sol - Lung Capacity ****

"Anyone who's heard the previous two albums by this Edinburgh based nine piece will be well prepared for what's in store on this installment..."

The Scotsman 12th May 2010 Top Trumps preview

"Having 45,000 personalised playing cards printed isn't usually part of a brass band's - any band's for that matter - pre-tour preparations. Are the nine members of Orkestra del Sol feeding a pathological gambling habit?"

The Herald, 20th May 2008
Orkestra del Sol, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

"The dynamic Orkestra del Sol showed just how brilliantly they have caught the zeitgeist...Their mix of music making and on-stage theatricality is irresistible."

The Scotsman, 20th August 07
ORKESTRA DEL SOL, THE SPIEGEL GARDEN
* * * *

"a high energy ten piece with split second timing...this exuberantly brassy circus had the audience clapping, then dancing, virtually from their first thump and blare"

The Herald, 10th August 07
ORKESTRA DEL SOL, THE SPIEGEL GARDEN
* * * *

"offering a mighty kick, a grunt of satisfaction, and a healthy dose of humour...a set that rages with enthusiasm, demonically skilful arrangements, and revels in a roguish sense of theatre"

The List, 22nd May 2008
Orkestra Del Sol - The Moveable Feast
****

"Orkestra del Sol let loose a riot of rebellious global street music...the unruly and charismatic crew instinctively razz up a kinetic brawl of rhythms"

The Sunday Herald, 25th May 2008
ORKESTRA DEL SOL
The Moveable Feast
****

"You might not get the comedy antics of their live shows but the mood of wholehearted entertainment remains loud and clear...It's the sound of a tightly welded unit abundantly blessed with composers and having a blast."

Songlines review

Orkestra del Sol
The Moveable Feast
****

"Live they are utterly captivating with a crazy tongue in cheek humour...This CD captures their anarchic impact"

Times of India

"What do you get when you mix the Indian been with the Scottish bagpipes a Scottish orchestra with and Indian brass band? a whole lot of euphoric Delhiites who're alternately swaying waltzing and balle-balleing to some fantastic music!"

Scotsman article on China Trip
9th February 08

"The good citizens of Beijing will be wandering what's hit them this weekend, as Edinburgh's Orkestra del Sol blows into town..."

More Reviews:

The Skinny, 22nd May 2008
Orkestra Del Sol @ Queens' Hall
****

Roll up roll up, indeed. Do these guys ever have an off-gig? With horns blazing, accordions pumping, drummers thumping and the whole band beaming and jumping, tonight Edinburgh’s very own sun-fuelled orchestra/circus launch their album in firey form and in front of an audience whose ages seem to range from 3 to 90 – well this is The Queen’s Hall after all. Aye, and there’s the rub: Orkestra del Sol are such a visual band, it's a shame that nobody on the dance floor can actually see them. That would be more of a problem if they were only a visual band, but even without being able to clap eyes on their slapstick shtick and dapper matching suits, their beguiling music is a euphoric wonder that would surely decimate any DJ’s dancefloor – and when Black Cat’s divine vocalist, Saska, joins them for the traditional Serbian Mesecina, a joyous riot erupts which rightfully shakes The Queen’s Hall to its core.[Ali Maloney]
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Three Weeks, 10th August 07
ORKESTRA DEL SOL, The Famous Spiegeltent
* * * * *

Great fun does not even begin to describe the show offered by the ten-piece Orkestra Del Sol. The Edinburgh-based brass band play songs from around the world, bringing out tangos, polkas, waltzes and even a calypso from their repertoire. Each musician is hugely talented, not only at playing their instruments, but at playing the characters which make the Orkestra so thrilling to watch. Each band member plays a different persona from across the globe, which they do not stray from for the entire evening. You cannot take your eyes off these characters for a second, for fear of missing another hilarious interaction or quirky gesture. Perfectly situated in the glamorous Spiegeltent, they had me dancing all night. Brilliant, exhausting fun.

Alex Moore
http://edinburgh.threeweeks.co.uk
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Skinny Fest, 9th August 07
ORKESTRA DEL SOL, The Famous Spiegeltent
* * * *

Comprising upwards of nine red-suited musical troublemakers (more may have been hidden amongst the audience and in the rafters amongst the lights), local collective OdS’ triumphant and flamboyant return to the Seagull Tent is a joy to behold.

The beer hall aesthetic perfectly suits their rambunctious and frantic cocktail of Balkan laments, klezmer, belly dances, "Calypso Collapso", waltzes and polka, and before long the dance floor begins to bounce with the vibrations of stomping feet. Making full use of the stage, the Orkestra creep up and edge their way into the solo mic spot. The infectious enthusiasm of the band stirs the crowd to polka. Faster, and faster, andfaster. With a combination of storytelling and dance, the Orkestra work theaudience up into a super-skank frenzy

Alasdair Maloney
www.festmag.co.uk
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Lothian Life, 7th August 07
ORKESTRA DEL SOL, The Famous Spiegeltent * * * * * (don’t miss!)

To say the Orkestra del Sol is a brass band is like saying the Calendar Girls are WRI members.

The description would definitely miss the quirky eccentricity and wit of this Scottish group whose sound is straight out of Central Europe. Describing themselves as "Brass Troubadours with unruly charm", they claim to combine "the swagger of a Balkan wedding with the riotous energy of a Latin carnival". And they do, they really do.

At their opening night at the Spiegeltent the audience was hooked right from the start by the confident sassy music. Their sound is exuberant and joyously big. Their dress code is smart/eccentric - a mixture of suits and trilby hats with shorts, turbans, and eastern slippers. Their behaviour is unpredictable - not so much a marching band as a running-round-the-stage band. They sing surreal songs, break-dance on the floor, and strike extravagant poses. Throughout it all, however, is superb crafted musicianship, and a sense of very well-orchestrated stagecraft.

Almost without exception, the Spiegeltent audience rose to their feet after being given a basic lesson in lift-lift-lift-hop polka, unable to resist the rhythm of the ten piece band. The floor was crowded as polka gave way to waltz, and then a glorious freestyle swing. Amidst it all was the quiet humour and gentle wit of a band enjoying themselves, and an audience enjoying them.

Ros MacKenzie
www.lothianlife.co.uk ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Skinny 25th April 2008

Album Review: Orkestra del Sol - The Moveable Feast

These Spiegeltent favourites and brass titans finally unveil their second full length album and anyone to have experienced their raucous live shows will delight at the magnificent way in which this ten-strong maverick crew has been captured on CD. Even anybody who has not seen the Orkestra del Sol's unique and spectacular cross of hybrid Balkan brass and slapstick funk will find themselves bouncing around with manic grins and yearning for the full live experience, which thankfully is always close to hand. Following on from Carnival by Stealth and last year's Road to Thermosa EP, The Moveable Feast touches on all the musical delights that make the band so special: huge horn-led stomps, calypso, funk and zouk all wrapped in impeccable arrangements calculated to hit you right in the dancing gland. With a line-up of trumpet, trombone, sousaphone, soprano, alto and tenor saxes, accordion, fiddle and two percussionists, their sound is full, warm and deliciously chaotic. This is true sun worship. [Ali Maloney]