At the end of 2008 Kasha Nasha was established by clarinetist Gottfrid van Eck). The music of John Zorn (especially his Massada project), Klezmer Madness, Balkan Beat Box and DJ Shantel inspired him to form a new band. In this band he wanted to mix klezmer, balkan and gipsy music with pop and jazz.
The brothers Ben (violin) and Daniël Mathot (guitar) were the right musicians to join him on this musical adventure. They were members of the symphonic metalband Dis and had had a classical education in jazz and classical music. Via this link drummer Remco Menting and bass player Kay Ramati also got into the band. Finally accordion player Evgeny Suvorkin donated his Russian heritage and experience in Eastern European folkmusic.
You could call Kasha Nasha’s music Balkan Beat, but it has a twist. Especially the melting of Eastern and Western European folkmusic and the improvisations gives a distinctive flavour to the music. It creates music for the 21st century, hip, adventurous and danceable.