photo by Aron Harris
Lemon Bucket Orkestra are Toronto's original Slavic-Balkan-Klezmer-Party-Punks. The multi-award-winning ensemble has been heralded as a groundbreaking, genre-bending phenomenon by media and fans alike, and over the past 13 years they have performed all over the world from WOMAD in New Zealand and Pohoda in Slovakia, to Festival D’Été in Québec City, and Luminato in Toronto. The Guardian proclaimed that their performances are "gorgeously sung and passionately played" and The New York Times declared them "charismatic...handsome and ambitious.”
Equal parts exhilarating precision and reckless abandon, LBO’s live shows are a truly immersive experience ranging from the ecstatic to the cathartic and all points in between. Now they have been weaving that unique blend of energy and emotion onto their upcoming album Cuckoo. Set for release in May 2024, the new record combines powerful Ukrainian polyphony, driving Balkan rhythms, and modern Western musical elements. This mixture of Eastern Europe and the America's is further elevated with the special feature of Macedonian master trumpeter Nizo Alimov, formerly of Kocani Orkestar.
VIDEO
“Freedom” Official Music Video
Latest Promo Video
“Goodbye” Live at the Opera House
AUDIO
QUOTES
“The band vibrates with an irrepressible passion and playful humor that's impossible to ignore. Their often intricate arrangements manage to feel loose and tight all at once as a series of soloists get caught up in this crazed oom-pah energy to pull out the stops.”
Penguin Eggs Magazine (2018)
"Amazing, frenetic, gloriously anarchic and ultimately joyous!”
Winnipeg Free Press (2016)
"They were just fantastic! They were very well received by the audience and really great to work with!
Tom Frouge, Globalquerque (2018)
“LBO really went off at WOMAD NZ! They were a great bunch of artists to work with and we thoroughly enjoyed having them.”
Emere Wano, Womad New Zealand (2018)
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2015 CANADIAN FOLK MUSIC AWARDS
“WORLD GROUP OF THE YEAR”
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra
2015 NOW MAGAZINE READER’S CHOICE AWARDS
“BEST BAND IN TORONTO”
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra
2018 CANADIAN FOLK MUSIC AWARDS (NOMINATION)
WORLD MUSIC GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra - If I Had The Strength
2016 JUNO AWARDS (NOMINATION)
“WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR”
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra - Moorka
2014 JUNO AWARDS (NOMINATION)
“WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR”
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra - Lume, Lume