Austins Flying Balalaika Brothers are to Russian folk music what Bela Fleck is to bluegrass: Outside-the-box, no-boundaries, take-no-prisoners innovators. The FBBs combine jaw-dropping virtuosity with a masterful sense of mixing up genres ranging from rock to Russian folk to bluegrass; if that sounds weird, its also cool as hell. These guys have the ability to mix every genre theyve ever heard into a couple of hours that are, upon final analysis, just great party music. And when Spring rolls around after those long, frozen Russian winters, partying is whats on their minds, so its hardly surprising that the Russian Cultural Center has the FBBs playing the annual Russian Spring Festival party again this year. Zhenya Kolykhanov, Aleksander Kouznetzov and Segrei Vashchenko have been in Austin long enough to have plenty of Texan musical swagger and attitude. Couple their musical prowess with bliny, sour cream, caviar, massive amounts of vodka, Baltika beer and a sea of party animals, and it isnt long before everyone is dancing like Cossacks and wondering what happened to Dr. Zhivago.
Sun., March 7, 3 p.m., 2010
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2010.