Overview
Eugene Hutz’s journey from his Romani “gypsy” roots, family interrogations for being “anti-Soviet,” and European refugee camps to a crash landing in his beloved New York hardcore scene may sound like a Tarantino movie, but it’s only the beginning of Eugene’s trajectory.
Born and raised in Boyarka, Ukraine, where a century earlier Sholem Aleichem wrote his world-famous tales, and “pickled in its mystical vitamins,” Eugene discovers rock 'n' roll music through his Western-spirited, freedom-loving father.
Uprooted by the Chernobyl disaster and inspired by a Sonic Youth concert in Kiev in 1989, Eugene embarks “to find his own sonic heart” in NYC. Follow along as he goes from being brutally discouraged by his Soviet music teachers to making records with Rick Rubin and headlining major world festivals.
The real punk saga kicks off when Eugene and his kin score asylum in the USA. Safe in Vermont, but itching for rebellion, he grinds for years before birthing Gogol Bordello, a badass musical fusion labeled "gypsy punk"—a raw blend of traditional Eastern European music and punk that enraptures global music maniacs.
Gogol Bordello is a wild, visionary cadre of immigrant musicians, artists, and outsiders, whose border-blasting message of inclusion and personal liberation—coupled with their musical supercollider style—have made them one of the world’s most vital and explosive live acts.
The band became the darlings of artists, tastemakers, and fashion icons, landing a breakthrough gig at the Whitney Biennial in 2002 that would raise their profile and launch their international career. Their embrace of multiculturalism created a unique style that seamlessly blends the disparate.
Lost Innocent World is Eugene’s deeply personal account of surviving conflict and displacement and a reminder of how powerful music can be in raising the resilience of the dispossessed.
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