Die Presse
From the desert to Grinzing.

More heart-rending than usual, "Dobrek Bistro" created a mixture on Friday at Porgy & Bess in Vienna that blended together the melancholy of the entire spectrum of world music.

Highly virtuouso, with extreme dynamics in detail, but at the same time enormously sensitive, Dobrek and Biz play their melange drawing from the music of South America, the small townlets of Eastern Europe, the Orient, music of the Gypsies and the Parisian musette, thus creating a pure culture mix.

When Dobrek transfers Astor Piazzolla, the great virtuoso of the accordion, onto a camel riding through the desert or to a round of wine drinking in Grinzing, the true uniqueness of Dobrek Bistro comes to light: the philosophies of the different styles, which seem incompatible at a first glance, are being reinterpreted to appear in a new musical context. This is world music at its best. (ku)

Salzburger Nachrichten

The world music quartet "Dobrek Bistro" gave a guest performance on Wednesday at the Hallein Festival.
The melodious eroticism of the tango, the deep melancholy of Russian folk-tunes, the elegance of the Parisian musette waltz and the colourful timbres of Viennese music - all these were combined to form the multicultural Dobrek sound. (Michael Stadler)

Gazeta Wyborcza - (Poland)
Dobrek Bistro - Magic

[…] and then they played. Magic. Music, formed from sound, space and silence. No exaggerations, no overstatement. Just the joy of artistic creation during the concert. The passion, the ubiquity of world cultures that can apparently be merged so easily. The desire to communicate through feelings was heard in every tone played. And everything they play had a natural lightness that can be absorbed through all five senses allowing us to directly feel the power and the delight of making music. (Pawel Odorowcz, original in Polish)

Novoe Vremya - (Russia)

And now the "Gnessinsky" hall in the Powarskaya street. An insane rush - the concert more than sold out - thanks to the word of mouth among the Moscow audience. Queues to get hands on "Dobrek Bistro" CDs, that go like hot cakes in times of hunger. And finally the quartet is on stage […]
Characterising their music is an unthankful affair, just as difficult as describing the essence of Emir Kusturica's films, Assar Eppel's prose or paintings by Ilja Kabakov. (Jewgenij Barankin, original in Russian)

Ostfriesischer Kurier

In their stories, the four musicians of the group "Dobrek Bistro" embody Viennese humor and Russian soul, oriental sounds and Parisian musette in a tango rhythm. And even more they are doing so through their instruments. That is how more than 600 listeners experienced a breath-taking journey through the emotions at the Johannes a Lasco library on Sunday night. Emotions reaching from longing and melancholy to exuberantly wild and fierce.
The concert starts unconventionally. Even the tuning of the instruments is smoothly integrated into the show. The violin cries longingly, at the same time the drummer Luis Ribeiro from Sao Paulo rattles, clatters and jingles on his percussion with great insight and always surprisingly inventive. […] (Roland Moll)

Mittelbadische Presse & Badische Neueste Nachrichten

[…]Astor Piazzolla would probably also have enjoyed Dobrek Bistro's Tango Nuevo presentation. The fact that the composer is especially fond of the Parisian Musette waltz became more than clear in the course of the evening, although at some times it had an African and at other times a Russian touch. The fact that the both musicians Krzysztof Dobrek und Aliosha Biz led through their show with inimical verbal humour put the cherry on the cake. (Johanna Aßmann)

Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung

The Combo transgresses borders massively, especially those of the listeners. The Quartet dips the Musette waltz into jazzy improvisations, garnishes the Tango with Romany' spices, East European tunes are embedded in romantic-classical forms and then baked again in Gypsy Swing. If it were possible, people would probably be clicking in time with their ears. (Martin Juen)

Oberösterreichische Nachrichten
World of Music without frontiers

World music - no way, forget it - cross-border compositions converging geographic regions and styles. (thek)

jazzzeit.at (Jazz time)

[…]Their enthralling, interacting way of playing allows lots of space for improvisation and even more room to allow the audience to immerse itself fully in the melodies. Music inspired from all imaginable corners of the earth is combined to form a compact sound with high recognition value. (Manfred Horak)