-by Michael Buckley

Music Box: Experience Pink Floyd with Several Species tonight

Balkan Beat Box returns to the Recher Theatre in Towson this Monday night (7 p.m.). If you want a crazy mash up of Balkan beats, Gypsy soul, and funky electronics from all over the world, here you go!

"My family was running away in Eastern Europe for generations, trying to find a peaceful land to rest in," says co-founder, drummer and knob-twister Tamir Muskat. "But I think the journey put certain genes in my body, the ones that put you on the go, moving and collecting influences all the time from all over. That's

Gypsy for me. (It's) an energy."

Call it "Nu Med," a musical vision of what the new Mediterranean would sound like if borders were removed - Balkan meets Israeli meets Arabic meets Syrian.

"Because Jews and Gypsies lived in the same countries through the years, Jewish and Gypsy music are cousins'," explains Ori, whose saxophone teacher in Israel was a Bulgarian that studied in a Gypsy village. "We roamed through the same countries. We play each others' songs. We have been through the same persecution and pain."

If you like dancehall, hip hop, Balkan brass, you'll love Balkan Beat Box!