''Gulag Orkestar'' is the debut album of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. It was recorded in 2005 in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. The

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

was a Soviet government agency administering criminal justice, while ''orkestar'' is the Croatian word for "orchestra". It is written in the booklet that the front and back photos were found in a library in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, torn out of a book. The original photographer was unknown to the creators of the album while it was recorded, but has since been discovered to be

Sergey Chilikov Sergey Chilikov (russian: Сергей Геннадьевич Чиликов) (born 1953 in Kilemary, Mari ASSR; died June 21, 2020, Yoshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari El) was a Russian photographer. Chilikov graduated from the philosophical faculty w ...

Reception

The album has received great critical acclaim and was later re-released to include the ''

Lon Gisland ''Lon Gisland'' is an EP by Beirut, released on CD by Ba Da Bing! Records in January 2007 and on single-sided 12" LP by Chouette Records. It is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed '' Gulag Orkestar'' and the first album performed by the full ...

'' EP. As of 2009, sales in the United States have exceeded 79,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Track listing

*The EP's version of "Scenic World" differs from the first in that it has a slower, stronger sound and is entirely acoustic, with a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and accordion replacing the original

MIDI keyboard A MIDI keyboard or controller keyboard is typically a piano-style electronic musical keyboard, often with other buttons, wheels and sliders, used for sending MIDI signals or commands over a USB or MIDI 5-pin cable to other musical devi ...

Personnel

;Beirut *

Zach Condon Beirut is an American band that was originally the solo musical project of Zach Condon. Beirut's music combines elements of indie rock and world music. The band's first performance with the full brass section was in New York, in May 2006, in sup ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, flugelhorn,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, mandolin, accordion, organ,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, recording * Heather Trost -

* Jeremy Barnes -

, accordion *

Perrin Cloutier Perrin may refer to: Places in the United States *Perrin, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Perrin, Texas, an unincorporated community in southeastern Jack County, Texas Other * Famille Perrin, French winery owners * Perrin friction factors ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

* Hari Ziznewski - clarinet ;Additional personnel * Alan Douches - mastering * Josh Clark - recording, mixing * Ben Goldberg - photography (all cover)

References

2006 debut albums Beirut (band) albums Ba Da Bing Records albums {{2000s-folk-album-stub