My jaw just kind of hit the floor when I heard the sound of the brass coming out of the theater. I just couldn’t believe that someone had taken it to that level of excitement and melancholy all mashed into one. 

Zach Condon of indie rock band Beirut was making popcorn in a Santa Fe, NM movie theater when he got his first taste of Balkan folk.

I knew I had to find out what it was and how to do it.” So at age 16, he left school and set off to Eastern Europe.