Fanfare Ciocarlia
A brass band? While the Central European ones preach musical idiocy, their peers on the Eastern side of the continent spark with energy, brisk rhythms, and fire. Their breathtaking music is powered by home-made slivovitz and Gypsy feeling - and there is still more to discover. When the enslavement of Romania's Gypsies ended in 1864, several thousand moved the United States, often settling in the black ghettoes. "Who's to say our cousins who went to the US didn't help invent jazz?" says Ioan, Fanfare Ciocarlia's oldest member.
The fastest brass band in the world Fanfare Ciocarlia (130 to 200 bpm) from the village Zece Prejani situated on the Rumanian-Moldavian border is one of the Balkan gypsy brass bands. Their music reflects gypsy, Turkish, Rumanian and klezmer influences.
Their popularity increasing with each new CD is documented by crowded concerts hals not only Berlin, Prague, Tokyo or New York, but Bucurest itself.
