Taraf de Haidouks
THE MOST FAMOUS GYPSY BAND COMES BACK TO PRAGUE AFTER SIX YEARS TO INTRODUCE NEW ALBUM MASKARADA!!!
The group of twelve Gypsy "lautari" (traditional musicians), originating from a small Romanian village, introduce listeners to a musical world which includes medieval ballads, Turkish-flavoured dance tunes from the Balkans, and characteristic vocal inflections.
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The Taraf de Ha?douks - the name literally translates as "band of honourable brigands" - are a bunch of extraordinary and colourful characters, who have managed to convince the audiences of the biggest World Music festivals. "Their wild energy is the essence of gypsy music ... their set seemed like the bubbling source of 20th century rhythm ... they spun out cadences that recalled bebop, salsa, and the polyrhythms of Zimbabwe and Nigeria" (The New York Times), "the band that's wowing London" (The Evening Standard, 7 June 2001) through their rhythmically complex songs with grace, easy camaraderie and sense of mischief wins over everybody in concerts.
The three first albums explore the local resources and traditions. For the fourth album, always eager to expand the scope of their music, the "best Gypsy band in the world" (as recently described by UK daily The Independent) have decided to confront their styles to those of other Balkan countries by inviting Gypsy virtuoso musicians from Macedonia (the Koçani Orkestar brass band), Bulgaria (clarinet player Filip Simeonov) and Turkey (percussionist Tarik Tuysuzoglu) to join them on stage. The result is a series of exciting mixtures in which magical moments abound.
