Fanfare Ciocărlia is a group who play the brass and woodwind instruments of the Balkans, their style being a meld of traditional Romanian gypsy sound with jazz, pop and rock. Over the past thirty years they have produced nine albums. Here is an excerpt from their (somewhat entertaining) website:
Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of the world’s greatest gypsy brass bands, a 24-legged Balkan brass beast whose eastern funk groove has torn up halls and festivals across the planet with their balkan brass sound. … Growing up sons of farmers in the “hidden” village of Zece Prajini in north-eastern Romania, the band members learned their craft at the feet of their fathers and grandfathers, proudly approaching every concert as a challenge to both entertain audiences and keep the true spirit of Gypsy music alive.
Their village’s isolation, situated in a misty valley, its dirt roads are occupied by flocks of geese, horses and carts, meant that throughout the years it remained hidden from the outside world, untouched by the effects of communism and allowing its eighty Gypsy farming families to continue to live a traditional rural lifestyle. This same remote quality also meant that brass musical traditions developed under Ottoman rule still continued to exist in the village when they had long died out in the rest of Romania. Characterised by breakneck speed, technical chops, ripping rhythms, sweet and sour horns, these combined elements separate them from any other brass band on earth.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
