WOMAD

Fanfare Ciocarlia

From Romania

Seven years ago, the Romanian group The Taraf of Haidouks was the sensation of the 1991 Rivermead festival, with crowds demanding unending renditions of their epic Gypsy ballads and dance tunes. This year, the 11-piece Fanfare Ciocarlia may also prove to be the surprise package of the weekend.Ciocarlia, however, are not from Transylvania, home of the Taraf and generally thought of as the hub of Romanian music. They come from the village of Zece Prajeni (it means "10 fields" and is also the title of their debut album) which is almost on the border with Moldavia, the former Soviet republic. Only 400 people live here, but the village band plays across this isolated region at weddings and baptisms. Thirty-hour sets (with a few breaks) are not uncommon at these weekend events.The dominant musical family in Fanfare Ciocarlia is brass. Two tubas and a large drum lay down a frantic bass part, while trumpets, clarinets and saxophones burst across the rhythm with high-speed staccato tunes. The effect is extraordinary. As the band themselves say, "We are one of the last Gypsy brass bands in Romania – and we are the fastest."Fanfare's senior members are clarinettist Oprica Ivancea and trumpeter Radulescu Lazar. Like the rest of the group, they play instruments that have been handed down across the generations, providing a physical link with the past. Their tunes, in common with many styles in this part of the world, bear the mark of centuries of rule by the Ottoman Empire. But as well as this Turkish influence, and sets of dances with Bulgarian, Greek and Macedonian roots, Fanfare Ciocarlia will introduce tunes from Hollywood, or even Bollywood, into their set. Fanfare Ciocarlia's music is thus not just an embodiment of the past, but an organic, growing style, constantly renewing itself while guarding its own traditions.