Fanfare Ciocarlia

"Sometimes when I tell people I come from Zece Prajini they think I come from the end of the earth. But here, at the end of the earth, is the right place to make music."
Costica "Cimai" Trifan

In the east of Romania, nestled in the Carpathian mountains close to the Moldavian border, lies Zece Prajini, a village of just four hundred souls and home to the twelve Romany Gypsy musicians who make up the Fanfare Ciocarlia brass ensemble. The rugged, secluded hills have been echoing to the sounds of brass band music since the Turkish military bands marched in with the Ottoman occupation at the beginning of the 19th century.

Fanfare Ciocarlia practice an art that has been handed down from generation to generation. There is no written music. Their instruments, bearing the dents and scratches of decades of use, have lost their shine and gained their own patina, but with them Fanfare Ciocarlia manage to set off a musical fireworks display, with an unbelievable talent for intricate rhythms and dizzy tempos. And it's not just about the traditional sirbas, horos and other always popular dances: melodies from movies from Bollywood to Hollywood as well the latest international radio hits are thrown into the pot to be mashed up Fanfare Ciocalia style. In addition to still being the most in-demand band for local weddings, funerals and other occasions, they have in the last years been touring around the world, a story well-documented in the must-see film by German director Ralf Marschalleck: "Iag Bari - Brass on Fire".

Press Quotes

"It's almost unbelievable that a band this size can articulate the music and stay together with such precision."
Rootsworld

"Fanfare Ciocarlia, whose members vary greatly in age, is one of the last and best of it's kind. The band doesn't grate on the ears the way some New Orleans Brass bands tend to do after a while, and it's repertoire and arrangements sound more diverse. Rather, it comes across as a Gipsy/Klezmer band without strings and bellows, and as one that can play, at breakneck speed without missing a step."
Dirty Linen

"There are wild Romanian horas and sirbas, Jewish-sounding tunes and melodies you might hear from the brass bands of Serbia an Macedonia."
Folkroots

Manegement & Booking

Worldwide Booking & Management
Asphalt Tango Produktion
Ackerstr. 14-15
10115 Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 (30) 285 85 28
Fax: +49 (30) 285 85 12
eMail: agency@asphalt-tango.de
web: www.asphalt-tango.de