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Higher States
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San Diego Union-Tribune, Higher States >>
If the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Klezmer All Stars both came from Romania instead of New Orleans, they'd sound like Fanfare Ciocarlia, a 12-man Gypsy group that features a front line of two tubas, two clarinets and three trum pets and gruff-voiced singers.
The exuberant, very old-school music they perform on this, their fifth and newest album, is steeped in various Balkan traditions and rousing, pre-bop jazz that could have come straight from the streets of the Big Easy. It's a captivating synthesis that seems unlikely in theory but is enchanting on record. (Or, as loan Ivancea, the group's oldest member, puts it in the liner notes: "Who's to say our cousins who went to the U.S. didn't help invent jazz?")
Fanfare Ciocarlia, which is named after a traditional Romanian dance, playfully quotes "The Pink Panther Theme" during the jaunty "Horaevreiasca" ("Jewish Song"), adds a clipped, West Indian beat to its version of the James Bond movie theme, and turns Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol's "Caravan" into strutting, Bourbon Street-meets-Bucharest romp. It's the party record of the month, at least for those whose definition of "dance music" isn't limited by style or geography.
-George Varga 07/28/05
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