Fanfare Ciocarlia Returns To North America

Romanian Gypsy Legends Announce First North American Tour In Nine Years

by Tom Pryor

North American audiences are in for a rare treat this fall, thanks to the long-running annual NY Gypsy Festival and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, who've teamed up to bring Romanian Roma (Gypsy) musical legends Fanfare Ciocarlia back to North American stages for the first time in nine years.

The legendary brass band will be bringing its whomping sound to eight select cities in the U.S. in Canada kicking off on September 19th in Quebec.

The full tour press release, including complete tour dates is reprinted below.

Fanfare Ciocarlia, the brass orchestra from the village of Zece Prajini in North-Eastern Romania, is one of the world's foremost live Gypsy bands. After having toured North America in 2001 and 2003 as part of the hugely successful "Gypsy Caravan Tour," the ensemble finally returns to North America for an eight-city tour in the US and Canada.

Everyone who has heard Fanfare Ciocarlia agrees on one thing: No brass band plays as fast. Their breakneck speed, technical chops, ripping rhythms and sweet'n sour horns are different from any other brass band on earth. Their sound has been sampled and covered, championed and emulated by countless DJs, bands and Gypsy orchestras. Their radical reinterpretations of popular Western standards like the "James Bond Theme" and Duke Ellington's "Caravan" show how this Romanian orchestra can effortlessly put a Gypsy spin on any music they get their horns on.

Fanfare Ciocarlia has won the prestigious BBC-3 Planet Award in the European category. Their rendition of "Born To Be Wild" was featured in the 2006 hit movie "Borat" and their song was even used in IKEA UK's latest TV ad campaign. Additionally, Fanfare Ciocarlia have twice developed brilliant musical theatre: The Gypsy Queens & Kings and the Balkan Brass Battle (which saw them battle it out on stage with Boban Markovic Orkestar). Fanfare Ciocarlia have released eight albums, several of which have topped the European World Music charts, and they have played over 1,200 concerts in fifteen years. To put it simply: nobody does it better, harder, faster, funkier than Fanfare Ciocarlia!

FANFARE CIOCARLIA NORTH AMERICAN TOUR:

Sept 19: Le Circle, Quebec City

Sept 20: Rialto Theatre during PopMontreal, Montreal

Sept 21: The Hoxton during Small World Music Festival, Toronto

Sept 22: Schimmel Center for the Arts, NYC (NY Gypsy Festival and PACE Presents)

Sept 23: Duke University, NC

Sept 24: Brillo Box, Pittsburgh, PA

Sept 25: City Winery, Chicago

Sept 26: Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis