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CD Review
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CD Now.com, CD Review >>
The Moldavian brass band tradition began when native players heard touringGerman and Hungarian ensembles and adapted the format and repertoire to suitthemselves. Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of Romania's best-known Roma (Gypsy)big bands. They are now respectable enough to have their name printed on thelocal currency, but this was not always the case. Like their Bulgarian"wedding music" cousins, these musicians were always extremely popular withtheir countrymen but also experienced constant harassment during the lateCommunist regime. The album's title translates to "Brass On Fire," which isappropriate, as these spirited and soulful batuta, rusasca, sirba, hora, andgeamparale dances can be as fleet and seemingly haphazard in their attack asforked lightning. But, despite the frenzied velocity of some of the tracks(the band has been clocked at between 130 and 200 beats per minute!) theoverwhelming impression is one of soulful, majestic melancholy. They areusually referred to as a brass band but their lineup also includes clarinetsand saxophones, a pair of doggedly persistent percussionists, plus a brieflyheard and non-credited fiddler and accordionist. The consort has aburnished, deep-bottomed timbre that commonly veers off into anever-so-slightly surreal take on oom-pah-pah. The instrumental forces areadmirably set off by occasional vocal turns.
Cut 5, "Lume, Lume" ("World, World") is a minor key "life's a bitch" lamentfeaturing a male singer and a keening, plangent Bulgarian women's choir. Onthe eleventh tune, "Balada Lui Ioan," a deep voice seemingly marinated indisreputable vintages and raw tobacco lets it all hang out, immediatelyfollowed by a comically over-the-top, lugubrious quote from The Godfather.The augmented CD closes with an essential live performance video.
--Christina Roden 12/16/01
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