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Doctor Rhythm World Music Roundup for October 2001
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Doctor Rhythm, Doctor Rhythm World Music Roundup for October 2001 >>
[excerpt]
GUILTY PLEASURES
If a couple of horns are hot then a dozen should be killer, right? You
betcha. I have been enjoying the new gypsy brass band album from PIRANHA (www.piranha.de) called IAG BARI by FANFARE CIOCARLIA. Brass band music is one of my guilty pleasures but I didn't dig the last album from this unodecatet (if that's what you call an 11-piece band). It seemed too frenetic, or maybe it was just my frame of mind at the time I listened to it. Also I have high standards for gypsy brass, measuring everything up to the Kocani Orkestar from Macedonia. This new release from Fanfare Ciocarlia of Romania starts calmly and gives you a few minutes to prepare for the full onslaught from the Carpathian mountains. Insect and ambient sounds, fire crackling, a guitarist warming up, conversation, subside before the first big onslaught: the title cut driven with a relentless techno beat on a tsunami of battered brass. Another stand-out track is "Hurichestra" which is a whirlwind of soloing in one of those gypsy time signatures, like 13/8.
There are a few breathers but mostly you get the Looney Tunes on speed where everyone is trying to play faster than the next guy. They reportedly reach 200 beats per minute but I can't count that fast. There are some old melodies which reminded me of Nino Rota film scores so there's a lot of latent dreamwork in these grooves. One theme, "Besh o Drom," which means "Keep on walking" was used by Rota for his score for "The Godfather" so you will immediately start humming along.
Dan Armeanca, the godfather of Oriental pop, sings on a couple of cuts. He became known as the Michael Jackson of Romanian pop but retreated from the limelight to explore jazz, reggae and folklore, as opposed to the "fakelore" gypsy music sanctioned during the Ceausescu regime. There's a guest muted trumpet player, Costel Vasilescu, adding a velvety tone to two tracks in contrast to the crisp staccato of the ensemble. These tracks leap out and hook you in. An accordion and violin ensemble appear on two further tracks and there's also an appearance by some singing Bulgarian ladies,
making a well-paced album.
Copyright 2001 by Alastair Johnston 10/01/01
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