From this moment of discovery, the New York Gypsy All-Stars were created, according to a news release, uniting bi-musical virtuosi raised on the lush sounds of Macedonian, Greek, Turkish and American roots - and forged in the halls of some of the world's best music schools, where the band's members were students.

With a madcap relish for ill and crunky sounds, the five musicians in the band has ripped through the gates separating the region's interlocking roots on a long-awaited album of original pieces, "Romantech" (on the Traditional Crossroads label, with a release date of March 6). The group is touring in February to support the album.

The New York Gypsy All-Stars will appear Friday at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster at the Ann & Richard Barshinger Center for Music Arts. Tickets are $10. For tickets or information, call 291-3911.

Doors will open at 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show.

"We cover all the Balkans melodically," classically-trained, traditionally-raised Macedonian clarinet player and band frontman Ismail Lumanovski said in the release, "and we cover the world rhythmically and harmonically."

Zooming with Roma-inspired zeal from swinging salsa to pulsing bhangra, the group never loses its sharp musical focus, astounding chops and true spirit their Gypsy namesakes, according to one critic.

"We use lots of musical elements in our original compositions that are typically Balkan-Romany in style, but aren't necessarily in your face, like the 9/8 rhythm on tracks like 'NY9' or the way we use musical ornaments throughout the songs," Lumanovski said. "But more important than that is how we use the gypsy term in a broader sense. We are taking what the gypsies did, traveling from India to the Balkans and on to Western Europe and putting together the best musical ideas from every nation along the way. We're open to the world, and we just take everything we like and make it one."

Some of the band's members received degrees from prestigious music schools like Juilliard and Berklee, and they all grew up jamming with local roots musicians, playing traditional zithers with their bare fingers, enjoying Latin jazz or playing funk music.