A Balkan Introduction (Gypsy 'Funk') 'Kocani Orkestar, Taraf de Haidouks & Mahala Rai Banda

Kocani Orkestar
Alone At My Wedding (Craw25 ,2002)
This band hails from Kocani (from the New Republic of Macedonia 'ex-Yugoslavia) brass band with a muscular rhythm section showcasing tracks played by Gypsy bands during Macedonian weddings. Their music is based on various gypsy tunes originating from a number of Balkan parts.
Don't be too worried about the fact the music is intended for weddings, there is obviously loads of high spririted dancing. I certainly like this album.
http://tinyurl.com/hxm48


Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands)
Honourable Brigands, Magic Horses and Evil Eye
(Craw 13, 1995)
Taraf de Haidouks are currently the most significant and most famous Gypsy ensemble in the world. They are a group of traditional & multi-generational musicians from the small town of Clejani South of Bucharest. On this particular release the band has 22 members.

Sure this is folk music, but not in a dry sense, this is music to entertain & have fun. Some tracks on this disc are slower than can be heard on other albums & this reflects the sorrow of the social & political life in Romania over the greater part of the 20th Century.

Taraf de Haïdouks had never performed outside their native region before being discovered by Stepháne Karo and Michel Winter, two young Belgian music fans who fell in love with their music during a trip to Romania in 1990. Not long after their 'discovery' they began touring & it wasn't all that long before they were playing sell out tours the world over. Even music magazines such as 'Mojo' have devoted many pages including a 4 page article to this disctinctive band of artists. Truly potent music from the hardest working band in Eastern Europe!
http://tinyurl.com/quh73

Mahala rai Banda (Noble Band from the Ghetto)
Self Titled (Craw 31, 2004)
The band formed in the gypsy ghetto's (Mahala) of Bucharest & are an all star 'funk' band that blends together the traditional gyspy sound with a highly energetic brass band. Some of young(er) musicians here are related to Taraf de Haidouks & also contain retired soldiers who originate from Moldavia. The group manages to combine wedding tunes, military music, belly-dancing music, Far Eastern styles and harmonies, as well as pop, jazz and rock. Another fun release that possibly may not be for the true gypsy music purist?

However, not being overly knowledeable here & those in Europe especaily who most probably will have a much greater understanding than I, may find some of the tracks here to have too much of a Westernised feel. Nonetheless, it seems to me that much of what gypsy music is all about is incorporating various music styles in the gyspy framework & with this in mind I think this is another fairly strong release of its kind.

Further, I should add that I feel for this debut release, the collaboration with Shantel ("electrogyspy whizz") is a conscious effort to garner a younger audience for the ever increasing popularity of this music.
http://tinyurl.com/l4rr4

Accoring to the label's website these CD's should all be available or at least via order from your local music outlet. However, you can find a mail order service from the label (if you prefer) right here.

***Note: you all need to know that Robert Johnsson over at PunchDrunk (a rockin' fine blog) has added to the Taraf de Haidouks selection x 3. The 3rd disc is the one that's here (at different host), the other 2 are completely different. Musique Des Tsiganes De Roumanie was their first release & Dumbala Dumba the 3rd.

Please be generous & thank Robert Johnsson for this BIG effort for without his time & care you would not have the opportunity to listen (before buying) to the others albums. Cheers RJ.

****(27th)I don't know what's happened to the formatting here, but after adding the above note it's all gone weird. I can't fix it, unless I pull the`post apart & clear all HTML. I don't feel like doing that now, so please accept a strange looking post.