Gypsy Rapture

FANFARE CIOCARLIA
Gili Garabdi: Ancient Secrets of Gypsy Brass (Asphalt Tango)

When dealing with the schizophrenic soul of the Eastern European psyche, local folk music has to match in both intensity and melancholy. In separate studies, for example, it was shown Hungarians have the most sex in the world, as well as having the largest suicide rate. These extremities pervade the arts scenes, whether in the bucolic peasant ballads and táncház hysteria or blaring horns of marching band music. Honed in their base of Zece Prajini in east Romania, the 11-piece Fanfare Ciocarlia are masters of the local temperament. Part of a centuries-old migration of gypsies from India through the Balkans, brass music is rooted in Turkish military processions, hence the rapidly executed time changes and percussive dependence. Using a variety of drums, trumpets, saxophones and tubas, Gili Garabdi is equally groundbreaking in innovation. The addition of accordion and banjo add unique dynamics to this larger-than-life record. While some brass outfits play the opposites, Fanfare keep it upbeat the entire time, save two reinterpretations of guest vocalist Jony Iliev. Taking two tracks from his gorgeous Ma Maren Ma (the title track and “Godzila”), Iliev’s dusty voice sounds even less refined than on his debut, making these songs stronger with the backing brass. Re-creation is big on Fanfare’s agenda, opening with a blaring version of the James Bond theme song that avoids kitsch by besting the original. Even the slower moments – the opening minute of “Lume Lume” – end up scorching in fervent rhapsody. By the time the light electronic remix of “Alili,” their attempt at a “radio version,” closes the record, you’re so deep in the embrace of gypsy rapture the outside world no longer matters. You’ve entered a place as wide as the human experience itself, and there’s no looking back.