Fanfare Ciocărlia

Fanfare Ciocârlia is a popular twelve-piece Romani Balkan brass band from the northeastern Romanian village of Zece Prăjini. The band is made up of Roma musicians, and they are recognised as one of Europe's most popular contemporary Romani bands. Fanfare Ciocârlia are best known for a very fast, high-energy sound, with complex rhythms and high-speed, staccato clarinet, saxophone and trumpet solos, sometimes performed at more than 200 beats per minute.

Fanfare Ciocârlia are also known for their arrangements of songs, including Born To Be Wild, James Bond Theme, Caravan, and Summertime. Fanfare Ciocârlia never use sheet music in their performances. Since appearing in 1996 Fanfare Ciocârlia have played more than two thousand concerts in more than 70 countries. In 2016 the band will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a world tour.

Fanfare Ciocârlia originate from Zece Prajini, a village located in Moldavia, northeastern Romania. Zece Prajini is entirely populated by Romani families where, traditionally, most of the men in the village worked either as subsistence farmers or at factories in nearby towns. Many men in the village played music at local weddings and baptisms. They tended to play brass instruments as farming left their fingers too rough to play string instruments. Playing an instrument was a family tradition, taught father to son, and while the village was noted locally for its brass musicians no one living there considered themselves a professional musician.

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