Fanfare Ciocarlia

Fanfare Ciocarlia, a brass ensemble rooted in Gypsy tradition, moves with equal ease between contrasting settings. Having performed together for under six years, its eleven members sustain energetic sets through the full thirty hours typical of certain village rituals, then deliver the same intensity to audiences on distant stages. One evening they might play for wedding celebrations in Zece Prajini, the Gypsy settlement in eastern Romania; the next morning they could already be traveling to another continent. German filmmaker Ralf Marschalleck documented this dual existence in the 2002 release Iag Bari--Brass on Fire. The group fuses musical threads drawn from Turkey, Romania, and Gypsy sources. Its players emphasize their capacity to lock into rapid, precise grooves on timpani, trumpets, horns, and clarinets.