Taraf de Haidouks

Originating in the longstanding "lautari" gypsy customs of Romania, the music finds fresh expression through Taraf de Haïdouks, whose dozen members range in age from 20 to 78 and serve as both instrumentalists and vocalists. The ensemble has committed four albums of traditional material to posterity while sharing television broadcasts alongside Yehudi Menuhin and collaborating in both studio and live settings with Swiss pop star Stephan Eicher. Their sound also supplied the soundtrack for Tony Gartlif's award-winning motion picture Latcho Drom. David Harrington of Kronos Quartet has observed that Taraf de Haïdouks "take their listeners to the essence of music; that place where the bow meets the string and a world of action follows." Drawing their designation from the Haidouks, the outlaw figures celebrated in numerous ballads, the musicians trace their roots to the modest Romanian settlement of Clejani lying southwest of Bucharest. They remained largely within that locale until Stephen Karo and Michael Winter, a pair of Belgian enthusiasts captivated during a 1990 journey through Romania, brought them to wider notice. The two arranged multiple Belgian engagements and steered the group toward the world-music imprint Crammed Discs. Following an acclaimed appearance at the 1991 WOMAD festival, Taraf de Haïdouks issued their first recording, Musique Des Tsiganes De Roumanie, which ascended to the summit of Europe's world-music charts and carried their work to international listeners. Their follow-up, Honourable Brigands, arrived in 1994 and earned the German Critics Association's designation as "Best World Music Album." Success continued with the 1998 release Dumbala Dumba, which incorporated contributions from Rosioru, master of Valachian Gypsy crooners, Viorica Rudareasa, the celebrated Romanian singer, and Napoleon, an Urasi clansman belonging to Romania's bear-trainer lineage. The band's self-titled fourth album appeared the next year, and French filmmaker Guy Demoy captured their activities on video in 1998.