Wintertijd

Speed Brass

It must have been about five years ago I first went down to Varberg, Sweden. A Canadian friend of mine and his wife were visiting some friends in Varberg. Erik and Ylva. Erik was a health inspector. He used to love closing down schools because the buildings weren't fit to teach in, and then close the barracks they put up as well for similar reasons. A bit of a bastard, but a really sympathetic one. Erik used to cook vegetarian meals without any added salt. Erik listened to World Music.

If it was weird, Erik embodied it. One of the things that he made Colin and I listen to is Fanfare Ciocarlia. Fanfare Ciocarlia is a band of 12 gypsies, 11 on brass and one on bass-drum. They come from the border between Moldavia and Rumania, and they've been playing the same music for generations. When I first heard it, I didn't know what hit me. The play incredibly fast music which is laced with every emotion under the sun. One doesn't quite know if one must cry or laugh when listening to their stuff.

The thing is that I never really saw Erik again, and I had forgotten what the band was called. But Lisa took me to a store called Multi-kulti this weekend. They specialise in all kinds of world-music, jazz, blues, ethnic and whatnot. So I started talking about this orchestra with the guy behind the counter, and he immediately gave me the right band and right album. I recognised the picture on the front of the CD. So I bought it, and have been listening to the madness since then.

It's fast, furious, powerful and completely crazy. So here I'd like to offer three tracks for your downloading pleasure: Ah Ya Bibi, Ciocarlia Si Suite and Hora Cu Strigaturii. Enjoy them, if you can.

Posted by Chris at April 5, 2005 12:40 PM