Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania)

 

„Sometimes when people ask me where I'm from and I say: Zece Prajini – they think I'm from the end of the world, but I believe, that at this end of the world is the best place to play”.

[Costica "Cimai" Trifan, Fanfane Ciocarlia trumpeter]

 

Zece Prajini is a small village with 400 people. Surrounded by mountains and dusty roads, the village is in Romania, but also very close to the Moldovan border. This is the home of twelve Romanian gypsy musicians, who created the brass band – Fanfare Ciocarlia. There, the art of playing music has been passed down for ages from generation to generation. Notes were not recorded. Instruments handed over from father to son lost their original luster and became covered with the old age patina. On such instruments, the Fanfare ignites the fire of their crazy and broken rhythms. Romanian folk songs and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia are played on trumpets, clarinets and drums. Every weekend the musicians pull out the instruments to play at weddings and other ceremonies. Sometimes they play for thirty hours non-stop. There is a different rhythm for every occasion: geamparale, sirba, hora, and if the mood requires it, there is a crazy ruseasca at the end. After returning to the village, the musicians soothe their sore lips and wait for the next engagement.

 

concert: Saturday, September 8 at 8.30-10.00 PM

stage at the Main Square