Fanfare Ciocarlia
Encyclopedia
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
from the northeastern Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n village of Zece Prăjini
Dagâţa
Dagâţa is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Băluşeşti, Boatca, Buzdug, Dagâţa, Mănăstirea, Piscu Rusului, Poienile, Tarniţa and Zece Prăjini. The commune had 4809 people at the 2002 census; of these, 89.8% were ethnic Romanian and 10.2% were Roma...
. The band began as a loose assemblage of part-time musicians playing at local weddings and baptisms. In October 1996, the German sound engineer and record producer Henry Ernst visited Zece Prajini and convinced a number of the musicians there to assemble a touring band. These musicians decided to name the band Fanfare Ciocârlia: Fanfare being a French word that has passed into Romanian and is used to designate a brass band; Ciocârlia being the Romanian word for the skylark
Skylark
The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...
. Since their discovery by Ernst, who serves as their manager, they have played more than thousand concerts in more than 50 countries across the globe.
With historical roots in Austrian and Turkish military bands, Fanfare Ciocărlia's instrumental lineup includes trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, tenor and baritone
Baritone horn
The baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...
horns, tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
s, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
s, bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
and percussion. Their song lyrics are usually either in Romani
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
or Romanian. Their musical style stems primarily from the traditions of Romani and Romanian
Music of Romania
Romania is a European country with a multicultural music environment which includes active ethnic music scenes. Romania also has thriving scenes in the fields of pop music, hip hop, heavy metal and rock and roll...
folk dance music, but they also borrow freely from Turkish
Music of Turkey
The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and has many copies and references of Byzantine music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian music, Balkan music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences...
, Bulgarian
Music of Bulgaria
The music of Bulgaria refers to all forms of music associated with Bulgaria like classical, folk, popular music, etc. Bulgarian music is part of the Balkan tradition, which stretches across Southeastern Europe, and has its own distinctive sound...
, Serbian
Music of Serbia
Serbs and Serbia has a variety of traditional music, which is part of the wider Balkan tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.-History:...
and Macedonian
Music of the Republic of Macedonia
Music of the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonians has many things in common with the music of neighbouring Balkan countries, but maintains its own distinctive sound.-Folk music:...
musical styles, and they incorporate a number of tunes gleaned from international radio, Hollywood and Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
in their broad repertoire as well. They are best known for a very fast, high-energy sound, with complex rhythms and high-speed, staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
clarinet, saxophone and trumpet solos, sometimes performed at more than 200 beats per minute.http://www.asphalt-tango.de/fanfare/press/cdnow.html They are also known for using no sheet music
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
in their performances, sometimes randomly blasting their horns and clarinets in the middle of a song, and for playing old, battered instruments onstage.
The band won the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
for Europe in 2006. Their latest release is entitled Queens and Kings.
Influence in North America
Songs from the debut album Radio Paşcani ("Ah Ya Bibi" in particular) have appealed greatly to American fans of Gypsy. American Gypsy musicians BalkanaramaBalkanarama
Balkanarama is a five-piece band based in Seattle, Washington that originated in 1997. As the name of the band implies, the group plays mostly interpretations of traditional Gypsy music and popular songs from The Balkans...
covered "Ah Ya Bibi" on their 2003 release Nonstop. The eclectic, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
-based jazz/rock/metal act Estradasphere
Estradasphere
Estradasphere was an experimental band that originated in Santa Cruz, California during the late 1990s. The band, which in its last incarnation was based in Seattle, consisted of 6 multi-instrumentalists from a variety of musical backgrounds trained in disciplines ranging from classical music and...
, who are known for frequently interpreting Gypsy music, often play "Ah Ya Bibi" at live shows (on their EP "The Silent Elk of Yesterday", the track is recorded under the title "A Tune by F.F.C."). New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Hungry March Band
Hungry March Band
The Hungry March Band is a brass band with approximately 15 active musicians and performers. In performance, the group's size can vary from five to fifty: from an intimate quintet to a giant entourage of musicians, dancers, baton twirlers, hula hoopers, and second-liners...
covered their song "Asfalt Tango" on their On the Waterfront CD, and the Extra Action Marching Band
Extra Action Marching Band
The Extra Action Marching Band is an American musical group loosely based on the American marching band construct. The instrumentation is entirely brass and drums...
recorded "Ciocarlia Suite" on their Live CD.
Fanfare Ciocârlia was even invited to play music at Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
's 50th birthday party in Hollywood during 2003.http://www.fanfare-ciocarlia.com/
Influence in Dance Music
The song "Asfalt Tango" was used by Basement JaxxBasement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx are a British electronic dance music duo from London, England consisting of Felix Buxton born 1971 and Simon Ratcliffe born 1 December 1969. They first rose to popularity in the late 1990s...
, a British electronic dance group, on the song "Hey U", which featured on their 2006 album Crazy Itch Radio.
A cover version of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
theme is included on the album Gypsy Beats and Balkan Bangers compiled by Basement Jaxx' Felix B
In film
The full-length film Iag Bari - Brass on Fire, directed by Ralf Marscalleck, features the life of Fanfare Ciocărlia members, focusing on the small Romanian Gypsy village of Zece Prajini in contrast to the large concert venues the band attends. It would go on to win "Best Documentary Award" at the Festival De Cine Documental Musical in BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in November 2003. It was also awarded "Best Long Documentary Award" on the Romani Festival for TV and Radio Production Golden Wheel in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
.
The band can also be spotted in the film Gegen die Wand (Head-On
Head-On
Head-On is a 2004 film written and directed by Fatih Akın.-Synopsis:Cahit Tomruk is a Turkish German in his 40s. He has given up on life after the death of his wife and seeks solace in cocaine and alcohol. One night, he intentionally drives his car head-on into a wall, and barely survives...
) by Turkish film director Fatih Akın
Fatih Akin
Fatih Akın is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent.- Personal life :Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity...
. In 2004, the film won the Golden Bear at the International Film Festival in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
The song "Asfalt Tango" was the main track of the animated movie Fallen Art
Fallen Art
Fallen Art is the name of a 6-minute, animated short film written and directed by Tomasz Bagiński. It features Romanian band Fanfare Ciocarlia's song "Asfalt Tango." The film was produced and created by Platige Image, a VFX company...
by Tomasz Bagiński
Tomasz Baginski
Tomasz Bagiński a Polish illustrator, animator and director. He is a self-taught artist.-Works:His first film Rain has won a couple of local awards and became the passport to Platige Image company, in which he is a creative director...
.
In October 2004, Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt Tango Records is a Berlin-based record label specialising in Balkan Gypsy music and East European rock, psych-folk, cabaret and electronic music.-Origins:Asphalt Tango Production was formed by Henry Ernst and Helmut Neumann in 1997...
released the first Fanfare Ciocărlia DVD that included a full live concert and Iag Bari, along with other video segments.
Fanfare Ciocărlia's version of "Born to be Wild
Born to Be Wild
"Born to Be Wild" is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire and made famous by the Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude...
" can be heard on the closing credits of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, often referred to simply as Borat, is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
.
Their version of "Moliendo Cafe
Moliendo Café
"Moliendo Café" is a song by Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco. It was composed in 1958, when Blanco was 18 years old. Blanco's version hit #1 in Argentina and Japan in 1961.The story goes that Blanco's uncle, Jose Manzo Perroni, helped him compose it...
" can be heard throughout the Spanish comedy Crimen ferpecto
Crimen Ferpecto
Crimen Ferpecto is a 2004 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:Rafael is a women's clothing clerk at a large Madrid department store, Yeyo's. His department is filled with beautiful, comely young women whom Rafael routinely seduces...
.
CD
- Radio PaşcaniRadio PaşcaniRadio Paşcani is the first album released by Romanian twelve-piece Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album was recorded 1997 at Studio Electrocord in Bucharest, Romania, and mixed at Schalloran Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany. Producers are Henry Ernst and Helmut Neumann...
(1998) - Baro BiaoBaro BiaoBaro Biao - World Wide Wedding is the second album released by Romanian twelve-piece Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album was recorded 1999 at Studio Electrocord in Bucarest, Romania, and mixed at Powerplay in Berlin, Germany. Producers are Henry Ernst and Helmut Neumann...
- World Wide Wedding (1999) - Iag BariIag BariIag Bari - The Gypsy Horns From The Mountains Beyond is the third album released by Romanian twelve-piece Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album was recorded May 2001 at Studio Electrocord in Bucarest, Romania, and mixed at UFO-Sound Studios in Berlin, Germany. Producers are Henry Ernst and...
- The Gypsy Horns From The Mountains Beyond (2001) - Gili GarabdiGili GarabdiGili Garabdi - Ancient Secrets of Gypsy Brass is the fourth album released by Romanian twelve-piece Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album was recorded 2005 at both Zece Prăjini, Romania, and Headroom Studio, Berlin, Germany - the latter also being the place the album was mixed. Producers are...
- Ancient Secrets of Gypsy Brass (2005) - Queens and KingsQueens and KingsQueens and Kings is the fifth album released by Romanian twelve-piece Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album was recorded and mixed 2007 at Headroom Studio, Berlin, Germany. Producers are Henry Ernst, Helmut Neumann and Marc Elsner...
(2007) - LIVE! (2009)
- Balkan Brass Battle (2011) together with Boban & Marko Marcovic Orkestar