You think that Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France has the market on gypsy jazz? Get a load of this band from Romania. Here, you’ve got a nine piece band that includes violins, reeds, accordions, bass and cymbalum to create an Eastern European/Mediterranean mix of swing and gypsy blood.
The songs are a fragrant meld of fervent instrumentals and vocals, all made for festive dances or late night smoky nightclubs. Of the former, wonderfully nasally vocals by Viorica Rudareasa on ”Balalau From Bucharest” and the saucy “Where Do You Come From, Dear Lady?” mix earthy voice with incessant rhythms and exotic harmonies. Some of the songs have a feel like a Greek village, as on “I’ve Got A Parachute Skirt” while Constantin Lautaru’s throaty vocals bundle with violins and whistles on the fervent “Cold Snowball.” On “I’ll Tell You…” has a rabbit hop of a gallup with swirling strings as Lautar spews like a toothless farmer. A chase scene of violins and desultory vocals by Marin P. Manole makes for a passionate “The High Balcony In Ciolpan” while you can hear the wheels falling of the caravan axis as the violins squeal and trudge along with the guitars on “No Snow, No Rain.”
The combination of bouncy accordion on the rolling “Mother, My Mother” with the incessant cymbaline and bass line is a ferfent and intoxicating dance, while the solo sounds on “Marius’ Lament” takes you to the boulevard of broken dreams. At times the band takes you to the Left Bank, then a Greek tavern and even to an Irish pub when the whistles and strings start a jig. They band does weddings, bar mitzvahs and juke joints. Dig it!
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Crammed Discs