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An inspired inclusion in this year's Sydney
Festival was the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks (Band
of Brigands), featuring 12 instrumentalists and singers ranging
in age from 20 to 78, who performed to enraptured audiences
over three nights at the State Theatre in Sydney and at Parramatta's
Riverside Theatre.
The discovery of the now highly acclaimed band by two Belgian
music fans in 1990, in the small village of Clejani, south west
of Bucharest, has been compared to Ry Cooder's discovery of
the Buena Vista Social Club. With appearances in the Tony Gatlif
film "Latcho Drom" that chronicled the musical world
of gypsies, and in the Sally Potter film "The Man Who Cried"
featuring Johnny Depp, Taraf de Haidouks have become one of
the world's most visible gypsy bands.
In concert, the music was a lively and invigorating mix of gypsy
styles, and a wonderful introduction to the music of Eastern
Europe for first-timers in the crowd. There were songs in the
great Romanian folk tradition, ranging from haunting medieval
heartland ballads to dizzying fiddle dances, Balkan gypsy classics
and a selection of Turkish/Middle-Eastern flavored dance tunes.
Shades of Celtic and even bluegrass music were to be found throughout
a performance that alternated between incendiary and soulful.
Various combinations of the band performed throughout the concert,
with musicians and vocalists alternating on stage from song
to song in a bizarre gypsy theatre. Most notable was the deference
granted to the senior statesman of the band as they came onstage
to provide their sometimes shaky, yet always thrillingly soulful
vocals. When all members were onstage together the instrumentation
included two violinists, three accordions, cymbalum, upright
bass, clarinet and percussion.
The responsibility for energy and speed fell on the younger
members of the band, and the portly violinist with the slick
dance moves and huge beer gut. The two elder statesmen provided
the soul and experience and blissful exuberance in their vocal
and stage performance that only years of life as a musician
in the gyspy realm could bring. Outstanding concert.
(Reviewed by Martin Delcanho).
