Why does world music have such colourful back-stories? In 1965 Romanian wedding violinist Ion Petre Stoican nabbed a man behaving suspiciously and took him to the local police station. It turns out the guy was a spy and when the secret police offered him a house in gratitude he turned it down asking instead to make a record. So he rounded up some of Bucharest’s best musicians, putting together a “people’ orchestra’ of 14 musicians and played the frenzied rhythmic dances that he had perfected from years of toiling on the restaurant and wedding circuit. Sounds From a Bygone Age Vol.1 was his first and only record. And it’s a unique entry into a black and white world of wonderful whirling music, of scratchy violins and infectious jigs, bringing to mind the exuberance and wit of an Emir Kusturica soundtrack. Stoican even sings in a sad falsetto occasionally. It’s such ponderous music one moment and a fleeting frenzy the next. It’s also the best cd cover in the world…Ever.
