Okay. I can pinch myself now. And breathe a little. I’ve just witnessed one of the most amazing concerts of my life. One of the greatest live bands going around at the moment, Romanian wedding and party band Fanfare Ciorcarlia. It’s possible that the giant three tiered auditorium has never been so full, and before long we were dancing in the aisles. It began with Spanish three piece Kaloome, but then 4 Romanian men with tubas strode onto the back of the stage and blew everything apart. The first thing you notice about Fanfare Ciorcarlia is that your body is moving without your conscious control, the next is their piercing brass, the trio of trumpets cut through the music like butter, soaring free, out frenetically into the great open spaces. This is the most ecstatic music I’ve ever heard. The next thing you experience is the speed, these 11 middle aged guys are master musicians, as they effortlessly manipulate the tempo, increasing to ludicrous bpm (or is that km/ph?) . Vocalists come and go, the gorgeous Florentina Sandu, the intriguing Hungarian vocalist Mistsou, who with her unique delivery and shy stage persona was unfortunately not featured enough, The charismatic Bulgarian Johnny Iliev, who dressed in white with a cane, was just missing a bowler hat to look like he’d just walked out of A Clockwork Orange and of course Macedonian legend Gypsy Queen Esma Redzepova who added a touch of majestic class to proceedings. They played for two hours. It wasn’t enough. Gigs of the year should not be allowed to happen in January, it just makes everything else depressing.
Bob Baker Fish
