It Wasn't Hard To Love You

James Bond Theme - Billogorz Remix

Escape From Baltimore - Jstar remix

First Aid Klezmer [dunkelbunt] remix EP

Onwards to Mars!

20 Years

Devil's Tale

Balkan Brass Battle

Best Of Gypsy Brass

Gili Garabdi

Queens & Kings

Cruzando El Campo (single)

Scores Asfalt Tango 

Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of the world’s greatest gypsy brass bands, a 24-legged Balkan brass beast whose eastern funk groove has torn up halls and festivals across the planet with their balkan brass sound. Their energetic performances and musical ingenuity winning them fans from Melbourne to Memphis, Tokyo to Toulouse. Growing up sons of farmers in the “hidden” village of Zece Prajini in north-eastern Romania, the band members learned their craft at the feet of their fathers and grandfathers, proudly approaching every concert as a challenge to both entertain audiences and keep the true spirit of Gypsy music alive. It is no small thing to note that Fanfare Ciocarlia singlehandedly are responsible for the re-emergence and great rise in popularity of balkan brass and the balkan brass movement from Eastern Europe. 


Anyone who has heard Fanfare Ciocarlia can agree on one thing – no brass band has ever played as fast as this before. Make that two things: no brass band had ever sounded like this before! Their village's isolation, situated in a misty valley, its dirt roads are occupied by flocks of geese, horses and carts, meant that throughout the years it remained hidden from the outside world, untouched by the effects of communism and allowing its eighty Gypsy farming families to continue to live a traditional rural lifestyle. This same remote quality also meant that brass musical traditions developed under Ottoman rule still continued to exist in the village when they had long died out in the rest of Romania. Characterised by breakneck speed, technical chops, ripping rhythms, sweet and sour horns, these combined elements separate them from any other brass band on earth.


The Times of London described it as “a heavy, heavy monster sound” and Fanfare’s recordings have taken their eerie Balkan groove into dance clubs across the planet. They were commissioned by Sacha Baron Cohen to cut the biker anthem

 and "just the 2 Of Us" for the Borat I and II movie soundtrack and have been sampled and covered ,championed and emulated, by countless DJs, bands and Gypsy orchestras across the world. Fanfare Ciocarlia have released ten albums, several of which have topped the European World Music charts and their DVD “Brass On Fire” was acclaimed by Songlines magazine as “setting a new standard for music documentaries”. They have played over 3000 concerts world-wide, and put simply: nobody does it better, harder, faster, funkier than Fanfare Ciocarlia

The legends of Gypsy Balkan brass music from Romania

FC Ankara 2024

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FC Cluj

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Fanfare Ciocarlia

Balkanbeats, Balkan beat, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Jstar, Remix, remixed, Romania, , Dub, Reggae music, Gypsy brass, 

Escape From Baltimore - remixed by Jstar (UK). Original track released on Fanfare Ciocarlia album "It Wasn't Hard To Love You" (2021).

The Gypsy brass music legends of Fanfare Ciocarlia spreads spring fever and heaps of sunshine! Digital only. 

While straying through the nearby fields of Fanfare Ciocarlia's home village back in Romania, the giants of brass came up with a jolly tune that invites everyone to dance and welcome the new season.

Balkanbeats, Balkan beat, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Dunkelbunt, Remix, remixed, Romania, Vienna, Cumbia, Latin music, Gypsy brass, Jewish remix

Fanfare Ciocarlia and Dunkelbunt - musical friends for a long time ever since samples of the brass music legend from Romania found their way into the tracks 'Asfalt Tango' and 'Chocolate Butterfly' feat. RAF Camora - released in 2007. Now - Fanfare CIocarlia send a Jewish composition on a journey down to South America - wrapped in a groovy and shimmering cumbia dress designed by the Hamburg native living in Vienna. Also good to know: A double bill live on stage at Volkstheater Vienna (Austria) is scheduled for September 25th. Tickets are now on sale! Visit: https://www.fanfare-ciocarlia.com for further info and early bird tickets.

Fanfare Ciocarlia 's 5th album. Recorded across Europe with musicians from the continent’s extended Gypsy community. 

Recorded across Europe with musicians from the continent’s extended Gypsy community.

Their 5th album. Overcoming borders and visas, foreign tongues and rhythms, more than two dozen musicians from France to Bulgaria came together to create “Queens and Kings”.

Casual observers may wonder how Fanfare Ciocarlia’s roaring Balkan funk could possibly fuse with the flamenco guitars of French Gitans Kaloomé or Macedonian legend Esma Redzepova’s accordion driven music? Zece Prajini’s musical magicians shrug off such concerns, noting that they share elements of language, experience, and an almost indescribable yet very Gypsy musical synergy with their guests.

Hungarian music has permeated northern Romania for centuries, while Yugoslav and Bulgarian music came from encounters with travelling Gypsy communities or on pirate cassettes. Spain and France existed in pre-war memories, lost yet not forgotten Latin connections; as did jazz and pop flavours long filtered through closed borders.

From these sources and their own ancient Gypsy roots, Zece Prajini’s musicians built Fanfare Ciocarlia. Here, accompanied by some of Europe's finest singers, Romania’s brass dervishes share tales of life, love and loss.

Full score and set of parts of Asfalt Tango released on the original Fanfare Ciocarlia album "Queens and Kings"

Full score and set of parts
(saxophone alto, trumpet 1 & 2 in C, tenor horn 1 & 2, tuba 1 & 2)


transcription by Alexei Turcan
song released on the original Fanfare Ciocarlia album "Baro Biao" 1999


Traditional dances and Balkan tunes from Romania and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and North Macedonia are played by Fanfare Ciocarlia on horns, trumpets and clarinets.

Traditional dances and Balkan tunes from Romania and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and North Macedonia are played on horns, trumpets and clarinets.

“We are magicians of music and in Zece Prajini the ancient secrets of Gypsy magic live.” (Ioan Ivancea)

When the enslavement of Romania´s Gypsies officially ended in 1864 tens of thousands fled the nation for new horizons. Several thousand landed in the United States, often settling in the black ghettoes of the Southern US states, where they continued to make music. Ioan, Fanfare Ciocarlia´s oldest member and group historian, once answered when asked if jazz was a big influence on the Fanfare, "Who´s to say our cousins who went to the US didn´t help invent jazz?" On Ancient Secrets this matter and other mysteries of Gypsy magic are set forth...

Ioan, Fanfare Ciocărlia´s oldest member and group historian, once answered when asked if jazz was a big influence on the Fanfare, "Who´s to say our cousins who went to the US didn´t help invent jazz? " On the new CD "GILI GARABDI" this matter and other mysteries of Gypsy magic are set forth. The CD will be released by Asphalt Tango Records on March 7th 2005.

Zece Prajini (literally meaning 'ten fields') is a village of just four hundred souls, surrounded by gentle mountains and dusty tracks. Situated in the East of Romania, it is no more than a stone's throw from the border with the former Soviet republic of Moldavia. This area of Romania is known for its rugged seclusion and the stubborn poetry of its inhabitants. In the evenings, when the winds calm down, the sounds of the fanfare echo from the surrounding slopes. This is the home of the twelve Romany Gypsy musicians who make up the FANFARE CIOCARLIA brass ensemble.

The art of playing music has been handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial. There is no sheet music. The instruments, bearing the marks of the previous decades, have lost their shine and gained their own patina. On them FANFARE CIOCARLIA manage to set off a musical firework display, with an unbelievable talent for intricate rhythms and dizzy tempos. Traditional dances from Romania and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia are played on horns, trumpets, clarinets and timpani. For each different moment in life there is an appropriate piece: geamparale, sîrba, hora, and if the mood requires, a racy ruseasca at the end.



7 inch 45 RPM rare worldmusic Fanfare Ciocarlia Gypsy music balkan brass vinyl

7 inch Vinyl EP - 45 RPM - very limited Japanese edition (only 500 copies world-wide)
Side A: Just The Two Of Us // Side B: The Hungarian Wild Bunch

Includes unlimited streaming of 

 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

It Wasn't Hard To Love You 7" 45 RPM EP

Fanfare Ciocarlia, the world's foremost Gypsy brass band, celebrate their 20th anniversary with another roots music album. 

Hailing from a tiny village in north east Romania, Fanfare have gone on to conquer the world's stages with their hugely exciting performances while each Ciocarlia album has topped the European World Music charts, driven DJs crazy and inspired countless imitators.

Now, with "Onwards To Mars!", Fanfare Ciocarlia take another giant leap forward: here the band both dig deep into their rural Romanian roots while demonstrating what they have learnt on their travels. Long standing fans will appreciate the band's earthy roots music with two traditional Romanian songs sung by senior member Radulescu Lazar (Un Tzigan Avea O Casa and Trenul Masina Mica) and the very slow Balkan Blues of Doina. Fans will also recognise a new arrangement of Mista Lobaloba, a longtime favourite. Things get intriguing when Fanfare cover Bunica Bate Toba by hugely popular Moldovian Rock band Zdob si Zdub.

And they go completely crazy when they invite Romanian Gypsy Blues singer Iulian Canaf to sing the classic Screamin' Jay Hawkins tune, I Put A Spell On You! Another collaboration is Fiesta de Negritos; Fanfare recorded this in Medellín together with Puerto Candelaria, one of Colombia's leading Cumbia bands. Dig the Latin-Balkan groove! There are also seven tunes here by celebrated composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Koby Israelite, four of which he composed specifically for Fanfare.

25 years, 10 albums and more than 3000 shows later, Fanfare Ciocarlia are as vibrant as ever and their fairy tale continues. The legendary Gypsy brass band  from the tiny village of Zece Prajini in Romania is returning with a special 25th anniversary album "It Wasn'T Hard To Love you" to celebrate their intimate relationship with all fans around the world.

25 YEARS AGO: A seemingly endless and bumpy road meanders past rolling hills that do not want to be called mountains - somewhere in northeastern Romania near the Moldavian border. Past houses that Chagall has thrown into the landscape at random, standing crooked and audaciously colorful in the mud, their windows gazing wide-eyed at passersby. At some point, the traveler makes a last hard left turn and, after traversing another gravel road, finally reaches the birthplace of one of the most incredible recent phenomena in brass music: Zece Prăjini, the place where it all began for Fanfare Ciocărlia. Here, in 1997, 12 musicians set out to conquer the world with deep pressure blasts from tubas and tenor horns intermingled with wild cacophonies of trumpets and saxophones. To unleash the joyful power of Eastern European brass music into the world - that was the idea!
The seriousness of their mission was preserved back in 1998 on their first album release with a quote from senior trumpeter Radulescu: "... just wait and see - at some point we‘re going to play on Mars". Since this momentous statement, the band has traveled millions of kilometers on countless tours in their attempt to reach the red planet.

Nothing needs to be rewritten about their music either. Fanfare Ciocărlia's unparalleled talent for alloying their Balkan brass with dashes of jazz, pop and rock, all performed with mad precision at breakneck tempos, has given them cult status and made them a permanent fixture in the music scene ranging from punk to classical. Two and a half decades, thousands of shows and 9 studio albums later, Fanfare Ciocărlia were at the pinnacle of their career when a pandemic shocked the world. This unprecedented event has meant the same for them as it has for millions of other artists around the world: an abrupt stop to all work. And while the world seemed to be at a standstill, the band's many fans became active and helped them to complete their long-planned 25th anniversary album with financial support and words of encouragement. Now the results can be heard: "It Wasn't Hard To Love You" is a musical ode to Fanfare Ciocărlia's legions of fans. It is the latest chapter in the story of a big band from a small village, a band that wants to put smiles on people's faces, and a band that yearns for a long future of thrilling concerts extending deep into the night.

We say Thank You to more than 500 fans who have supported Fanfare Ciocarlia to make this album real! Special thanks goes to Tanja Cummings (D), Carsten Ernst (D), David Herzmann (CH), Andre Seidenberg (D), Alexei Turcan (RO), Charles M. Higson (UK), Tomas Drgon (USA), Tuva Kahrs (UK), Teppei Katori (UK), Stephen Simblet (UK), Manon Jütte (NL), Ivan Nikolaev (RUS)

remix, Fanfare Ciocarlia, electro, Croatia, Gypsy brass

The two titans of East European Gypsy music Fanfare Ciocarlia & Boban Markovic Orchestra go head to head in brass battle of epic proportions.

The two titans of East European Gypsy music go head to head in brass battlee of epic proportions.

Finally, the two titans of East European Gypsy music go head to head in a Balkan brass encounter of epic proportions. Following the tradition of brass battles from Serbia's legendary Guca Brass Festival to New Orleans' mean streets, the Balkan Brass Battle showcases the wit, passion and musical genius of Europe's Romany Gypsy people.

In the left corner: Fanfare Ciocărlia, the Romanian rockers who rose from rural obscurity to international fame as one of the world's most explosive live bands. Their fierce groove helped fuel a global beats revolution: Fanfare Ciocărlia tearing the roof off the sucka night after night!

In the right corner: Serbian trumpet legend Boban Marković & Orkestar - survivors of the Yugoslav civil war, Guca Festival's greatest champions, immortalized in Emir Kusturica's maverick films, Boban's Orkestar now feature young gun Marko Marković, the fastest trumpet in town!

The Balkan Brass Battle CD was recorded across a feverish, sleepless forty-eight hours in a Transylvanian hotel right outside Graf Dracula, the castle of Vlad Tepes. Both bands laid down their hottest grooves then shaped up for a battle royal in the studio. Your ears won't believe these Gypsy mavericks turbo charged takes on Duke Ellington's 'Caravan' and John Barry's 'James Bond Theme'. Also recorded were Balkan folk tunes, original compositions and a surreal take on 'Gummy Bear' from the McDonalds' Kids Menu.

The Romanian speed brass legends Fanfare Ciocarlia sum up thirteen years and five albums of musical history.

The Romanian speed brass legends sum up thirteen years and five albums of musical history.

Since being discovered on Womex 1997 in Marseilles the winner of the BBC World Music Award from Zece Prajini realeased five highly acclaimed CDs - "Radio Pascani" (1998), "Baro Biao" (1999) and "Iag Bari" (2001) were released on much respected Piranha Records, "Gili Garabdi" (2005) as well as "Queens & Kings" (2007) are two Asphalt Tango Records.

As soon as the 11 Allstars of Gypsy Brass enter a stage - be it in Tokyo, Moscow, Melbourne, Helsinki, London or Berlin - and set off their dazzling musical fireworks one can notice the audience going through astounding changes: entire rows of seats are spontaneously shifted aside, hats and skirts whirl through the air and even the stiffest guy finds himself dancing away to the most tricky Balkan rhythms so easily.

With their 6th CD-release the Gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia gives an exquisite taste of the incomparable experience of seeing Romania's musical export hit live on stage. The one-hour-long live recording of a concert in the "Kesselhaus der Kulturbrauerei" in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg will not only delight devoted fans.


Double vinyl album set covering the legendary Brass music band - Fanfare Ciocarlia remarkable two decade career.

Double vinyl album set covering the Romanian band’s remarkable two decade career.

Double vinyl album set covering the Romanian brass band’s remarkable two decade career. First time on vinyl for these seminal Balkan brass recordings!

“20” is a double album release that gathers on vinyl for the very first time Fanfare Ciocarlia’s seminal recordings. This collection ranges from the band’s debut album Radio Pasçani onwards, gathering recordings that have broken Balkan brass through to a huge international audience and ensured that Fanfare are Romania’s foremost musical export.

Fanfare Ciocarlia’s recording career began at the height of the CD era and, at that time, vinyl was no longer being pressed in Romania. Their most recent albums on Berlin label Asphalt Tango have been issued on vinyl but fans have constantly requested the band's early albums also appear on vinyl. What to do?

The band decided they would celebrate twenty years of international success by compiling a double album collection that draws heavily on their first five albums and demonstrates their myriad musical strengths. Across four themed sides – ROOTS, ORIENT, JAMS, AMIGOS - “20” offers a reflection of the many musical faces of Fanfare.

ROOTS captures them as a village brass band. ORIENT gathers their most Eastern recordings. JAMS features their funkiest sides that make clubs jump. AMIGOS demonstrates Fanfare’s wide ranging collaborations, from backing Macedonia’s Gypsy Queen Esma Redzepova to rocking with Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso.

Pressed on 180g vinyl and beautifully packaged with illustrious photos covering Fanfare’s entire career, “20” is a double vinyl treat for both collector and the general music fan.

An taste of the incomparable experience of seeing Romania's musical export live on stage: Fanfare Ciocarlia

An taste of the incomparable experience of seeing Romania's musical export live on stage.

As soon as the 11 Allstars of Gypsy Brass enter a stage - be it in Tokyo, Moscow, Melbourne, Helsinki, London or Berlin - and set off their dazzling musical fireworks one can notice the audience going through astounding changes: entire rows of seats are spontaneously shifted aside, hats and skirts whirl through the air and even the stiffest guy finds himself dancing away to the most tricky Balkan rhythms so easily.

With their 6th CD-release the Gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia gives an exquisite taste of the incomparable experience of seeing Romania's musical export hit live on stage. The one-hour-long live recording of a concert in the "Kesselhaus der Kulturbrauerei" in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg will not only delight devoted fans.

As a bonus the DVD "Gypsy Brass Legends - The Story of the Band" released on Asphalt Tango Records back in 2004 is also included. Amongst others the DVD contains the acclaimed movie "Iag Bari - Brass on Fire" and gives an insight into the life in and the music of Zece Prajini, meanwhile famous hometown to Fanfare Ciocarlia.

Live

"....The Year of the Tiger (2022) needs some musical accompaniment, and the fast, furious, cohesive Fanfare Ciocărlia provides just the ticket to keep you moving..."

FC 2022

fanfare ciocarlia review 1

“...the best party animal on the planet...The energy goes round in a figure of eight - out from the band into the audience who are jumping, waving, snogging and back into the band who drive it to further frenzy...”

fanfare ciocarlia review 2

“...Die Roma-Blaskapelle Fanfare Ciocarlia - eine Erfolgsgeschichte...”

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Fanfare Ciocarlia

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