At a time when the entrance to every Dutch shopping center seems to be occupied by a ragged gypsy with a creaking accordion, it is pleasant to hear the virtuosos of Taraf de Haïdouks and the Kočani Orkestar again. The Romanian Taraf de Haïdouks was one of the first gypsy groups to be discovered in the West after the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Listening to this album, you
… will understand why. The lightning-fast and haunted playing on the cimbalom of Ion Anase and the lived sob of singer Ilie Iorga are still of a high level. Taraf de Haïdouks is assisted on this album by the Kočani Orkestar, a Macedonian group that upholds the local brass band tradition. They do this with material that alternately rolls stately and the next moment turns into a nervous twittering. That with no less than 26 (! ) man on stage does not degenerate into a cacophony, is the proof of the skills of these experienced musicians. (PdK)more