Fanfare Ciocarlia

About the artist

Fanfare Ciocarlia is a twelve-piece Romani Balkan brass band hailing from the northeastern Romanian village of Zece Prăjini, renowned for their exceptionally fast, high-energy music featuring complex rhythms and rapid-fire staccato clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet solos, often exceeding 200 beats per minute. They are celebrated for their ability to effortlessly "Gypsify" traditional Romanian, Romani, and Eastern European folk pieces, as well as Western classics like "Born to Be Wild" and the "James Bond Theme." The band members, who never use sheet music, inherited their craft from generations of musicians, preserving a brass musical tradition rooted in Ottoman rule. They are widely recognized as one of Europe's most popular contemporary Romani bands and are credited with significantly contributing to the global re-emergence and popularity of Balkan brass music, having performed over two thousand concerts in more than 70 countries. In their latest endeavors, Fanfare Ciocarlia released the album "It Wasn't Hard to Love You" in 2021. More recently, their collaborative album "The Devil Rides Again" with Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso reached the number one spot on the World Music Charts Europe for June 2025. Released on May 2, 2025, this album fuses jazz, rockabilly, and Balkan brass, featuring original instrumental tracks and covers of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" and The Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man." Furthermore, their rendition of "Moliendo Café" serves as the theme for the 2024 animated series *Creature Commandos*, and they were featured on the soundtrack of *Borat Subsequent Moviefilm* in 2020. The band also notably performed at the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.