In 1908, Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was so intrigued by Eastern European folk and Gypsy music that he began fusing it with his classical compositions. Now, 100 years later, Romanian troupe Taraf de Haidouks returns the favor by giving Bartok’s classical pieces a Gypsy makeover on their new record, Maskarada (Crammed Discs).
Taraf de Haidouks (translating to Band of Outlaws) is three generations of musicians, ages twenty to eighty, from the small village Clejani in the Valachian countryside. None of the group’s dozen-plus members can read music, so when Taraf chose to recreate pieces by Bartok and other great 20th-century composers (including Aram Khachaturian and Albert Ketelbey) for Maskarada, they toiled by ear with each measure of the intricate symphonies. Once they mastered the pieces, they added their own touch of old-world lunacy.
Taraf de Haidouks played alongside Johnny Depp in the film The Man Who Cried. About the group, Depp was quoted as saying, “They have this gift to make you feel alive. They are among the most extraordinary music people I ever met.” It’s impossible to listen to Maskarada and deny such a statement.
The album opens with a Bartok Romanian dance that conjures images of pirates rushing to the shore of an unknown land and causing utter chaos. Spanish classical composer Manuel de Falla’s “Danza Ritual del Fuego” follows — a recognizable piece redesigned with just the right amount of seductive melodies and naughty merriment. There’s also a playful interpretation of “In a Persian Market” by Ketelbey.
The last few songs on the record are Taraf originals, including the final selection, “Suita Maskarada.” It sounds like a funeral march lead by the cymbalum (hammered dulcimer) and piccolo that soon explodes into a chase towards the gates of Hell. Each song on the record blends into the next with melodies moving faster and faster than the last, leaving listeners dazed and breathless.
– Sharyn Goldyn
Taraf de Haidouks: www.crammed.be/taraf
Crammed Discs: www.crammed.be