Taraf de Haidouks Return With Long-Awaited Album

The troupe of Roma musicians known as Taraf de Haidouks, or Band of Outlaws, is set to release its first new studio recording in six years. The band returns with Maskarada, a collection of enlivening reinterpretations of pieces by classical composers.

Taraf de Haidouks, formed in 1989, has consisted of as many as thirty musicians but seems to stick to twelve and under these days. Still, their sound is always larger than life, so intricate as to be exhilarating, filling listeners with feverish delight.

Present on the new album will be Virginica Dumitru, the first female instrumentalist to appear on a Taraf de Haidouks recording. Besides contributing vocals to a track, Dumitru will be playing the cymbalum, a historic stringed instrument largely responsible for the unique character of Gypsy music.

Maskarada will be available September 25 from Belgian independent record label Crammed Discs.

Taraf de Haidouks: “Cantec de dragoste ca la Roata”