Fanfare Ciocarlia

The Romanian band Fanfare Cioacarlia represents the fastest band in its genre. He gives the journalists an effective comparison to the Sex Pistols, a famous English punk rock band, which not only played very furiously and fast - but also did not recognize any other tempo.

The group comes from the village of Zece Prajini ("Ten Fields"), which it is located on the northeastern edge of Romania, at the very border with Moldova. Romania is a frequent destination for visitors from French-speaking countries due to the linguistic affinity – and the word Fanfare in the group's name is the French term for a brass band. The second part of the name is shrouded in somewhat greater mystery.

Ciocarlia means lark in Romanian, but it is also the name of one of the most played Romanian folk tunes, on which the official folklore ensembles have proven their virtuosity for decades. The originally idyllic evergreen eventually did not escape the scathing attention of Emir Kusturica and his musical partner Goran Bregović, who used it under the name Kalashnikov in the aforementioned film Underground. Fanfare Ciocarlia play the piece in its original, unadorned form, as you can still hear it today at wild wedding dances in Eastern Europe.