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Artist: Taraf de Haidouks
Category: Europe/Middle East (Winner)
Read an interview with Taraf De Haidouks.
The Gypsy people refer to themselves as Roma and are believed to have left Rajahstan, India, a thousand years ago. While they now make up many different communities across Europe and the Middle East they remain amongst the finest musicians whereever they settle.
Romania hosts Europe's largest Gypsy community. The decades of isolation that Romania suffered as a communist state meant traditional music practises survived and today Romania can claim to have the richest traditional music scene in Europe. No where is this more evident than in the small village of Clejani, south west of the capital, Bucharest and home to Taraf de Haidouks. Taraf are a Gypsy weddings and funerals band who have been championed by Yehudi Menuhin and The Kronos Quartet. French director Tony Gatliff cast them in his award winning film Latcho Drom. Johnny Depp met them when they appeared in The Man Who Couldn't Cry. And Johnny Depp enthuses 'These guys can play a music which expresses the most intense joy. They have this gift to make you feel alive. They are among the most extraordinary people I have ever met.'
Depp's such a fan that he now flys out the Taraf to play at private Hollywood parties. Not bad for a band who remain unknown in Romania - few Romanians would ever admit to Gypsies doing anything well - and for years were happy to play for beer money. The Taraf range in age from mid-20s to late-70s and came together as a touring outfit when a young Belgian promoter, fascinated by ethnomusicologist recordings from the village of Clejani, went and gathered a dozen of the village's best musicians, named them Taraf de Haidouks (band of outlaws) and set them touring in Northern Europe. Instant acclaim followed and their three studio and one live album have made them a world music sensation. Earlier this year they sold out five nights at Hammersmith's Lyric Theatre - their virtuosity and good humour stunning London audiences.
Biography by Garth Cartwright, November 2001
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