Taking Romanian music global

Historians tell us the roots of brass music danced into Europe from the Ottoman Empire during the 13th century, in the form of the well-dressed Janissary marching bands. While Ottoman armies expanded the sultans' real-estate franchise westward, the precision beats, syncopated moves and sharp color-coordinated dress of their musical regiments gave European music a case of civilizational humiliation it's been attempting to overcome ever since.

"That's the history we know," Mahala Rai Banda founder Aurel Ionita tells The Prague Post.

"And you can hear this easily when Gypsy brass musicians play. They like to use various semitones and floriated music phrases. This definitely comes from the time and influence of the Ottoman Empire and their culture. And we love that!"

Of course, a lot of water has passed beneath the bridge since Romania shook off Ottoman rule in 1878. But, with a roster that includes proud veterans of Romania's official military band, Mahala Rai Banda has a timeless musical edge.

"First of all, [the military experience] brings musical discipline into the band," Ionita says. "The brass sound it creates is a fixed and robust skeleton for our compositions. And, of course, the seriousness of the military musicians has impressed and influenced other musicians in the band in a very positive way. I'm happy - it works!"

As one indication of how well it works, Mahala Rai Banda's 2009 CD Ghetto Blasters (on Asphalt Tango Records) took second position last November in the European world music charts. And the pundits of the UK world beat magazine Songlines placed the CD in their top 10 recordings of the year.

Formed in 2004, Mahala Rai Banda has seen a healthy spread of their music in samples on dance floors in the remix DJ market. Mahala Rai Banda also gained mass-market exposure on the soundtrack to the acerbic 2006 comedy hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Now embarking on a tour that includes Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, the band is prepared to further expand what Ionita describes as "our public and fans who love us."

And there is a lot to love, not only with Mahala Rai Banda's Balkan brass statements, but also the violin, cimbalom, hand drums and accordions that balance the call and response between Roma vocals and the band's precision horn section.

During the 1980s, Romania gave the world beat circuit the legendary fiddle-driven Taraf de Haidouks and, in the '90s, the immensely popular Fanfare Ciocarlia. With Mahala Rai Banda already making their mark in the new century, Romanian music has developed a significant niche - which doesn't surprise Ionita.

"Romanian music has a very important role in the music map," he says. "As performed by Romanian Gypsies, it is manifold, incorporating many musical and cultural influences. In Romania, we have more than 24 minorities, so our country is far from being a typical musical monotony. And, for whatever other reasons, Western audiences get into our music very easily."

At Akropolis next week, Mahala Rai Banda will rock an international audience with songs like "Zuki Zuki," "Balkan Reggae" and "Ding Deng Dong," which offer plenty of dance hooks. Previous concerts by such artists as Taraf De Haidouks and Boban Marković have shown the club's congenial atmosphere to have a catalytic effect on players and audience alike when raucous Balkan music is in the house.

Beyond the dance beats, fans of brass music and the uninitiated alike will find musical substance from yet another Balkan export whose day job in their homeland consists of providing music for the rituals of courting, dancing, marriage, battle, birth and death. That the persistent ingredient of this Balkan sound is joy is Mahala Rai Banda's and Romania's gift to the world.

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at
features@praguepost.com