Mahala Raï Banda

• country:
  Romania
• region:
  Balkan
• style(s):
  Balkan Brass
• label:
  Crammed Discs
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  Divano Production

Mahala is the common name
gypsies use to designate the areas
where they form the majority of the
population, and which sometimes
develop into small towns.

Rai is a word of Arab origin borrowed
by the Rom populations which
travelled through Persia then Egypt
and whose migration ended in
Romania in the plain of Walachia.
These generations of gypsy
musicians (lautari) are considered to
be a sort of aristocracy among
gypsies and the term rai designates
someone whose authority or
know-how is recognised by all.

Banda designates an orchestra
composed of various instruments
(violin, trumpet, saxophone, cymbalo,
percussion instruments,
accordeon...) which belongs to no
particular genre.
It is neither a fanfare nor a folk band,
but can be either according to
circumstance. Traditional music from
the countryside meets the radically
modernist style of gypsy music from
Bucarest, oriental ornamentation,
modern rhythms and the more
complex rhythms from the Balkans,
and harmonies from the Banat of
Moldavia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania
and Turkey.

Through its music, Mahala Rai
Banda combines the oral culture of
the gypsy lautari musicians and the
rigour of the military fanfares in which
the older members of the group
originally played.

Links

• Mahala Raï Banda Website