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Fanfare Ciocarlia at the Cedar, Minneapolis (09/26/12)

Read More Fanfare Ciocarlia Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia is heading out on a brief-eight city North American tour this year. The New York Gypsy Festival founder Mehmet Dede best summed up…

What an excellent way to send Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia home, as they play their last North American date to a packed house at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis last night, September 26th.

Brass Messengers

Kicking it all off was local big brass band, Brass Messengers. They were a really large band, and the crowd loved dancing to the big sound. Their most interesting song was a cover of Black Sabbath's "The Wizard," which was played shortly before their congo-style march into the audience to close out their set.

Speaking of large band, Fanfare Ciocarlia was even larger. They all wore the same red shirts, with the exception of two band members in black. I wondered about that, maybe they didn't have clean outfits… it was, after all, a long stint touring the country, with Minneapolis on their last stop.

After three songs in, with everyone still dancing in front, Fanfare Ciocarlia's band leader said, "Let's start the party," in his Romanian accent. True enough, they got the party started.

As you can see from the setlist, they had a lot of material to work with: from "Ciocarlia Si Suite" and "Lume, Lume" from 2000's Radio Pascani to "Caravan" 2005's Gili Garabdi to the cover of "Born to Be Wild" from 2007's Queens & Kings.

Most of their songs have no lyrics, so there won't be any language barrier. If you want to have a good time dancing, Fanfare Ciocarlia is a great band to experience live.

Fanfare Ciocarlia at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (09/26/12)

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When in Rome

ROMANIA, IF YOU WANT TO
asphalt-tango.de/fanfare

Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia is heading out on a brief-eight city North American tour this year. The New York Gypsy Festival founder Mehmet Dede best summed up this band with this quote, "Fanfare Ciocarlia's wicked fast trumpets, tenor and baritone horns, tubas, clarinets, saxophones, bass drum and percussion from the Carpathian mountains are a sight and sound to behold. This tour is way overdue for the beloved Gypsy brass band tradition." Hopefully, if it works out, I'll report back if it's true at Minneapolis' Cedar Cultural Center, the last date on their tour.

2012 North American Tour
09/19/2012 Quebec City Le Cercle
09/20/2012 Montreal, Rialto Theatre (PopMontreal)
09/21/2012 Toronto, The Hoxton
09/22/2012 New York, Schimmel Center for the Arts
09/23/2012 Durham, NC - Duke Performances
09/24/2012 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillo Box
09/25/2012 Chicago, IL - City Winery
09/26/2012 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME
landobservations.blogspot.co.uk

Coming out on September 4th, 2012, is Roman Roads IV-XI, the debut album from Land Observations.

Land Observations is the exciting solo project of James Brooks, who previously was in another band, Appliance.

Look for Roman Roads IV-XI on CD, vinyl, and digital, as well as a very cool packaging featuring original drawings by Brooks, via Mute Records.

ROMAN ROADS IV-XI track listing
01. Before the Kingsland Road
02. Aurelian Way
03. From Nero's Palace
04. Via Flaminia
05. Appian Way
06. The Chester Road
07. Portway
08. Battle Of Watling Street

THE FALL OF ROMINA
rominaarena.com

Romina Arena's album, Morriconne.Uncovered, will be arriving in the fall (September 18th, 2012), via Perseverance Records. However, Italian stores will be able to carry the album next week, August 27th.

With the second single on its way ("The Woman in Me"/"What Can I Do?"), fans will be able to get a taste of what's to come on Morriconne.Uncovered. As you can guess, these are all songs written by the legendary Ennio Morricone, spanning from his various soundtracks from "Once Upon a Time in America" to "Loita" to "For a Few Dollars More."

“Morricone.Uncovered” full track listing
01. “Ti Ho Amato” from “Once Upon a Time in America”
02. “What Can I Do” from“The Legend of 1900”
03. “Il Cuore Mio – Mi Corazon” from “La Piovra”
04. “The Woman in Me” from “Lolita”
05. “Saying Goodbye” from the motion picture “The Untouchables” (based on “Death Theme”)
06. “Gioco D’Amore” from the motion picture “Love Affair”
07. “Solo Noi” from the motion picture “Malena”
08. “Ritornerai Dolce Amore” from the motion picture “Casualties of War”
09. “Return to Me” from the motion picture “A Time of Destiny”
10. “Le Vent et le Cri” from the motion picture “Le Professionel”
11. “E un Attimo” from the motion picture “The Legend of 1900”
12. “Requiem for Love” from the motion picture “Per Amore” (duet with Marcello Giordani)
13. “Il Tempo Sa” from the motion picture “For a Few Dollars More” (based on “Sixty Seconds to What?”)
14. “Morir D’Amore – I Die a Little” from the motion picture “For Love One Can Die”
15. “Se Non Fossi Tu/ This Kind of Love” from the motion picture “Questa Specie D’Amore”

THE ROMANS ARE COMING
romansarealive.com

I am told that New York's Romans are "back in action," with their second new single for the summer called "Somedays."

Their music takes the best parts of doo wop, glam, and britrock, because, as singer Jeremy Fury puts it, "If you go far enough into the future and look back at a specific period from the past, everything seems to blend together."

I think the band is fairly new, based on the lack of cover artwork (I just put quickly put together a cover art) and ungoogleable band name (the results will bring you five million other "Romans" bands, including a Catholic band and a Georgian band). And it may sound cruel, but I predict in a few years' time, the name 'Romans' won't be around.

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