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.

Raï 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 raï 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, accordeons) 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.

Shaped in the Gypsy ghettos (Mahala) around Bucharest, Mahala Rai Banda (literally Noble Band from the Ghetto), combines a surprising array of trends and styles.
However, once you delve down into the history of the place, surprise gives way to fascination as all the pieces slowly fit together.

The Mahala gravitates around two poles, a family core close to that of Taraf de Haidouks, and the brass section which is family with Fanfare Ciocarlia.

The first are the sons of the generation that left the little village of Clejane to settle down in the ghettos on the outskirts of Bucharest, grandsons of the late Neacsu. They are between 20 and 25 years old who have grown up playing music and having avoided the pitfalls of drugs and gangs, make a living by playing at Romanians' weddings. Living on the outskirts of a city they have been doused in modern culture which gives their otherwise traditional repertoire a pop twist.

The second, Gypsys from the tiny village Zece Prajini, are partly family with Fanfare Ciocarlia. While Fanfare Ciocarlia was touring since 1996 the world there brothers continued to play the Romanians’ weddings where they met their later colleagues of Mahala Rai Banda and started to combine their amazing talent of performing wild brass music with the youngsters from Bucharest.

The power of the brass band versus young city-dwelling traditional Gypsy musicians definitely guarantees for a blend quite extraordinary !

Line up:

Cantea Cristinel – trumpet

Oprica Viorel - trumpet

Marian Zahanagiu – trombone

Bosnea Aurel – bariton horn

Cantea Georgel – tuba

MihaiCristinel – saxophon

Dinu Marian – percussion

Ionita Florinel – accordeaon

Ionica Aurel – violin

Manole Nicusor – vocal