Tag Archives | Taraf de Haidouks

Our favorite “brigands”– Taraf de Haidouks

In All Around This World’s opinion, there is no more astounding Romani band than Taraf de Haidouks — Band of Brigands!

Traditional music from Romania generally falls into two broad categories — Transylvanian music, from the Hungarian-dominated northwest, and, across the Carpathian mountains that run through Romania, the Balkan-oriented, Turkish-dominated east. Our favorite band of Romanian Roma musicians is Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands!) is based in Clejani, a village outside of Bucharest, in Romania’s southeast. (This video will help you see what we mean.) They’re Turkish/Arabic/Eastern influence, and their unabashed awesomeness, abounds.

Bravo for the Brigands

In class this week we raved about Roma musicians and may have even name-checked one of our very favorite Roma band, Taraf de Haidouks — “Band of Brigands.”

Taraf de Haidiouks is composed of 11 Roma musicians from the town of Clejani, Romania. Celebrating Roma music gives us a chance to marvel at our friendly brigands’ spirit as they channel centuries of Roma survival in every song. In this video, “Rustem,” these virtuosos strut their stuff.