It Wasn’t Hard to Love You

Is this the last album we will hear from Fanfare Ciocarlia? The world’s foremost Balkan brass band are not retiring from performing but, it seems, may not return to the recording studio: the decline of CD sales means its no longer financially feasible to continue recording – this album was partially crowdfunded so to ensure that Fanfare Ciocarlia’s 25th anniversary gets properly celebrated. Other funds came via the band’s appearance on the soundtrack of last year’s Borat film and it is with a tune commissioned for that movie that the album begins. ‘Just the Two of Us’ – once a Bill Withers soul hit – gets a suitably comic makeover, reminding us how Fanfare’s wit and natural ebullience has always been part of their appeal. Then its into the territory the band are happiest inhabiting – pumping instrumentals that are powered by oompah rhythms and feature unbelievable solos – Macedonian Roma trumpeter Dzambo Agusev features on ‘Porsche Polka’ and ‘Red Moon’, playing with his usual brilliance and finesse. These and ‘Escape from Baltimore’, ‘The Hungarian Wild Bunch’ and ‘Babo Never Worked a Day’ are suitable vehicles for these Romanian speed demons to rip through. If this is the final Fanfare Ciocarlia studio album then it’s a frenzied, fun affair (as usual). Adios amigos!