Mahala Rai Banda (ROM)
Balkan Brass
Saturday 31st March / Doors at 21:00 / Presale: 110 kr. - BUY TICKET >>
Tickets at the door: 120 kr. (100 kr. for students)
"Fast and furious dance floor work-outs with a rock-solid up tempo groove, frenetic horn riffs and punchy Roma scat singing." - ****Songlines
"Mahala Rai Banda play rough-edged, cheek-puffing Balkan brass, full of larger-than-life energy. Enjoy the party!" - **** Evening Standard
Having ripped up stages across the USA and Europe, Romanian roots rockers Mahala Rai Banda are to blast stages all over the world with their fierce Gypsy funk. Mahala Rai Banda’s unique Eastern groove evolved in the mahalas (Gypsy ghettoes) on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania’s ruined capital city. In these mahalas musicians from the southern village of Clejani (home to legendary Gypsy orchestra Taraf De Haidouks) jammed with brass musicians from the Moldavian village of Zeci Prajine (home to Balkan brass blasters Fanfare Ciocarlia). Quickly, they became the hottest weddings and parties band in Bucharest.
As Romanian Gypsies traveled into Western Europe the band’s legend spread. Initially, Mahala Rai Banda’s fame existed on tapes passed around Balkan music scenes in Berlin and Brussels, Barcelona and Vienna. Their acclaimed 2005 debut album shot them from shantytown to the Borat soundtrack (with ‘Mahalageasca’). International acclaim followed and Mahala Rai Banda have since graced such international events as Summerstage NYC, Montreal Pop festival or Big Chill, Womad UK and Roskilde Festival.
