March 29, 2005

Two of Europe’s foremost Gypsy music artists—Biréli Lagrène & Taraf de Haïdouks—set for an incredible concert at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Biréli Lagrène & Taraf de Haïdouks
• Gypsy Crossings
• A rich evening of gorgeous and kinetic music from Romania and beyond
• The prodigiously talented guitarist Biréli Lagrène embraces the groundbreaking style of jazz legend Django Reinhardt
• The multigenerational Taraf de Haïdouks is the first real Romanian village band to tour the world with Roma music
• Tuesday, May 3 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $35 / UCSB students: $17
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

An intense and infectious celebration of the vibrant musical traditions of the Gypsy (Roma), featuring a double bill of vital Romanian ensemble Taraf de Haïdouks and masterful Belgian guitarist Biréli Lagrène and his band, will perform on Tuesday, May 3 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Music will range from haunting ballads to dizzying fiddle dances, plus guitar in the style of Gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt. After a Taraf de Haïdouks show The New York Times raved, “Their wild energy is the essence of gypsy music...their set seemed like the bubbling source of 20th Century rhythm...they spun out cadences that recalled bebop, salsa and the polyrhythms of Zimbabwe and Nigeria.” The SF Weekly writes, “Lagrène performs with immediacy and sensuality.”

Taraf de Haïdouks has catapulted to fame since its 1992 debut in the French/Gypsy director Tony Gatlif’s acclaimed film Latcho Drom, which won awards at the Cannes Festival. The group’s first Cramworld CD Musique Des Tsiganes De Ruomanie was hailed by the media and topped European World Music charts and inaugurated a touring schedule which has continued for eight years. Taraf became the first real village band to tour widely and take Western Europe by storm, equally at home on the concert stage or at all-night busking sessions at local bars or on the streets.

Taraf de Haïdouks (“band of honorable brigands”) hails from the village of Clejani, near Bucharest, and represents three generations of musicians. They are a dozen of extraordinary and colorful characters, who have managed to energize the audiences of the biggest World Music festivals through their rhythmically complex songs with grace, easy camaraderie and sense of mischief. The older members, who play a more traditional style, interact dynamically with the younger members, who value rapid tempi and new musical elements sometimes from other Balkan countries.

Before becoming touring stars, Taraf de Haïdouks had never performed outside its region. The members are lautari (traditional musicians), who play at village events such as weddings and baptisms. In Southern Romania, practically all lautari are male Roma—in Clejani alone there are numerous lautari, all Roma. Lautari highly value improvisation, especially interpretations which fit specific occasions. They have large repertoires because the celebrations for which they are hired are attended by varied groups of people: rural and urban, old and young, male and female, Rom and Romanian. Dance music, constructed of repeated melodic motifs, is an important part of the repertoire. Musicians string together melodies of contrasting mode and tonality to produce dances of varying lengths.

Biréli Lagrène, currently living in Belgium, was born on September 4, 1966 in Saverne, Alsace, France. The son of Fiso Lagrene, a popular guitarist in pre-war France, Lagrène displayed a prodigious talent as a very young child. Born into a gypsy community, his origins and his fleet, inventive playing style inevitably generated comparisons with Django Reinhardt. In 1978, he won a prize at a festival at Strasbourg and subsequently made a big impact during a televised gypsy festival.

In his early teenage years Lagrène toured extensively playing concerts and festivals across Europe, often accompanied by distinguished jazz artists such as Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Stéphane Grappelli and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. He also made his first record Routes to Django, which helped to prove that early estimates of his capabilities were not excessive.

An outstanding technician, Lagrène has revealed influences other than Reinhardt, happily incorporating bebop phraseology, rock rhythms and Brazilian music into his work. By the late ‘80s he had moved substantially from his early Reinhardt-style to fully embrace jazz-rock and other electronically-aided fusions. Lagrène will perform with saxophonist Franck Wolf, guitarist Hono Winterstein and double bassist Diego Imbert.

Gypsy Crossings is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCBX Public Radio. Tickets are $35 for the general public and $17 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.