Family Q
Zece Prăjini
Fanfare Ciocărlia
Romanian Roma — Zece Prăjini, Moldavia
Style: Lăutărească
Romani brass village in Moldavia. Fanfare Ciocărlia took that wedding brass abroad. Cousin to Balkan truba, not to the string taraf.
Zece Prăjini kept a brass trade for village weddings and funerals.
Songlines (Garth Cartwright, 14 October 2021) and the Kennedy Center artist note: in 1996 the German sound engineer Henry Ernst came to the village and put that brass on a world stage as Fanfare Ciocărlia. Songlines: “fanfare” is the Romanian word for a brass band; “ciocărlia” means lark.
Public from 1996. Cousin to Balkan truba, not to the string taraf of Clejani.
The Devil Rides Again, 2025. Asphalt Tango shop. Fanfare Ciocărlia with Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso. A second record after Devil’s Tale (2014). Not a concert diary.
Lineage
Birth and death on a vertical line — generation by generation. Places are listed where we could find them.
Generation 1
Fanfare Ciocărlia
Brass band · public from 1996
Zece Prăjini.
Orchestra years
When the band was founded, when it split, when a new generation took the stand.
1996
New orchestra
Henry Ernst in the village
Fanfare Ciocărlia
Songlines 2021 and Kennedy Center: German sound engineer Henry Ernst came to Zece Prăjini in 1996. The public name Fanfare Ciocărlia — brass band, lark.
Neighbours
Same country or city, but a different way of playing.
- Serban — Romanian Roma — Brăila → Scheveningen / Amsterdam / Delft
- Clejani lăutari — Romanian Roma — Clejani, Wallachia
- Puceanu — Romanian Roma — Bucharest, urban lăutărească
- Luncă — Romanian Roma — Vărbilău, Prahova / Bucharest
- Mahala Rai Banda — Romanian Roma — Bucharest