Four of Europe's best Gypsy bands descend on Japan for a special "Time of the Gypsies" festival this October. With influences as diverse as flamenco, Indian music, jazz and Balkan and European folk music, the four acts -- two Gypsy brass bands, one Gypsy swing jazz group and one DJ-inspired fusion duo -- will bring their joyously fast and wildly uninhibited music to Tokyo for a series of concerts.
Fanfare Ciocarlia is the best known of the four and have a solid following throughout Europe, having released albums every year since 1999. The band were also the subjects of the documentary "Brass on Fire" three years ago. Their speed and intricacy is breathtaking. Time signatures are tricky and they slow down for nothing. After all, in Rumania, where they and the equally ecstatic brass band Mahala Rai Banda hail from, wedding parties can last for two days. So don't be surprised when they toss in some Duke Ellington or a James Bond theme amid swirling traditional melodies; they have to keep a few unexpected tunes on hand to re-ignite revelers.
The high-adrenaline dance beats of these two brass bands will be balanced by the sleek, yet equally intricate, Gypsy jazz swing of Pierre Blanchard and Dorado Schmitt. Blanchard's violin and Schmitt's acoustic guitar modernize the sound of the famed duo of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, who pioneered the swing jazz of 1930s Paris. They'll bring a second guitar and bass along to round out their sound.