Fanfare Ciocărlia – 30 Years On Stage

Fanfare Ciocărlia brings a 30th-anniversary celebration to Łódź, three decades after the twelve-piece Romani Balkan brass band from Zece Prăjini first stepped out of village weddings and baptisms onto European stages. Expect a high-energy horn sound: complex rhythms, high-speed staccato solos, and tubas driving Romani and Romanian dance tunes.

Their setlist mixes Eastern European folk roots with Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Macedonian influences and adds brass-washed takes on Western melodies such as 'Born to Be Wild', the 'James Bond Theme', 'Caravan', and 'Summertime'. The band has performed at a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, featured on a Borat film soundtrack, and lent its version of 'Moliendo Café' to an animated series — yet it stays grounded in a village where brass playing runs in the family.