THE BEST BRIGANDS

Traditional music from Romania generally falls into two broad categories — Transylvanian music, from the Hungarian-dominated northwest, and, across the Carpathian mountains that run through Romania, the Balkan-oriented, Turkish-dominated east. Our favorite band of Romanian Roma musicians is Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands!) is based in Clejani, a village outside of Bucharest, in Romania’s southeast. (This video will help you see what we mean.) They’re Turkish/Arabic/Eastern influence, and their unabashed awesomeness, abounds.