This is what the Haïdouks song might have been: something that comes and goes as quickly as haiku, grabbing your heart with absolute economy, leaving you in a startled daze, wondering how they did it. Cioaca’s “Mierlita Cind E Bolnava” is a fiercely beautiful piece of fiddling, both sweet and harsh, as if the fiddle had to slog a path through years of trackless hardship before it reached this degree of beauty. He’s put together a good mix of relatively well-known and lesser-known acts, Ciocarlia and the Haïdouks on one hand, Ionel Tudorache and Florea Cioaca on the other. The execution of that idea in this instance, however? No. If I’m right then this is an idea that I like. My guess is that Rosenberg, wanting variety, went looking for a track that didn’t sound like any of the others. Next to Fanfare Ciocarlia’s “Alili” it seems slow. Next to Romica Puceanu’s “Spune, Maiculita Spune” it sounds inexpressive. Here, set among nimbler songs from other bands, it’s at a disadvantage. On its parent album it doesn’t seem so bad. Taraf de Haïdouks is a wonderful band, but their last release, Maskarada, was not their best, and the song Dan Rosenberg has chosen from it makes the group’s large size sound like a liability. The Rough Guide to the Music of the Romanian Gypsies starts badly.
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