Taraf de Haïdouks are a Romanian gypsy combo consisting of 13 Roma musicians. These are from the 3000-strong community Clejani in the middle of the historical region of Wallachia in Romania’s south-east, about 40 km south of Bucharest, near the Bulgarian border.
The name of the combo goes back to Taraf (= band) and Hajdú (Heiducken a people fighting for freedom ) , just so: Hajdú-orchestra.
The music is a combination of diferent influences of Balkan and Gypsy Music from Romania , former Yougoslavia Bulgaria mixed with components of oriental music from Turkey and Greece:
In 2002 the world famous violonist and head of the band Nicolae Neacsu, born 1924 died .
Goran Bregovic (March 22 1950 ) is a musician and componist from Sarajevo . In former Yougoslavia he was one of the founder of the very popular rock band biejelo dugme (White Button) where he played guitar, he was one of the creative member of this band . As composer he worked for Iggy Pop and Cesaria Evora ( what a difference !)
(Today died Michail Kalashnikov at the age of 94, the inventor of the AK-47)
Here is Bregovics song Kalashnikov – Balkan Polka Pop Beat with 100% party factor
Indexi were one of the earliest and most enduring bands that enjoyed popularity across generations of the followers of rock music in former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since all the members were university students, they had easily chosen the name for the band Indexi (plural of index, a students blue book for writing exams and attendance). In the beginning they played mostly instrumental covers of popular hits, but around 1967 started composing their own songs. The core line-up consisted of Slobodan A. Kovacevic-guitar, Fadil Redzic-bass and Davorin Popovic-vocals, while they frequently changed drummers and keyboard players. Indexi led two parallel careers: the one as a popular band recording numerous singles and EPs, and performing at the pop festivals of easy listening schlager music; and the other one as a pioneering progressive band, which had recorded allegedly the first song lasting over 10 minutes in former Yugoslavia, Negdje na kraju u zatisju in 1969.
At the beginning of the 70s they released the legendary Plima single in 1972, a composition that had been recorded back in 1968 and featured one of the most memorable guitar solos in the Yugoslavian rock-scene, courtesy of Kovacevic. The rest of their career from mid-70s through 90s they occasionally recorded singles and appeared in concerts at random, deliberately avoiding temptations of a typical rock and roll life-style. This is why perhaps they maintained their longevity for 35+ years. (Youtube user lycieta)
I was born in the former state of Yougoslavia , i would like to translate a sentence in this song : “O reci mi njoj Da je tako prolazno sve Kao ptica let – O please tell her , that everything is going by , as the flight of a bird ”
World Music - the Music Journey 