Maskarada
Label: Crammed Discs
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Maskarada
Taraf de Haïdouks’ attempt at role-playing on their fifth album, Maskarada, results in confusion, not the exhilarating new-folk cabaret romp that we would expect from this troupe of Roma (aka Gypsies) from the village of Clejani, in the Walachian countryside. Neither is it a fresh reinterpretation of early 20th-century classical compositions from the likes of Ravel and Bartók, who themselves harvested the Gypsy music of the Balkans. If there’s one thing Maskarada succeeds at, it’s at failing to wear the mask convincingly: The waltz may very well coexist with a sirba on this 14-track mash-up, but there’s no telling where the lines are drawn. Then again, an element of haphazard chaos is only natural; such is the way of the Roma. While it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, on compositions such as Ketélbey’s “In a Persian Market,” there’s an inherent tendency to clash with the tempo of the classical material, it doesn’t make it any more palatable. In full flight, Taraf de Haïdouks rises above the classical strictures on their accustomed wedding-band swiftness, delivering rare moments of serendipity when not constrained by a suit that doesn’t fit.
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2007.