Ion Petre Stoican
Romania (Songs From A Bygone Age Vol 1)
Asphalt Tango Records ATR 0805
I try not to judge music by the cover but this looked suspiciously like one for the mouldy fig club: I mean how could a dusted-off disc of traditional Romanian music have anything like the fire of contemporary gypsy groups? Well, I was wrong, once again. This is a stonking set: it stomps, rocks and rules, and sadly (now that I contemplate it) the only time these musicians recorded together. Because it was the Ceausescu era (1977) the group were only identified as "People's Orchestra" but the line-up is the creme de la creme of the Lautari. Typically an artist would be the main soloist in order to stand out on their recording and not hire a whole array of top notch players to vie for solos, but this is not a typical recording. Stoican was working the wedding circuit in Bucharest in the 60s and saw a man acting strange. He told the police the man was trying to hide something and the police arrested him. Turned out he was a spy with a large bag of cash and the Secret Police had been after him for a long time. They offered Stoican a house as a reward. I don't need a house, he said, I want to make a record! It was a few years before he was able to push the state-owned record label Electrecord to fulfill the deal. With the help of trumpeter Costel Vasilescu they assembled many top musicians to rehearse. Tony Iordache on cymbalom went along because he really didn't believe this hick violinist had the power to get the state record company to do what he wanted! His condition was his name would appear on the album cover! In the end fourteen musicians played on the recording, much more than the normal Taraf line-up of five. They doubled up so there are two clarinets, two accordions, two double basses, and six violins. Most of the material consists of fast numbers typically played at weddings. Half of the tracks are "Hora" which is a circle dance from Constanta, including "Hora Lautareasca," a repertoire standard where you can compare these old-timers to the current crop (the clarinetists are particularly sprightly and inventive). I also recognise the tune titled "Ia-ti mireasa, ziua buna" on which Stoican sings in a quavery falsetto and the muted trumpet of Vasilecu and plinkety cymbalom of Iordache stand out. Things go flying out the door wit the couples dance "Sirba" which ends the sesson. Even if you are a fan of traditional gypsy music you probably don't have this in your collection and, as it is one of the foundation stones, you need it. --Alastair Johnston