Credit: Found On Internet

they play music that sounds like shrews thinking

For me this is probably the best music in the world. Faster then Slayer more intricate then the John Stienbeck. Steeped in hundreds of years of history and then play few old versions of more modern songs and performed by a motley crew of about 10 with the youngest in their 20's and one or two that must be 80 or 90.

Taraf de Haidouks a.k.a Taraful Haiducilor is a band of Roma gypsy musicians from the Romanian town of Clejani. Their name means 'Band of Outlaws' and they take to the stage looking like a bunch of characters you might find if you walked into the wrong room to in an Italian restaurant.

The smart suits and cool temperament completely belie that fact that these musicians play the most bonkers yet compelling music that I have ever heard. Some of Mr Bungle most complicated riffs are lifted straight from these people. Tonights performance has 1 vocalist, 4 violins, 2 accordions, double bass, a penny whistle and an antique Cimbalom which is kind of a stringed instrument on four legs which you hit like a xylophone.

As they warm up fingers blur over the accordions, moving unnaturally fast. I wonder if we have all bought tickets to some Toreador vampires showing off, the first song has the ancient penny whistle player do things that are impossible to a mortal musician. He finds sounds and notes from the air around the whistle and playing at a speed that makes me think I might be having a heart attack. This man has to be at least 70 years old his eyes sunk deep back.

Soon the crowd start showing cracks in their Barbican temperament laughter and whooping as the Violinists all pick up different parts the young lad bouncing off the strings providing rhythm others leading insane melodies around each other. The bread and butter of the continuing loony tunes…

The powerhouse of each song is at the back. The cimbalom player seems to control the tempo and time, as each song stops changes and starts again like a murmuration of starlings. In the back the thumping double bass bounders throughout the entire set, never stopping once while other members of the band sit one out occasionally. This backline holds fast.