Roma brass band music has been very much in vogue over the past couple of years with the success of artists like Boban and Marko Marković and Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia. The films of Emir Kustarica and the growing popularity of Serbia's Guča trumpet festival have had their part to play too and a number of us are now quite familiar with this turbo–charged style of music. Taking their lead from the forbearers of commercially successful Romanian gypsy music––the hair–ruffling brass blast of Fanfare Ciocarlia and the incomparable violin and accordion dexterity of Taraf de Haidouks––Mahala Rai Banda combines the best of these two traditions to produce a hybrid with a younger, more urban edge. To front the brass ensemble playing, a handful of energetic guest vocalists, mostly feisty females, have been recruited. The result is an exciting, unholy mix that expands the spectrum of the Roma canon to incorporate Romanian pop, reggae, rumba and oriental grooves.

Despite its high–octane nature (with just a single ballad on the CD) there is considerable finesse to the playing here, along with what seems like easy virtuosity and astonishing tightness. Ghetto Blasters is infectious good fun and provides the perfect soundtrack for the wildest of parties, although it is probably not an ideal choice for early mornings or very late nights. The "Mahala" in the group's name refers to the Roma neighborhood found in most eastern European cities, the Roma equivalent of what some might call a ghetto. In most cases, the mahala is usually a poor neglected quarter tucked away from view on the wrong side of the tracks. In this exhilarating recording, the Mahala Rai Band makes the ghetto sound like the best place to be if they are playing in town.