Finally, the two titans of East European Gypsy music go head to head in a Balkan brass encounter of epic proportions. Following the tradition of brass battles from Serbia’s legendary Guca Brass Festival to New Orleans’ mean streets, the Balkan Brass Battle showcases the wit, passion and musical genius of Europe’s Romany Gypsy people.

In the left corner: Fanfare Ciocarlia, the Romanian rockers who rose from rural obscurity to international fame as one of the world’s most explosive live bands. An instant hit, Fanfare have toured the world, released five acclaimed albums and unintentionally kicked off the Balkan Beats club craze and helped establish Gypsy brass as a recognized genre. The brass band from the tiny village of Zece Prajini in Moldavia, Romania’s north-eastern region, created a Balkan brass sound like no other, playing harder, faster, eschewing solos so to emphasize a fierce Eastern funk. Their fierce groove helped fuel a global beats revolution: Fanfare Ciocarlia tearing the roof off the sucka night after night!

In the right corner: Serbian trumpet legend Boban Markovic & Orchestra – indisputably, the most famous individual brass musician in the Balkans. Releasing the sublime Boban I Marko album on Berlin’s Piranha Records, the father and son-lead brass band have gone on to win over international audiences while returning each year to Guca Festival where they show that a Gypsy family band from a prosaic Southern Serbian town remain rooted in the tradition. Survivors of the Yugoslav civil war, immortalized in Emir Kusturica’s maverick films, Boban’s Orchestra now feature young gun Marko Markovic, the fastest trumpet in town!

The Balkan Brass Battle CD was recorded across a feverish, sleepless forty-eight hours in a Transylvanian hotel right outside Graf Dracula, the castle of Vlad Tepes. Both bands laid down their hottest grooves then shaped up for a battle royal in the studio. Your ears won’t believe these Gypsy mavericks turbo charged takes on Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’ and John Barry’s ‘James Bond Theme’. Also recorded were Balkan folk tunes, original compositions and a surreal take on ‘Gummy Bear’ from the McDonalds’ Kids Menu.