Earlier I introduced my American friends to the talented hip-hop artists B.U.G Mafia which I believe it the most accessible, most marketable band in Romania (even if the record companies aren’t quite bright enough to capitalize on it). Indeed, the review I posted on this very blog has been seeing a lot of search engine traffic from folks living all over Europe who are looking to learn more about baiatii nostri.

And yet, they aren’t the best music group Romania has produced.

Nossir. I am here to tell y’all that greatest band from Romania is, without a doubt, Sarmalele Reci. Say it with me now, “Tsar maul a wretch.” Not bad. One more time: “tsar-maul-a wretch.” That’s it, you’ve got it! (Okay, technically, it sounds perfect when you make the “T” silent in the word tsar, but you no one’s gonna critize you for being 99% correct.)

Sarmale is a traditional Romanian dish. Basically, it’s rice, pork, and spice rolled into cabbage leaves and baked. We can haggle over recipe details another day.

Sarmalele is the articulated plural form of sarmale, yet they are pronounced the same way. Reci is the word for cold, when speaking about inanimate objects. The band’s name translates as “the cold sarmale (plural)” which, of course, no one would want since sarmalele should be hot. E deştept, nu? I bet you feel sorry for the poor castaways.

You realize it must have been quite a shock for the doctors in the delivery room when they saw the guys from Sarmalele Reci were born with instruments already in their hands. Like the bards of yore, they’re able to craft catchy songs borrowing from a multitude of genres and using a variety of musical tools. At one moment, they’re playing punk rock with acoustic mandolins. Maybe they’ve got you rocking to the beat of a politically charged anthem. The next time, they’re blowing horns in a hot sweat of pure funk laced with electronica. You might hear them softly crooning a wistful memory of the past glory of a former love. After that, they’ll probably move on to the blues with a successful solo of electric guitar licks. Or it could be an accordian whisking you through a pop song splashed out over traditional Romanian melodies. Then again, it just might be a twist of manele. Barbershop acapella, anyone?

The band has seen a few changes in the line-up since it first organized in 1993, welcoming in new musician talents and fresh perspective. At the core are the lead singer and guitarist, both of whom have been present on every release produced by Sarmalele Reci. Most of the songs diligently circumvent the hollow ring of most pop music choosing instead to focus on humorous interpersonal situations, biting social commentary, or lucent political observations. As always, the tight execution demonstrates the musicians clearly study the sounds and styles they’re tackling.

“Okay, enough is enough!” I know. You want to hear it for yourself, right?

Alright, cap’n. Here’s a handful of tunes (of varying bit rates) to start you on your journey.

Sarmalele Reci - Nu Ma Atinge - A classic song that’ll get your toes tapping.

Sarmalele Reci - Rapirea Din Serai - Frankly, I don’t know how popular this song is, but I do know it shows off their skill in delivering a unique sound you won’t hear anywhere else.

Sarmalele Reci - Telefonul Nu Mai Suna - Watch out or you’ll shed a tear over this one.

Sarmalele Reci - Gaşca De La Bloc - Bittersweet reflection on modern Romanian diaspora.

Honestly, it was really difficult to restrict myself to just a few choices when there are literally dozens of aural gems. Perhaps you’ll be intrigued enough to explore on your own. There’s quite a variety of sounds for you to discover. If I had to pigeonhole them, I would probably find some meta-correlations to acts like The Smiths and INXS.

Of course, you can’t really say you enjoy Sarmalele Reci until you’ve been at a party where a few notes from a single song can cause everyone present to stop what they’re doing and start singing together. Most everyone around is moving a bit to the beat or even outright dancing. Towards the end of the song, all pretense of civility is dropped as you and all your friends are completely carried away in the moment, gathering together (be it a hora circle or in a line-dance fashion) as the music slowly builds into a smashing crescendo driving your feet into a cossack frenzy!

Sarmalele Reci - Şpriţ de Vara - I dare you to crank it up and see if you can sit still. It’s a masterpiece.

One last tidbit. Sarmalele Reci is currently offering their latest song for free download. It’s a very fun, manelesque piece of political sarcasm running the gamut from Funar to Bin Laden.

I know the big question on your mind is: “Will the talented gentlemen grace us this summer to provide a live Sarmalele Reci performance during the finals of Mondial Bere?” Nu ştiu exact, dar vedem. Vedem.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 5:40 pm and is filed under Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.