REVIEW, LONDON EVENING STANDARD 30/4/07
Hai La Drum is a collaberation of four versatile musicians who met playing gypsy swing music in the late '90s. The line up is perfectly suited to playing traditional Romanian, Russian and other Balkan music. The shared experience of playing jazz allows them to interpret these more traditional forms and add improvisations and unusual arrangements.
Here's a recent review in the Standard: "Imagine you're in the Balkans", said Sylvia, the flamboyant hostess at Le Quecumbar, "Don't be boring and English, make lots of noise!" So from the beginning Romanian Gypsy violinist Vasile Stanescu got wild whoops and clapping from the crowd.
Actually, the atmosphere at Le Quecumbar isn't Balkan, but more 1930s Paris or Brussels. From the outside it's clearly a converted pub, but inside it's a congenial Gypsy music café with candles, art nouveau lights, old black-and-white photos and a little stage in the corner ringed by luxuriant potted plants. Certainly it doesn't feel like Battersea.
Stanescu was born in Bucharest into a family of Gypsy musicians going back, he says, some 250 years. He started playing aged seven and clearly has had some classical training alongside his Gypsy tradition.
His band, Hai La Drum (Hit the Road), is essentially British, despite their Romany name, playing accordion, guitar and double bass.
He started with some Romanian tunes with heavily ornamented fiddle playing, before slipping into Ciocarlia (The Lark). This is a cliché Romanian Gypsy piece usually trotted out as an encore and it was brave to throw it in early on and keep it fresh with a musical integrity plus spectacular bird effects.
Stanescu's violin techniques include spectral harmonics, double stopping and a spectacular left-hand pizzicato with a panache I've only seen matched by Maxim Vengerov.
Stanescu and the band toss musical phrases back and forth and Le Quecumbar clearly thrives on this sort of quality musical vibe.
The repertoire ranged from Romanian tunes to Russian classics and Django-style Gypsy swing. The warmth, camaraderie and ambience took us to another world, far from London.
It's the albert hall cafe. Saying you're doing the albert hall when you're really only doing the cafe comes across as desperate and needy. I was playing in the greenhouse at the top of the Barbican the other day, but I didn't try to convince the world I was doing the Barbican.
Hi Baz!! The recording sounds amazing!!! I don't know if you remember me...we did a gig a long time ago when you where leaving U.K and I had just arrived..I'm still in Brighton..I hope to see you soon
Hi Thank you so much for your kind invitation , i truly appreciate your friendship , it was nice to stop by your page , i'll be back . I hope you'll listen to my Album...thanks
