About Me
CLEJANI EXPRESS is a village band of Gypsy lautari (traditional musicians) from the small Romanian village of Clejani, southwest of the capital city of Bucuresti. It is fronted by Ionitsa Manole, founder of Taraf de Haidouks, and his wife Viorica.Ionitsa was seven years old when he started to play the accordion. By the time he was twelve he was playing at weddings. He learned his music from his father who in turn learned it from his father and so on, it was passed from father to son for generations. Ionitsa formed his first Taraf when he was fourteen years old and never looked back. He performed all over the world from Europe to Mexico, USA, Japan, Taiwan and Australia.1992 Played a prominent part in Tony Gatlif’s acclaimed film Latcho Drom, who won awards at the Cannes Festival
1997 Played with the late Yehudi Menuhin in Perpignan.
1999 Fashion show in Paris for Yohji Yamamoto
2000 With some of his “lautari†appeared with Johnny Depp in the movie The Man Who Cried directed by Sally Potter. One of Viorica’s sorrowful ballads got Mr Depp to cry for real!!!!
2002 Won BBC Award for World Music
2004 Opened the Sydney Festival in Australia
2007 Formed Clejani Express and signed with Network Medien from Germany. The “A Devla†CD was produced with the idea of introducing the fiddlers Gypsy music to a younger public by incorporating in their music modern elements.The Gypsy musicians from Clejani also played amongst other with Kocani Orkestar, Peter Gabriel and Kronos Quartet.Various articles appeared over the years in: Times, The Independent, Le Figaro, The Washington Post, Le Point, Le Matin, Studio Magazine, Le Parisien, La Republica etc.“I met them during the shooting of Man Who Cried. For me they are a model in the way they approach life. Despite all that they went through – I’m talking about racism against gypsies which went on for centuries and still exists today – these guys can play a music which expresses the most intense joy. They have the gift to make you feel alive. They are among the most extraordinary people I ever met.†– Johnny Depp (Studio Magazine,
France)“I am not expert in show-biz, but I know they are not an ordinary band, on the contrary!!!†– Speranta Radulescu, manager of the Ethnophonie Record – RomaniaFor more info, photos and video clips please visit:
www.clejani.ro
www.networkmedien.de
