Tsiganiiii!

I was at the Royal Festival Hall last night to see what The Times have described, with uncharacteristic accuracy, as "among the greatest live-music acts of recent times", the legendary Gypsy Queens and Kings.



A touring collective of some of Europe's greatest Romany musicians, they combine staggering technical ability with an incredibly infectious sense of fun. With everything underpinned by a huge, undulating wall of brass from Fanfare Ciocarlia and Mahala Rai Banda we were treated to a night joining the dots between the various styles of music associated with the diaspora - from plaintive ballads to flamenco to glorious rolling Balkan funk. Star of the show, inevitably, was the formidable Macedonian icon Esma Redzepova, a favourite of Tito, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and owner of a voice like nobody else.

Appropriately for such a geographically diverse band, shout outs to audience members from Spain, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova and the Czech Republic were warmly returned by a crowd determined to make a mockery of the 'no dancing down the front' rule security guards were vainly trying to enforce.

If you ever get the chance to see them, take it.