The Gypsy dance music of the Balkans is rapidly developing a new cult following, and Romania is emerging as a perhaps unlikely new musical centre. The country's Gypsy celebrities are the rousing Taraf de Haidouks, who count Johnny Depp among their fans, and they have since been followed by that rapid-fire brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia, who won this year's World Music Awards for Europe. Meanwhile, European DJs such as the German producer Shantel have started to remix Gypsy music for the dance floor, bringing a new audience both to Fanfare Ciocarlia and to the songs of yet another excellent Romanian band, Mahala Rai Banda.

It's no surprise, then, that there is a whole blitz of Gypsy bands heading to Britain this summer, and Mahala Rai Banda are among the first to appear. They differ from the two other Romanian favourites firstly because they don't come from one of the country's tiny villages, but from the Gypsy quarters of the capital, Bucharest (their name means Noble Band From the Ghetto).

Massed across the stage at the Lyric for their British debut were 12 musicians, wearing everything from dark suits to jeans, and with violin, accordion, bass, drums and taraban hand drums matched against the trumpets and tuba of the band's five brass players, who started out working in army bands.

They began by playing together at full tilt, at times sounding almost over- frantic, but slowed down just a little to show what else they could do. There was an impressive accordion duet, a brass work-out, a burst of the new Gypsy urban pop, manele, on Red Bula, and a demonstration of how Gypsies treat Bach (ending up at breakneck speed, of course). The instrumental work was more interesting than the vocals, and when they finally found their form the interplay between fiddle, accordion, percussion and brass was dazzling, and the audience were on their feet. Romania has another musical export to be proud of.