This band from Bucharest, ('Pamunt' in Rumanian means 'land') consists of 5 self-taught musicians with an impressive technical ability, they are capable of effortlessly playing a wide range of music, from Balkan folk to jazz. Florin Barbu (guitar and vocals), Ionut Gugulan (accordion and vocals), Costẹ Ciortam (second accordion), Laurentiu Dinca (clarinet), Adrian Nan (double bass) are the heroes of a story with a happy end: docking in Naples they started off playing music in the city streets, but, thanks to their gaiety and extraordinary talent, they soon attracted the attention of the public and music-men and then began playing on the established concert circuit, receiving more and more praise until, under the artistic direction of Enzo Gragnaniello, they recorded their first album, entitled Ritmul Nostru, which also marks the start of a new collaboration between CNI and FUJENTE, Gragnanello's own production company.
Enhanced by the feel of urgency and spontaneity which comes with a live studio recording, Ritmul Nostru, a nomad record by nature and a rhapsody by vocation, carries with it a fresh wind from the East, an inexhaustible source of rich musical traditions which are lived and felt to the full: Hora tiganesca, or Romaneasca dela candesti with their impressive momentum; the swinging Hora dela candesai; Sile tale iaka (an invitation to dance with an Oriental flavour); Ce ne place nova, dominated by an acrobatic clarinet. But, aside from the personalised instrumental covers of two great hits of Enzo Gragnanello (Viaggio nel Sole and Alberi) and their version of the famous jazz standard Les feuilles morts, it is the enthralling beauty of Pamunt's original compositions which touches us most - starting with the extraordinary title-track, moving on to the Piazzolla-like touches of Catalin al meu, the lively Totul pentru muzica, M-am jurat ca noi mai be - somewhere between a circus atmosphere and Django Reinhardt -, and ending with the double version of Plangeti ochi si lacrimati, a true hit, a track which both impresses and somehow torments you.