Since the release of its first album back in 1991, Taraf de Haïdouks has been considered the epitome of Romany music's vitality. Their polyphonic sound incorporates instruments such as the violin, double drum, accordion, flute, cimbalom, double bass and some wind instruments. The group has toured worldwide, released acclaimed albums and a DVD (see below), and counts among its fans the late Yehudi Menuhin, the Kronos Quartet (with whom it has recorded and performed), actor Johnny Depp (alongside whom the group appeared in the film "The Man Who Cried"), fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto (who invited the band to be models-cum-musicians for his Paris and Tokyo shows), composer Danny Elfman (who hired them to play for his 50th birthday party), and many more. Meanwhile, the band members seem to have been relatively unaffected by all this, maintaining their way of life (they still reside in Clejani, in the Wallachian countryside).