| Since the time their ancestors began wandering west from northern India over 1,000 years ago, Gypsies have been simultaneously scorned and glorified, rejected and romanticized. They are almost mythical and magical beings, representing people outside the confines and mundane realities of the everyday world.
Contrary to folk myths, Gypsies are a real people and part of a real, enduring culture that has managed to survive despite severe obstacles of circumstance and prejudice. Their story is one of a people in extreme diaspora, who have been able to maintain their identity, and have held themselves distinct from the cultures around them for hundreds of years. In every land they have traveled, they have managed to survive on a combination of skills and street smarts; adaptability is the hallmark of the Gypsies.
Music has long played a central role in both the commercial and social lives of Gypsies, and they have made tremendous contributions to music in many countries. Gypsies have been known as musicians as far back as the fifth century, when it was written that the great Persian king Bahram Gur wished his people to have music and sent for some twelve thousand Indian musicians to entertain his people. These may indeed have been Gypsies (or Roma, the name the majority of Gypsies give themselves.) If so, it is the earliest reference to the musicianship for which they have become so widely known. Ever since, in every country that they have dwelled, the Roma have absorbed the language and music of the surrounding culture.
Not all Roma are musicians; there are specific castes, or branches that specialize in different skills. Music is a trade, like metallurgy, that one is born into. Children in these musical families are taught to play an instrument at an early age, and are expected to help the family support itself.
We can thank students of linguistics for much of what we know of the history of the Roma. As early as 1542 the Romani language was being observed in Europe (though at this early date, it was thought to be Egyptian, owing to the mistaken belief that the Roma were from Egypt, hence the misnomer, Gypsy). But it was not until the nineteenth century that serious academic studies were published that conclusively show the relationship of Romani to Sanskrit and Hindi.
As a result, we now know that Roma originated in India, most likely in the area of Rajasthan. We do not know the reasons why the Roma moved from Rajasthan to Persia and Armenia. Linguists conjecture that the migration (which may actually have been several waves of migration) started sometime between 100 and 1000 AD, and some claim it may have started even earlier. From Persia and Armenia the route split, as some went through what is now Turkey and into Europe, and others went into Arabia and on to northern Africa.
Gypsies began filtering into Europe at the beginning of the fifteenth century. A more significant dispersion of the Roma began to take place at this time, and the languages and sense of identity of the various branches started to develop independently. From here, journeys to Spain and Portugal, France and Germany, Hungary, the Balkans and beyond caused the splintering of the Roma, into Caló, Sinto, Romanichal, Lovara, Kalderash and a variety of other tribal names and dialects_each with its own sense of Roma identity. It is also, unfortunately, the beginning of a tale of misunderstanding and oppression culminating in the Holocaust, which may have killed upwards of one and a half million Roma. The post-Holocaust years have not seen any easing in the marginalization of Roma, although there have been some breakthroughs in the fight for civil rights, and a genuine attempt to activate and politicize the various branches of the Romani tree.
Through it all, the Roma have survived, and continued to make music that is both innovative and crowd-pleasing. This compilation deals primarily with the music of the northwestern path that led from the Balkans to Hungary, France, Spain and beyond. And whether it is flamenco music played on the streets of Granada, or Slavic fusion from Montreal, the soul and inspiration of the Roma are always present.
Romanyi Rota "Diri Diri, So Kerdjan"
Romanyi Rota perform not only Hungarian Gypsy songs, but a variety of songs from the Balkans. The group, whose name means "cartwheels," was started in 1985 by young Oláh Gypsies who had migrated to Budapest from northeastern Hungary. They returned to their native village in 1987 with the intention of reviving local traditional music and dance through research, workshops, and performances. They returned to Budapest in 1989 where they have established themselves as one of the more accomplished contemporary Gypsy bands.
- "Diri Diri, So Kerdjan (Diri Diri, How Can it Be?)": tells a tragic tale of jealousy gone wild. The song has a sinuous Balkan feel, calling to mind the Turkish influence in Romanyi Rota's native region. The use of mandolin and bouzouki and the stuttering, asymmetrical rhythm conjures up a Greek/Macedonian ambiance.
- Kalyi Jag "Mori Shej, Sabina":
Kalyi Jag (Black Fire) is one of the leading groups in new Hungarian Rom music. Formed in 1978 by Gusztáv Varga, it was one of the first bands to play and record songs in Romani (or Romanes), the Gypsy language. While most of the traditional songs they perform were originally played only with vocals, handclaps and percussion (generally a milk jug), Kalyi Jag added guitar, making for a much more accessible sound. Their repertoire was drawn from both rural and urban songs, and also used a vocal technique called "oral basing" in which the male voices provide a bass-line, somewhat like a cross between doo-wop and scatting. Their successes paved the way for bands that have followed.
"Mori Shej, Sabina (My Daughter, Sabina)" is a beautiful interpretation of what could be considered a Gypsy lullaby. It is an original compositions written by one member of the group for his infant child. "You are only just one year old / Little, tiny dear daughter / You are chattering at me / I'll buy some gold jewels for you / All the gold jewels of the world." It is worth mentioning that under the Hapsburgs, edicts were issued to force the Hungarian Roma to settle and intermarry, as well as to give up all children over the age of five to be raised as non-Roma. These edicts failed. Not only were the Roma (and the Hungarians) intractable, but most of the children ran away and found their families again.
Saban Bajramovic "Pena":
As with many Gypsy artists, stories and legends abound about Saban Bajramovic and it is not clear what is true and what is not. Even before the winds of war began to blow through the Balkans, it was difficult to track him down. Now it is practically impossible. It is widely held that even the well-informed connoisseurs of Romany culture and Gypsy music are unable to provide accurate information about him. In spite of this, however, it is a fact that he is widely considered one of Serbia's greatest Gypsy musicians.
It is believed he was born on April 16, 1936 in Nis, Yugoslavia. At 19 he ran away from the army out of love for a girl. He was sentenced to five years in prison for desertion on the island Goli Otok. Soon he forced his way into the prison orchestra that played, among other things, jazz (mostly Armstrong, Sinatra, and even John Coltrane). Today he says that the prison on Goli Otok was his university of life where he formed his philosophy.
After Goli Otok, his intensive music career began. He made his first record in 1964 and since then has made 15 to 20 LPs and about 50 singles. To date he has composed at least 650 songs. For 20 years he has performed with his group Black Mamba and has toured the world numerous times.
"Pena" means soap foam. Saban sings of a girl that he met in Sofia, Bulgaria. He kissed her and her two beautiful eyes and suddenly she disappeared. He performs for the Gypsies in order to earn money to find her. He searches everywhere, but she has disappeared like foam, and only memories remain.
Vlatko Stefanovski "Gipsy Song": Born in Prilep, Madeconia, Vlatko Stefanovski was raised in Skopje, a melting pot with a mixed population of Macedonians, Turks, Serbs, Albanians and Roma. Shutka and Topaana are the names of the Gypsy slums near Stefanovski's childhood neighborhood, and he has written about them with great eloquence.
Stefanovski is a remarkable guitarist and songwriter, and the founder of the rock band Leb I Sol (Bread and Salt), which was one of a handful of Balkan rock bands to have a real reputation outside its home territory. He has toured internationally and collaborated with the best musicians in the Balkans, bringing his concerts to Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Croatia.
Stefanovski's intimacy with the folk music of his region, as well as the differing ethnic styles that coexist there, enabled him to write "Gipsy Song" with great authority. The song was part of a soundtrack he composed for a film of the same name. He calls upon fate and luck, the two constants of the Roma cosmos, in a song that seems to have existed for centuries. "We all have our own star that follows us while we live / When it shines bright, man has luck / When it dies, destiny..."
Coco Briaval "Les Yeux Noirs": There is no greater name in the pantheon of Gypsy musicians than Django Reinhardt. Although there are other Rom players who are legendary for their technique and artistry, no other Rom can be credited with creating a musical style that had worldwide repercussions and redefined the place of the guitar within jazz, as did this Sinto, or Manouche, Gypsy from France. Together with the violinist Stefan Grapelli, he created what we now call Gypsy Jazz, or Manouche jazz, although to the cognoscenti it is simply an extraordinarily elegant form of swing, and the first truly European form of jazz. Roma all over Europe, but particularly in France, still keep this music alive, with competitions, jam sessions and regular recordings.
This is a pure manouche rendition of an old standard. "Les Yeux Noirs (Dark Eyes)" is perhaps the best known of Russian Gypsy songs, and Reinhardt helped make it famous in the 1930s. It appears in almost every book of international folk songs and it even made it into a Judy Garland movie! French guitarist Coco Briaval provides an apt tribute to Reinhardt and one of Gypsy music's most famous songs in this rendition.
Thierry Robin "L'Amour S'Envole": With eight albums under his belt, guitarist and oud player Thierry Robin is carving a niche for himself as one of Europe's most adventurously eclectic artists. While not himself a Gypsy, he has devoted his career to bringing together Rom musicians from Western Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and Northern India. According to Robin, "Among the popular musical forms that affect me, from the south of Europe to Central Asia, the Gypsies have always been my companions: I have placed my footsteps in theirs." His love of Gypsy music has led him to put together unusual aggregates, combining Gitano, Rajasthani, and Manouche (French gypsy) influences, with generous doses of Northern African and American forms.
This combination of styles is apparent in "L'Amour S'Envole (Love Takes Flight)," a fandango which runs from flamenco to North African horn lines. Robin is joined by Farid Roberto Saadna, an heir to a dynasty of Gypsy musicians established for generations in the city of Roussillon in Southern France. Saadna is one of the founding members of Els Rumberos Catalas, a group specializing in Gypsy rumba, the accessible style popularized by the Gipsy Kings. "Your love is like an almond flower/ Whether your soul is white or black, it has seduced me!"
Miguel Angel Cortés "Al Likindoy":
Spain's most famous folk music is flamenco. As powerful as the blues, it has its own history of suffering, from which it originated. Although the Roma did not create it, flamenco was nurtured, refined and preserved to such a degree by Roma that they are practically synonymous with it.
The roots of flamenco start in Andalucía in southern Spain. Here, various cultures, especially the North African Moors, had their impact on local musical styles. The Roma adopted flamenco, making it part of the family trade, to the point where musical families became flamenco dynasties. Children were taught not only to sing within the high demanding style, but to play virtuoso guitar parts necessary to accompany the singing and dancing. Indeed, playing flamenco guitar is an art in itself.
Miguel Angel Cortés was born into a family of flamenco musicians, given a guitar at the age of eight, and by the age of fourteen was a working and touring musician, backing up top flamenco singers and dancers. His pride in his Gypsy heritage has led him to focus on traditional flamenco styles instead of contemporary music, yet his innovation and creativity helps keep classic flamenco vital and relevant. He is a consummate guitarist capable of wringing feeling from every note.
He is also open to the uses of other sounds and textures, as can be seen in this track in which darbuka(1), tabla(2) and cajón(3) support the guitar. The use of these instruments makes musical connections to the cultural roots of the Gypsy people. This track is a tanguillo, a festive style from Cadíz that derives from the tango, a lively form with a fast rhythm. The song's title is derived from a phrase that English tobacco smugglers frequently spoke on the streets of Cadíz that means "watch out for the police!"
1 A one-sided, hourglass shaped drum popular in Arab music
2 A pair of small, tuned hand drums from India.
3 A drum made of a wooden box.
Romanyi Rota "Korkore Zav Ande Kalyi Rati": In the nineteenth century, the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Franz Liszt celebrated the accomplishments of Gypsy musicians, who were known for their virtuoso renditions of classical music. The flourishing of the Austro-Hungarian Empire also saw the rise of Gypsy orchestras that played recruitment music (verbuncos) in villages, and popular Hungarian songs in upscale restaurants in cities. While many of these songs were absorbed into the repertoire of the Roma, it was a separate genre from the Gypsy music that was played in the rural areas of Hungary. This rural music has resurfaced due in large part to the tancház movement that started in Hungary in the late sixties and early seventies.
The (tancház literally, dance house) movement was largely a reaction to Communist cultural domination. Young, conservatory-trained musicians, seeking to connect more strongly with their roots, started to bring back older forms of Hungarian folk music and dance. Along with this growing sense of Hungarian national pride, Roma began to perform music with a more folkloric sound. The interpretation of rural, traditional music forms by educated, urban musicians came to be known as "city folk" music.
"Korkore Zav Ande Kalyi Rati (I Am Walking Alone in the Black Night)": It starts out with an elegant gypsy jazz-style back beat, then transitions into a limping rhythm common in Eastern European music. The song ultimately settles into a rousing anthem that is the perfect accompaniment for lifting your glasses in a toast to the joys and tragedies of life. "I am walking alone in the black night / While thinking of my poor mother / I am bringing her beautiful flowers / I know this will make her happy / Tell me Dear Lord, why is there so much trouble? / Tell me Lord, why is it / That our mother is ill? / You can see that I am poor / That our luck has run out! / There are good people living on this earth / Oh Dear God, help them if you can!"
Amaro Suno "Kutka Avel E Sej Bari": Another of the contemporary Gypsy bands that has been researching its roots, Amaro Suno (which means "Our Dreams") mainly plays a Hungarian repertoire, with some Romanian material as well. Since the border between Hungary and Romania has shifted many times in history, and there are many Hungarians living in what is now Romania, it is not surprising that Romanian songs would be played by Hungarian groups. The band has acquired some of its material through the research of Katalin Kovalcsik, one of the most active Hungarian ethnomusicologists in the area of Rom music, as well as through their own fieldwork. They consider the preservation and promotion of Gypsy music for future generations one of their central goals, and give classes in Budapest twice a week where they teach Gypsy songs and dances to children. According to bandleader Erno Bihari, "An important goal of our music is to try to bring people closer to the Gypsy culture in an effort to ease prejudices."
"Kutka Avel E Sej Bari (Here Comes the Gypsy Girl)": It is a typical song of courtship_the daughter is a prize jealously guarded by the family. Not only is she beautiful, but she is intelligent. "Here comes the Gypsy girl / Who is beautiful and smart / Whoever tries to court her / Will come to regret it / When shoe goes to market / She is the most beautiful one / Her father goes with her / In a nice horse-drawn wagon / Come with me beautiful gypsy girl / But be careful not to let your mother know / And if you dare to come by our house / I will take you for my wife."
Djelem "Codru": The name of this group evokes the most famous and popular of all Gypsy songs, "Djelem, Djelem" or "I Have Traveled." Not simply a reference to the life of the nomadic gypsy, this is a song that all Roma respond to, as it calls up images of relentless persecution and the edicts that prevented Roma from staying in any one place for any length of time.
The group reflects an approach that is typically Rom, the ability to synthesize different kinds of music and forge them into a new, original entity. Djelem is based in Montreal, Quebec and has managed to integrate Eastern European, Gypsy and Quebecois music into a cohesive sound, reflecting the multicultural fabric of Canadian culture. Two of the band members, Sonya Sancartier and Claude Simard, are French Canadian. Anatoli Lavenko is from Ukraine, and Sergei Trofanov is a Rom, born in Moldova. Moldova, previously Moldavia, is a former Soviet republic in the Carpathian Mountains between Romania and Ukraine.
There are similarities in the Ukrainian and Moldavian traditions of music_they do share a border, although Moldova is linked to Romania linguistically and historically. (It is in Moldova, a part of Romania once called Wallachia, that Roma had a particularly grim fate. They were enslaved for five hundred years, were bought, sold or killed like cattle, and were not liberated until the nineteenth century when both serfdom and slavery were abolished). "Codru" is particularly reminiscent of both Ukrainian and Romanian music and was inspired by the vast Codru forest in northern Moldova.
Ando Drom "Sza Tele Zsav": Ando Drom, whose name means "on the road," was formed in Budapest in 1984. Since the members come from different segments of the Hungarian Gypsy population, the group presents a wide range of styles and variations within Gypsy music and culture. It was originally a musical theater group featuring singing and dancing. Since then, the achingly poignant vocals of Mitsou, (who is the distinctive female voice that can be heard within the ensemble on this track) have made the band increasingly popular on Europe's festival circuit. Many Rom women are encouraged to sing until they marry. After that, the obligations of motherhood and housekeeping are supposed to take priority. As a result only a handful of Rom women have been able to make their mark in music. Mitsou's success is a testament to changing times.
Although they have researched the music that they perform, mostly based on vocal folk styles, Ando Drom has also added instrumentation and created arrangements with specific structures. These arrangements allow for improvisation, but also have built in dynamics, and a programmatic quality, making an Ando Drom show a particularly theatrical event.
Romani men from the villages are frequently compelled to travel to industrial cities to make a living, and leave their families behind. "Sza Tele Zsav" speaks of the pain of this separation. "I am going on a long journey / Where I hope to meet my true brothers / Seven brothers, seven brothers in law / All so far away / I think about my sorrows and move out into the big, wide world." |
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