Romany (Gypsy) Dance, Music and Culture

Europe

"The Romani, the largest European minority group with approximately 11 million people, constitute a mosaic of languages, religions, and lifestyles while sharing a distinct social heritage. Linguistic and genetic studies have located the Romani origins in the Indian subcontinent... Our analyses based on genome-wide data from 13 Romani groups collected across Europe suggest that the Romani diaspora constitutes a single initial founder population that originated in north/northwestern India ~1.5 thousand years ago (kya). Our results further indicate that after a rapid migration with moderate gene flow from the Near or Middle East, the European spread of the Romani people was via the Balkans starting ~0.9 kya.— Mendizabal and Lao.

"Academic consideration of Gypsy music— beginning at the start of the 19th century and tied to rising interest in Romany people overall— would culminate in two models; those of assimilation and nonassimilation. Both aimed to situate Gypsies and their music within European culture... Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the assimilative model was based on the concept of nationality propagated within the whole of Europe. As such, Gypsy music was presented as an integral component of European culture, a form that joined with local musical idioms to create national musical traditions in individual countries, especially those with high proportions of Romanies. Meanwhile, within the nonassimilative model, Gypsy music was presented as belonging to a distinct culture whose outlook was inherently alien to European civilization... Especially beginning at the end of the 19th century— driven by various peoples' search for noble roots in the ancient world— it [race] became of special importance for European history. To emphasize one's own racial purity could mean denigrating the Other, with Gypsies and their music often the casualties of academic writings having such a bent... A notion of European exceptionalism, among nineteenth-century intellectuals and others, guided such views.

"Contemporary research is conducted within two parallel currents; one focuses on the musical practices of particular Romany groups, and analyzes their musical traditiona; the second seeks to assess Romany music as a comprehensive phenomenon. These two tracks, while not contradictory, reflect the elusive, generalized nature of the term 'Gypsy' or 'Romany,' which refers to the collectivity of nomadic groups. Likewise, so-called Gypsy music is not monolithic... it constitutes a conglomerate of varied musical traditions. Some groups, although settled for generations, have revived their music and developed their own idiom, as a result of intense pressues associated with acculturation. Other groups have remained migratory and have absorbed musical styles from other ethnic groups with which they have interacted... What we might call inter-Romany exchange in a given geographic region has also been powerfully important in creating a musical language."

"Accordingly, reserachers of Romany music have emphasized its intensely varied strains: from Spanish flamenco through Bulgarian wedding reception music to the choirs of the Russian Romany and right up to the music of the Hungarian Gypsies performed for restaurant guests. These adaptations of musical language have meant that no single, dominant style of 'Gypsy Music' exists, nor does a common model for musical adaptation unite all Romany gruops... This ability to adapt and diversify explains the huge scope of the influence of Romany music, not merely in its commercial popularity among the non-Romany, but also in its emotional nature and power for a variety of listeners.— Anna Piotrowska

Britain

1. Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month website.
2. Romany life, experienced and observed during many years of friendly intercourse with the Gypsies published in 1915, author Frank Cuttriss.
3. Romany Road UK
4. The Gypsy Lore Society, founded in 1888 in Great Britain. One hundred years later, it moved headquarters to the US in 1989.
   • Home page
   • Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 1888 -1999.

Eastern Europe

Spain

Indian

The popular image of the "snake charmer" originates from the Kalbeliya tribe of Rajasthan in Northern India, thought to be the "Gateway of the Gypsies" due to the belief that the Roma diaspora began there in the 11th century. Kalbeliya dancers wear black in homage to the Mother Goddess Kali, from whom the tribe derives their name. In this dance, performers twirl ecstatically and stomp the earth in costumes of ornate embroidery and intricate beadwork while conjuring 'kundalini' or 'serpent power.'— worldartswest.org

1. Rekha solo dance to live music at a festival.
2. Solo dance to female singers. Black and silver costumes.
3. Duet to folk song from Rajasthan
4. Latcho Drom: famous clip of Rajasthan dance and song.
5. Kalbelia Dance solo from Rajasthan. Suva Devi is the dance artist. Her dance is intended to represent the movements of a mischievious snake.
6. Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan. UNESCO production. Kalbelias are described as a community of snake charmers, musicians and dancers. The video provides a brief overview of occupations, food, costume and music.

Russian

Laurel Victoria Gray, in an interview in the Crescent Moon magazine in 1995: "There are several styles of Russian Gypsy dance. One is a very theatricalized style that you might call a character dance. And so you really would have to have ballet training to do some of the movements that are required in this. So, I purposely left out those movements in [my] choreograpy because I wanted a more authentic piece.

"[Russian Gypsy dance] is very passionate and expressive, smoldering and has really fast little shoulder shimmies. There is some foot work, spins, skirt work. There is an arched back and a very proud carriage. There are extreme leans from the side that are very dramatic. And even if you don't want to do Russian Gypsy dance per se, these movements, especially the carriage of the torso and upper body, can add a whole new dimension to your Oriental routine.

"Gypsies are much more outgoing and aggressive in their dances than a typical woman would be in her Oriental dance style or in her deameanor. In Gypsy styles of dance you can be more aggressive. You have permission because you are playing a character."

Theatre Roman video clips from the 1940s:

• Female solo singing and skirt dancing.
• Female solo singing and dancing.
• Solo and chorus singing and dancing

Svenko, a Russian Romany dance and music theatre group.