Roma music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Typically nomadic, the Roma have long acted as wandering entertainers and tradesmen. In all the places Roma live—in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and northwest India— they have become known as musicians. The wide distances travelled have introduced a multitude of influences, starting with Indian roots and adding Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Slavic, Romanian, German, French, Spanish and Celtic touches.
Roma music characteristically has vocals that tend to be soulful and declamatory, and the music often incorporates prominent glissandi (slides) between notes. Instrumentation varies widely according to the region the music comes from.
Though no conclusive proof has been found, most historians believe that Roma are descended from an Indian people and migrated westward in several waves, probably all before 1000 AD. Roma still live in India, however, in Rajasthan and other areas, and work in multiple castes. These include the puppeteer Bhat, snake charmer Sapera and juggler Kamad castes, as well as Bhopa, Langa and Manganiyar musicians. Rajasthani Roma instruments include the kamayacha, a sort of fiddle, and khartal, a kind of castanets.
Roma moved west from India, spreading throughout what is now Iran, Iraq, Armenia and other Middle Eastern countries. By 1050, the Roma are believed to have been playing music in Constantinople. By the end of the 15th century, Roma people lived in Bulgaria, Egypt, Romania, Hungary, Sudan, Greece and Serbia. From there, they spread to the remainder of Europe, and now exist in small numbers abroad.
Roma communities are common in Arab and Middle Eastern countries, but are often found in southern parts of India as well. There is a strong tradition of Roma music in Central and Eastern Europe, notably in countries such as Hungary, Romania and the former Yugoslavia. The quintessentially Spanish flamenco is to a very large extent the music (and dance, or indeed the culture) of the Roma of Andalusia.
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[edit] India
Rajastan, the Land of Kings in northern India, is a region of fertile fields in the east and arid desert in the west. Musicians, dancers and entertainers live mainly as nomads and herders. Strictly speaking, the Langa, Manginzar, Dholie, Dhadir and Sapera tribes are not Gypsies but they have a similar lifestyle and position in society as Roma and inhabit the original homeland of the Roma. Helene will perform a dance of the Sapera, a caste closely associated with snake charmers. The dance mirrors this tradition through the mudra (hand gesture) called sharpa shisha (snake head) and movements that imitate a snake.
[edit] Egypt
Ghawazi means “conquerors” and refers to the most traditional female dancers of Egypt, however in this case it is the hearts of men, which are to be conquered. The Ghawazi belong to the gypsy tribe of Nawar, who also inhabit Syria and Lebanon. The women of the Nawar were dancers and courtesans, while the men functioned as musicians and managers. Ghawazi used to be found throughout Egypt, but in the 1830’s they were banned to Upper Egypt. There they fascinated many 19th century travelers such as Flaubert, who immortalized his lover Küçük Hanım in "Voyage en Orient". When a group of Ghawazi performed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, they caused an oriental dance fever, which has its repercussions even today. The art of the Ghawazi today is on the brink of extinction due to fundamentalist pressure. Their dance is conservative style of Egyptian dance which could be considered the grandmother of todays popular Raqs Sharqi. The fast, uninterrupted, regular rhythm of the zagat (finger cymbals) of the dancers contrasts excitingly with the syncopated beat of the drums.
[edit] Macedonia and Albania
Macedonian and Albanian Roma play Greek koumpaneia most frequently, with the Macedonian style distinctively known as calgia. Macedonian Roma music has been popularized by Goran Bregovic's "Ederlezi" from the soundtrack to Emir Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies, which was shot and set in the Macedonian Roma community.
Albanian Roma music is called Tallava. It has a distinct sound and is greatly influenced by Middle Eastern sounds. Drums and the daf are essential instruments. Other than its name, some people refer to it by the names given to the Albanian Roma people such as Hashkali, Magjup, Cigan, Jevg, Harrixhi, etc. Tallava is now gaining much popularity in Albania and many non-Roma singers are also singing and using it.
Čoček is a dance of oriental origin, which can be danced as a line dance or as a solo improvisation. The word čoček comes from the Turkish köçek (dancing boy). Čoček is danced by Turks, Albanians and especially by Roma in Macedonia and Southern Serbia. Similar dances are found in Bulgaria (Kjuček) and Romania (Manea). The movements are small, fine and reserved, as if the dancer were dancing “inside her clothes”. Čoček music is probably the most lively, viable music tradition in the Balkans today, as shown by the success in the world music scene of the Roma musician Ferus Mustafov and the singer diva Esma Redžepova. Besides its Turkish and Balkan roots, the music incorporates strong influences from such diverse styles as Hindi film music or Mexican Mariachi music. Popular instruments today are the accordion, saxophone, clarinet, and even entire brass bands, because brass bands became popular in the folk music of this region after the First World War. But don’t be fooled, this is a far cry from a polka band!
[edit] Russia
Roma have played a major part of Russian musical development since the reign of Catherine the Great. Their music became a romantic, urban form in the 19th century and thrived until the 1917 revolution. The Bolsheviks supported Roma culture and granted autonomy but this status ended with Stalin's rise to power. Several legendary performers emerged from this period, especially Jean Goulesco and Pyotr Leshchenko.
[edit] Hungary
Hungary has a long and famous history of Roma musicians, with Janos Bihari being the most well-known of the traditional orchestra leaders. The Lakatos family now dominates the music.
Rural Hungarian Roma play a sparsely accompanied form of song called loki djili and dance songs called khelimaski djili.
[edit] Serbia
The Roma of Serbia, especially in the city of Guca and the Dragacevo district, are known for maintaining a distinctive style of brass band music, rooted in the military band music of the Ottoman Empire. Boban Marković and the Serbian Orkestar are among the best known players in this style internationally. [1][2] "Kecarac kolo" "Sunen romalen, sunen cavalen" Since the mid-1960s, the singer and bandleader Šaban Bajramović has been a popular exponent of a less traditional, more pop-oriented Roma music style.
[edit] Greece
Roma in Greece are known for the zurna and davul duos (analogous to the shawm and drum partnership common in Roma music) and Turkish-influenced koumpaneia music. Koumpaneia has long been popular among Greek Roma and Jews (the latter being some of the most popular performers before World War II), especially in the city of Ioannina, and has recently been popularized by artists like Kostas Pavlidis and Yianni Saleas.
[edit] France
French Roma can be divided between those of Spanish origin, known for rumba gitana, a commercialized Catalonian-derived genre which was popularized by The Gipsy Kings, and those of Manouche or German origin such as Django Reinhardt, a French Roma who was one of the most influential jazz players of the 20th century.
[edit] Romania
Romanian Roma musicians are called lautari, and typically form string bands called taraf. Tarafs include fiddles, cimbaloms, accordions and a double bass, and are common throughout the country. The most popular are Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocărlia, who have gained an international following.
Manele is a contemporary movement of Roma music in Romania and elsewhere in the Balkans, incorporating elements of popular music genres into traditional Gypsy music. The Danube basin is probably the Northern limit of dances of oriental origin in Europe. Manea is danced by Roma in Oltenia and around Bucharest along the northern rim of the Danube basin. During the Ceaucescu regime, Roma were prohibited from performing their own music and dances in public. Although Roma were in demand as accompanists for dance ensembles or as musicians in cafés and restaurants they were required to play Romanian music. Because of this, Helene was pleasantly surprised to find this dance in 1993 in Caracal, Oltenia at a dance festival. Manea was danced by both men and women with the subtlety characteristic of the roma dances of Turkey and the Balkans.
During the Renaissance a new, exciting and highly improvised couple dance fashion swept over Europe. The nobility introduced it, the bourgeoisie copied it and peasants danced it and filled it with life. Brueghel painted it; Dürrer illustrated it; preachers denounced it. Wondrously, these dances survive to this day in a far corner of Europe. Romanians, Hungarians and Roma in approximately 30 villages around the city of Cluj in Western Transylvania preserved and polished these traditions and developed them into the most complicated and elegant of couple dances. Like their neighbours, the Romanians and Hungarians, the Roma of this region have a traditional cycle of dances that includes men’s exhibition dances and continues with couples’ dances. The Roma who are paradoxically both the most conservative and most innovative guardians of theses traditions, have maintained a very fast couple dance, done apart, without linking the partners. Called çingerica, it is ornamented by finger snapping and has incredibly rapid footwork. Helene has been fortunate to be able to research and dance this in a Transylvanian Roma village.
Some notable Romanian Roma musicians are:
- Romica Puceanu, much admired woman singer
- Nicolae Guţă, manele singer
[edit] Turkey
In the Ottoman Empire Roma were popular entertainers for the people and in the courts. Even today many of Istanbul’s famous musicians are Roma. They perform at restaurants, in well-known spots such as Çiçek Pasajı, or in the Roma neighbourhood of Suluküle. In addition to dancing Çiftetelli (tsifteteli) the Roma are masters of dancing in a 9/8 rhythm called Karşılama or Roman. In contrast to common perception, Roman is not danced with wild leaps and tambourines, but rather with exquisitely fine movements, which manage to be very earthy and yet very refined at the same time, while accentuating the 9/8 rhythm in ever changing, unexpected ways.
Roma perform in nightclubs and restaurants across Turkey, and are known for fasil and belly dance music. Fasil is a sort of light classical music, dominated by the clarinet, violin, qanún (a zither), darbuka (drums) and, more rarely, ud (a lute) and cümbüş (a banjo). The Gypsies of Turkey have gained a large musical reputation throughout the country, and have adopted Turkish musical principles, including "taqsims" or improvised solos. They are also responsible for performing the music of holidays and parties. Turkish Roma performers include the Erköse brothers, Mustafa Kandirali, Kibariye, Tarik Menguc, and Gypsy Music of Constantinople.
[edit] Spain
Spanish Roma music is widely known across the world, having been popularized as flamenco. Flamenco was born in Andalucia and was only linked with Roma some time after the genre evolved. Flamenco is associated with the Roma of Spain (Gitanos) and quite a number of famous flamenco artists are of this ethnicity. However, flamenco is not of Roma origin but is rooted in the Andalusian musical tradition, although Gitano interpretation has heavily influenced modern-day flamenco. This explains the huge difference between flamenco and the Roma music of, for example, Eastern Europe.
[edit] Bulgaria
Due to the large Gypsy population in Bulgaria, this ethnic group's music is very popular. It is also a part of the roots of chalga music, which is widely played at dances and parties in Bulgaria.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Broughton, Simon. "Kings and Queens of the Road". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 146-158. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
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