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Gypsy Music
Celebrate the Freedom Of Nomadic Life
This Rough Guide celebrates the freedom of Gypsy nomadic life. Balkan brass, gypsy swing, flamenco and Romanian remix signpost the long road from past persecution to world recognition.
The legendary Taraf De Haïdouks are Hungary’s most beloved and best-known group of Roma lautari (‘minstrels’). ‘Waltz From Masquerade’ is taken from their latest album Maskarada, which interprets the 19th and 20th Century European classical repertoire of Bartók, de Falla, Albéniz and Khachaturian, who were influenced by Gypsy folkloric music. Formed in 1993 in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mostar Sevdah Reunion are united by a passion for sevdah, a sort of Balkan blues with Ottoman roots. In 2006 they devoted an entire album to the late Serbian genius of song Saban Bajramovic and on ‘Guglo Kafava’ he collaborates with the group for a menacingly mournful number.
A lot of Balkan Gypsy brass music is extremely funky and Boban Markovic’s orkestar (brass ensemble) is one of the best at keeping the beats up front and swinging. ‘Voz’ (‘Train’) puffs along at a breathtakingly syncopated pace, making unbeatable wedding music that is at once ancient and contemporary. The Romanian Gypsy brass orchestra Fanfare Ciocarlia are on the front lines of Balkan Gypsy music and ‘Que Dolor’ (‘How It Hurts’) is a fiery hybrid of rumba flamenco and brass funk. Fanfare Ciocarlia also appear with the husky bass-voiced chanteuse Ljiljana Petrovic on ‘Ma Rov’. The enchanting rural, traditional music of Bela Lakatos & The Gypsy Youth Project tells the contemporary tale of young Hungarian Gypsies and can be more fully explored on the bonus source CD. ‘Del O Brishind...’ (‘It’s Raining...’) laments a world that is cruel to the Romanies who only want a ‘good world with no worries’.
Slavic Soul Party are a Brooklyn-based band who combine the wild and soulful melodies of the Balkans with fiery Gypsy brass, downhome American funk, Mexican polkas and mariachi, and a touch of klezmer. Here, they perform ‘Ya-Ya’, a famous tune from the 1960s. A Gypsy jazz guitarist from the Netherlands who plays in the Manouche style of famed guitarist Django Reinhardt, Stochelo Rosenberg covers Stevie Wonder’s 1970s funk anthem ‘I Wish’. When French film director Tony Gatlif made the movie Transylvaniain 2006, he teamed up with more than eighty Romany musicians (including the gifted Hungarian vocalist Beata Palya, heard here on the haunting ‘Promesse’) and composer Delphine Mantoulet. The film score won the Georges Delerue Prize at the Flanders International Film Festival.
This collection of contemporary recordings serves as a guide on a journey of discovery into the fascinating and unique story of the Roma people.
The Bonus Source Album from Bela Lakatos & The Gypsy Youth Project tells the story of Hungarian Gypsy youth, with poignant tales of lost love, hardship and reflections on the life of an outcast people. Known as ‘Ternipe’ (meaning‘youth’) at home, the group - which is predominantly vocal, with percussion from sticks, foot-stomping and a metal can, and an acoustic guitar and mandolin - was formed with the aim of ensuring the survival of Gypsy folk music and to launch the next generation of Hungarian Gypsy music.
Track Listing
1 Fanfare Ciocarlia: Que Dolor
2 Mostar Sevdah Reunion and Saban: Guglo Kafava
3 Boban Markovich Orkestar feat. Marko Markovic: Voz
4 Slavic Soul Party: Ya-Ya
5 !Dela Dap: Biav
6 Bela Lakatos and The Gypsy Youth Project: Del O Brishind...
7 Stochelo Rosenberg: I Wish
8 Terne Chave: More Love! / Money Mate!
9 Acquaragia Drom: Rom Kaffe
10 Toni Gatlif: Promesse
11 Son de la Frontera: Un compromiso/Toda Una Vida
12 Taraf De Haïdouks: Waltz from Masquerade
13 Fanfare Ciocarlia Feat. Ljiljana Butler: Ma Rov
14 Musafir: Barish
Catalogue number (Cat#): RGNET1220CD
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