Traditional music

When we think about Roma culture we often think about Roma music. A characteristic, thrilling rhythm, variable pace and distinct melody. Gypsy musicians used to always attend weddings, funerals and other celebrations at which non-Roma people were in need of music. They played at country parties and royal balls. Their undoubted musical talent was mostly used for commercial purposes. They played music for the customers and, in most cases, it was the kind of music matching the taste of a non-gypsy recipient, but at the same time enriched with Romani musicians’ talents. However, they should be definitely called ‘artists’, because their artistic contribution was too distinct to call their music imitative.

The music played by Romani people is as diverse as its creators. They take the inspirations from different sources and often become virtuosos of a country which they live in. Nowadays the gypsy music is an amalgam of rhythms, Balkan, Hungarian and Chardash music, and, most of all, of Russian affairs. ‘’This music is like tightly clasped fingers of both hands - Romani and Russian. One without another is not the same anymore and it does not have any more power’’ says Nadiezda Bielugina, a creator of an art school for Romani children. The school is associated with the legendary musical theatre ‘’Romen’’ in Moscow. The Russian Romani music for centuries fixed the image of a Russian affair as a template for Romani art. Today, thanks to Emir Kusturica films, Tony Gatlif and the music of a non-Gypsy artist Goran Bregović, the world has discovered Romani music from the Balkans. This music made a circle - from

Vlach-Slavic-Turkish origins, through Romani interpretation, to contemporary multi ethical music belonging to the World Music trend.

In Western Europe, next to the ‘’imported’’ from the XIX century Eastern Europe Roma music, a new original gypsy music trend developed - gypsy jazz music, ‘’Gypsy Swing/Manouche Swing’’. Its creator was a French-born Manush, Django Reinhardt (born January 23, 1910 in Liberchies/Belgium, died May 16, 1953 in Fontainebleau). He was a brilliant guitarist who developed a characteristic style of playing the guitar. He was a leader (next to the violinist Stéphane Grappelli) of a legendary band, Quintette du Hot Club de France. Among hundreds of Reinhardt's compositions, many have become immortal jazz classics.

Gypsy Swing is still very popular - Roma and Sinti soloists and bands empower the trend. Those musicians originate from France, Benelux countries, Germany and Austria and come from families like Rosenberg, Weiss, Reinhardt, Lagrène, Schmitt and Merstein.

Flamenco became an exported and emblematic product of Spanish culture. It was developed, codified and absolutely dominated by the Spanish Gitanos-Calé. (...)

Carmen Amaya ‘’La Capitana’’ (born November 2, 1918 in Barcelona, died November 19, 1992 in Begur/Spain) raised flamenco on the heights of quality and, at the same time, global popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. She was a charismatic dancer, a stage and movie star.

Another world-famous phenomenon was a brilliant singer Camarón de la Isla (born December 5, 1950 in San Fernando, died July 2, 1992 in Badalona/Spain). He was embedded in the gypsy tradition of Cante Jondo, but was also an innovator working with musicians of other trends and cultures. The contemporary flamenco scene includes artists from all continents, but its true heart is in Seville, Granada, Cadiz, Jerez, Madrid and Barcelona in gypsy families of Amaya, Cortés, Romero, Reyes, Fernandez, Moreno and others.

In Poland, Roma music includes mainly two great traditions characteristic of two of the biggest ethnic groups of Polish Roma. One of them is, in cultural and historical dimension, a group of recent nomads from the Polish Roma group. They are associated with the tradition of Russian Roma, whose music for many years preserved romance as the model of Romani creativity. The second group includes Carpathian Roma which clearly stayed under the influence of Hungarian Chardashs, as well as rhythms and sounds of their nearest neighbours - highlander shepherds.

The public achievements of Roma musicians were, above all, based on the Russian romance. Its position, built by the local Gypsy "wedding" orchestras, was strengthened by stage groups - "Roma" and "Terno" and gypsy soloists Randia, Michaj Burano, Witia Michaj, Sylwester Masio Kwiek. Today, well-known gypsy melodies are being ‘’enriched’’ by disco polo aesthetics thanks to artists such as Wasyl Szmidt (known as ‘’Don Wasyl’’) and Bogdan Trojanek, as well as some other artists and bands whose names do not need to be mentioned.

A constitutional feature of many gypsy ‘’productions’’ is that their music was to serve the recipients - the audience's taste was shaping the music of the artists. Such artists, despite their questionable artistic value, built an interest of the public around gypsy music. In result, they, paradoxically, improved the image of Roma people, at the same time distorting it in a slightly risky direction of the cheap ‘’ore ore shabadabada’’.

However, beneath the surface of those mercantile productions there is an inner world of true musical art. It is primarily a song accompanied by guitar, accordion, and the increasingly rare violins. The few exceptions include bands of two charismatic female leaders and vocalists - Perła Krystyna Markowska’s ‘’Perła and brothers" and Teresa Mirga’s "Kałe bała". (...)

Perła Krystyna Markowska comes from the family of so-called Lesiaks which was cultivating the orthodox principles and traditions of travelling Romani from the group Polish Roma. The Markowski, Wiśniewski and Kowalski families have been cultivating musical traditions for generations, as well as educating outstanding artists - vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers. ‘’Perła and brothers’’ is a family band established at the beginning of the 1990s. The group was supported by outstanding instrumentalists coming from the jazz and classical musicians' milieu in Łódź. The band’s repertoire is based on the traditional music of Polish travelling Roma people. The artists are also eager to reach for songs by Roma and Sinti people from Germany, France or Manush (Gypsy) Swing trend, as well as songs by Balkan Roma, including Sabana Bajramović, or Liliana Butler-Petrović. The band presents a very high level of performance, always taking care to maintain an authentic character and embedding its artistic proposal in the true, non-commercialized tradition of Polish Roma.

Perła Krystyna Markowska is also a social activist, educator and promoter of Roma tradition. She’s an important and well-known figure in the Polish Roma community. She’s the co-founder and the president of the Center for Counseling and Information for Roma in Poland. For over 20

years she has been carrying out numerous projects, including the activities of ‘’Partia’’, a children’s band, and the Scholarship Program for particularly gifted Roma students, implemented since 2005.

Teresa Mirga comes from a family of Carpathian Roma who have lived for generations in Spisz in Czarna Góra near Bukowina Tatrzańska - in one of the oldest Romani settlements located in the Polish Carpathians (with a history dating back to the beginning of the 18th century). The band "Kale bała" was founded in the early 1990s. From the beginning it was the original idea of Teresa Mirga - a singer, guitarist, author. In their music we can clearly hear the traditions of the Roma who permanently settled in the Carpathian Mountains, with particular emphasis on the Hungarian influences radiating from the Slovak side to Spiš. Teresa Mirga is also an outstanding poet - her poems, along with the traditional, ‘’eternal’’ songs, are an important part of the band's repertoire.

Like Perła Krystyna Markowska, Teresa Mirga's activity is not limited to performing on stage. She is also a singing and tradition teacher and she works with Roma children, but also with non-Roma people. One of the most famous vocalists who were under Teresa Mirga's wings is Agata Siemaszko, a laureate of the Polish Radio Folk Music Competition "New Tradition".

An artist reaching beyond the Polish Roma traditions is Bogumiła Delimata "La Bogusha" - a flamenco dancer and teacher. She was born in Wrocław to a Gypsy family with musical traditions. In 2003 she founded a band,’’Łaćho Drom’’. Since the mid-2000s, she has been living and working in Andalusia, Granada, collaborating with musicians from Spain, but also from Poland - she performs with her band "La Bogusha y su grupo" in Spain, Poland, Germany and France. She’s an actress - she has performed in theater plays - Katarzy" directed by Adam Kwaśny, "Gilori", "Constructions Associated with Freedom and Freedom" and "Tamta" directed by Paweł Buszewicz and, together with Cristo Osorio, she staged the performances "Aluricán" and "A través del humo". Bogumiła Delimata is also a painter - she’s a member of an artistic group, Romani Art. She also conducts projects which aim at Roma and Polish communities integration through art.

Perła Krystyna Markowska, Teresa Mirga and Bogumiła Delimata, despite the fact that for many years they have been performing in Poland and abroad at many festivals presenting the music of the World Music trend, in Poland they still remain in the niche of ethnic music known only to a small group of experts and lovers. Additionally, those female artists’ bands always and completely, follow the rule of not using any playback support - they perform on the highest level, full of emotions and truth - phenomena not so frequent in today's world - not only in music.

 Andrzej Grzymała-Kazłowski