Verandah music ‘Gypsy’ style

Gitano family outside their cave, Granada, c 1900-1915

The diverse peoples once widely known as ‘Gypsies’ are now known as Roma, Rom, or Sinti, depending on local, regional and international usages. ‘Gypsy’ is, generally, considered to be derogatory, not surprisingly given their history of global persecution under that name. (I use the term here because it will most readily understood by most readers).

From this maelstrom of experiences, the Rom have evolved a great number of distinctive musical genres, drawing on their own traditions and frequently adapting those of the lands and cultures in which they have travelled and settled. They are still doing so, with various ‘gypsy music’ groups having achieved commercial success and artistic recognition, often through the ‘world music’ category of the modern popular music industry. The many styles and forms of Rom traditional music continue to be played throughout Europe and beyond.

The astonishing riches and varieties of Rom and Sinta music, and its connection to the broader dance, literature, art and culture of these peoples can now be enjoyed and studied online at the RomArchive. This ambitious project is described like this:

‘The RomArchive collection contains items from ten archive sections: Visual Art, Dance, Film, Flamenco, Theatre & Drama, Literature, Music, Romani Civil Rights Movement, Politics of Photography and Voices of the Victims. Focusing on self-representation, the objects have been collected from private collections, museums, archives and libraries around the world.’

The growing archive has some amazing visual and audio resources, as well as informative and accessible articles (‘Is there such a thing as Romani music?’ is brief and excellent), film, etc.