MetaFilter posts tagged with roma

Bulgarian Days

tellurian — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:09:25 -0800

Happy Bear's Day, a Saint Day on the Bulgarian Festival Calendar. Some others that caught my eye: Fire dancing Nestinars. Makaveyan Days – "all the sons-in-law gather in their fathers-in-law houses. After the meal the eldest son-in-law starts chasing the younger in the threshing-floor with a stick and beats them." Also The House of Humour and Satire in Grabovo [Proverb – A WORD makes no hole, a pinch tears no underskirt. Superstition – Sin 1. To give a child a spoon to play with].

Is there a Godwin for Musolinni?

Hactar — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:00:33 -0800

I don't know if this is more troubling than any of the other anti-immigrant movements that have been cropping up in Europe, or whether it's just that Italy has Silvio Berlusconi (previously on MeFi), but with the fingerprinting of Roma, including their children, the destruction of Roma camps and the blase attitude towards two Roma girls found dead on an Italian beach, one wonders whether comparisons to the 1930's may become justified. Now, in an act that, while not violent, is perhaps even more indicative of the country's views on race the city of Lucca and the region of Lombardy have banned the opening of new "foreign" restaurants, as, one newspaper put it "a new Lombard Crusade against the Saracens." Included in the ban: kebabs, sushi, Chinese food. Not Included in the ban: French food. Questionable: Sicilian food, as it has "Arab influences." Beyond this, Italy has passed a law allowing for the summary expulsion of dangerous EU citizens. Using this law, the Italian police have been expelling large numbers of Romanian immigrants. So, is this simply the xenophobia that has been spreading across Europe, or is this something more worrisome for the country of Italy? Or is the xenophobia seen in many countries lately worrying enough on its own?

From the Ottoman military to the Balkan Roma

sleepy pete — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:44:24 -0800

The Mehterhane or Mehter, as they are often known, are thought to be the oldest military marching band in the world. Starting around the 13th century, the band accompanied the Ottoman empire troops (Janissaries, or yeniçeri, roughly meaning "new troops" and were comprised mostly of young men from the Balkans) into battle, spreading their music along the way and influencing western classical composers like Mozart and Beethoven. Mehter also seems to have influenced the style of music and dance known among Serbian Roma as čoček (Macedonian chochek or чочек; Bulgarian kyuchek or kyutchek--кючек). Čoček as a dance is related to the Karşılama ("face-to-face") style of dance. The rhythm of traditional čoček music is 9/16, but has been modified into 4/4 and 7/8 as well. Here are some examples in costume and in the street. The music is brass heavy as played by modern bands like Kocani (or Kochani) Orkestar, Boban Marcovic, Fanfare Ciocarlia, or Goran Bregovic's compositions for movies like Underground and Time of the Gypsies (here's an interesting article on the use of Balkan as a metaphor, utilizing Time of the Gypsies). The music can be stripped down to guitar and flute or violins and clarinet, and has been utilized by American groups like A Hawk and a Hacksaw (featuring Neutral Milk alum Jeremy Barnes on accordion/drums/bell hat). Due to proximity of origin, the music shares some traits with klezmer as well (but that's a whole other research topic). Interestingly, the terms čoček and кючек seemed to have derived from the Ottomans as well. The word köçek (related to küçük meaning "little or small," but, as one very nice language loving mefite pointed out to me, also means "foal [of a camel]" and by most accounts seems a direct antecedent to the Bulgarian term кючек) was used for men and boy dancers dressed as women. There are arguments as to whether the köçekler were seen as sexualized beings (music plays on first link) or just burlesque, but the practice continues into modern times.

Romani portraits

madamjujujive — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:26:07 -0800

The Roma Journeys - contemporary photographs of Roma life in Hungary, India, Greece, Romania, France, Russia, and Finland by Joakim Eskildsen. For more photo essays and info on the Roma, see two superb prior posts by plep and taz.

One more thin gypsy thief

cal71 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:35:40 -0800

The debate over Kosovo's Independence is stalled. This could be an extremely dangerous turn of events. Neither side is willing to give any ground. If Kosovo does return to violence, there is one group that might suffer more than most: the oft-abused Roma. Having spent years in contaminated refugee camps, accused of all manner of crimes, and moved after a year of UN foot dragging, many fear they will be once more marginalized.

Gypsy Punk

homunculus — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:30:09 -0800

Gogol Bordello describe their music as "Gypsy Punk." Formerly the Bela Bartoks, singer Eugene Hutz was in the movie Everything Is Illuminated, as was their song Start Wearing Purple.

Gypsy Swing

IndigoJones — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:14:40 -0800

Every audience seems to be niche audience these days but this guy (not forgetting this guy) were the goods. I was reminded of them when a friends sent me this link from Germany. Made my day, it should at least raise a smile. (Guitar players may want to weep) And there seems to be a lot more of it out there than I had suspected, predictably in France and Holland, but even places like Argentina, Finland, and Japan . America does her part, and count on Britain to be encyclopaedic on the subject Okay, some are better than others, but they all have heart. Just now I could almost wish to live in Southern California just for this

Images of the Rom (not what you think... probably)

taz — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 05:57:36 -0800

Images of the Rom: the Rrom of Romania from an award-winning book by Yves Leresche; The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe by Raulf Bauerdick; David Dare-Parker's Roma - Gypsies of Romania (the second image in the set won "Best Feature Photograph" in the Walkley Awards); the Chergari Gypsies in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (by Stacia Spragg - background here); and Itinerant Gypsies in Romania by Valeriu Campan. See also the photo-article, Challenging Segregation of Roma schoolchildren in eastern Hungary by Jason Orton (article continues at far right), and an eviction series by Ph.D. student Cosima Rughinis: the Rom in Pata Rat (dump site), Cluj-Napoca, Piatra Neamt, and Targu Mures, Romania. For some context on the last, view some text snapshots (under "issues of Roma Rights") of the situation from the European Roma Rights Center.

The Roma

plep — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 08:13:33 -0800

The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe. A photographic exhibition. More photos :- The Dream (photographs of Bulgarian gypsies); the gypsies of Romania; the gypsies of Andalusia; urban gypsies in London; gypsies of Pata-Rat, Transylvania. Katarzyna Pollok is a Roma gypsy artist (site partly in German).