(no subject)
Rachael Fuller
World Music
Dr. Sophia Grobler
20 April 2009
Gypsies and Balkans: Aren’t They Just Roma?
Though not commonly known, gypsy tunes and Balkan songs are still used, even in today’s world when most music is either thrashing and crashing or a look to the past. Today, these funny little tunes are used in other places, most of which are extremely obscure or just seen in past references, such as Johannes Brahms or Béla Bartók. Even so, gypsy music is so rarely studied anymore because it is considered to be too simple and perhaps even beneath other musicians. In the modern world, however, few people do turn their heads to gypsy music and find something fascinating and historical about it. With the help of composers such as Béla Bartok and Johannes Brahms and bands such as Golem and Gogol Bordello, the spirit of gypsy music has been brought back with a style unique to its own time.
Contrary to popular belief, the term ‘gypsy’ is actually extremely politically incorrect. The term “gypsy” comes from several different languages, all meaning the same thing. It means “outsider,” which was a negative connotation for the gypsies because most people associated them with or thought their ancestors were travelers from Egypt, something extremely threatening at the time to Europeans (Silverman 270). The politically correct term is “Roma,” a race of nomadic people skilled in things such as “music, entertainment, fortune-telling, metal-working, horse dealing, woodworking, sieve and comb making, basketry, and seasonal agricultural work” (Silverman 271). Most of these things, as one may notice, require one to be nomadic, so each of these occupations is appropriate for a Rom.
According to the New Garland Encyclopedia for World Music:
That Roma are often musicians is a commonplace; yet the nature of Rom music has received little scholarly attention. Misunderstandings of it vary from the position that Roma merely borrow and have no music of their own to the position that all Hungarian music is Rom music. Roma have been hailed as the most authentic preservers of peasant music and assailed as its corrupters and distorters. (Silverman 270)
Because of Roma’s nomadic and unaccepted ways, music making was only a side occupation, even if it was an extremely important one to these people, due to the fact that, similarly to today, it was very difficult to make money on music alone. Because of this, Roma were skilled in many different things. However, music was extremely important to Rom culture, and according to fact, there is 500 years worth of data of Roma professional musicians. (Silverman 270-1)
The Romani language, similar to Persian, Greek and Slavic, derives from Sanskrit and is closely related to Hindi. This may have been part of the reason why Europeans were so wary of Roma with their close relation to languages close to Egyptian, along with their dark skin that made Europeans associate Roma with invading Muslims and intruders. Because of these things, Roma were expelled from virtually every European territory, even though these “intruders” were established throughout Europe from AD 1500. (Silverman 271)
From the fourteenth century to the nineteenth century, Roma were forced into slaves that provided skills in panning for and preparing gold, training bears,
carving wood, blacksmithing and making music. Several of the slave owners used Roma for their own benefit, forcing these people into being the equivalent of a trained monkey. Even though slavery was abolished in 1864, Roma were still exploited. (Silverman 271)
Of the Hungarian Roma, there are three different groups of Roma that are all nomadic but settled in the Hungary area. The types of Roma that people most associate with gypsies are called Romungre. The Romungre speak Hungarian, and they play music professionally and are mostly all instrumental. These Roma are the group that most captured the attention of classical composers, particularly that of Béla Bartók. Through Bartók’s influence, Romungre toured the best European concert halls and became the representatives of Hungarian national music. Even Franz Liszt said that they were the source and creators of all worthy Hungarian music. (Silverman 272)
Bartók was extremely interested in learning about Rom music, specifically Romungre music. In a letter to Janós Bustitia-Belényes, Bartók wrote, “It seems the Rumanians care much more about their folk-songs than the Hungarians. When, I wonder, can we hope for such enterprise in Budapest? I only wish I knew more Rumanian” (Demény 112)! Quite obviously, Bartók had an extreme respect for Roma. He would even constantly ask for samples from each country he was writing his music about so that he would fully understand it. In his letters, Bartók made a special effort to understand more about Rom music, and he even claimed that it was one of his most-treasured studies.
Most Romungre music consists of two violin, a double bass, and a cimbalom, which is similar to a dulcimer. These Roma would write in a scalar mode called verbunkos, which is more commonly referred to as a “Gypsy scale.” In this scale, there are augmented seconds between the third and fourth scale degrees as well as the sixth and seventh scale degrees. In comparison to Western music, one would think of this as a harmonic minor scale with a raised fourth. (Silverman 273)
Soon after slavery ended, patrons of Romungre would send them to music schools or private teachers to learn orchestration, arranging and notation. These “foreign” elements were what created a new style for Hungarians, which became the national symbol in the 19th Century. This made a new genre of Hungarian art songs called nóta, which is basically a combination of verbunkos and art songs. (Silverman 273)
The next group of Roma, Vlach Roma, were not as well-known as Romungre. These Vlach Roma were nonprofessional, and they wrote mostly vocal music. It is quite obvious that they are not quite as professional as Romungre because their songs were not nearly as elaborate in ornamentation or well thought-out (Silverman 273). The singer could have a specific tune in mind, but it also change shape from verse to verse, so this type of Rom music is highly improvised, under strict rules.
A casual setting, people may talk during the performances and comments or suggestions may also be made to the performer himself. There are no instruments because the Vlach Roma were much more nomadic than the Romungre, but sounds are made to imitate instruments, such as “blowing into their hand or buzzing their lips, audience snaps, claps, drums on water cans, taps spoons, all of which create a dense rhythmic texture” (Silverman 274).
The last of the Hungarian Roma, Boyash, are more Romanian than Hungarian and are very obscure. All that can be found of this group of Roma are melody and texts, but nothing is extremely structured, and few of these are actually written in the verbunkos mode. There are barely any records of Boyash Roma, and most of them died from natural causes or were exterminated in World War II (Silverman 272).
Though Hungarian Rom is the most popular of Roma culture, there exists a selection of other Roma, mostly throughout Europe but a few scattering through India and the Middle East. The ones that are most well-known are that of Poland, Romania, and the Balkans of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia. Even though all of these groups were professional musicians, the only group that captured the attention of the classical composers even remotely close to Rumongre Roma were the Romanian Roma.
In the 1860s, when the Romanian Roma were freed, peasants began to hire Rom musicians, so strings bands started to replace the peasants’ traditional bagpipes and flutes. In 1900, the Romanians’ music started evolving, and performance with accordion and cobza, a guitar-like lute. Eventually, the cobza was replaced by the tambal, a dulcimer that could be strung around the neck and carried through a village during gatherings or events. Soon after, when the dulcimer became less popular, it was replaced completely by the accordion and electric organ. (Silverman 278)
The Romanians, out of all the Roma, were the group that used the most dances in their music. Dance was so essential to this culture and, similarly to many cultures like African culture, music and dance was basically the same thing. According to The New Garland Encyclopedia for New Music:
Dance music, constructed of repeated motifs, is the most important part of the taraf repertoire: musicians string together melodies of contrasting mode and tonality to produce dances of varying lengths. Affording to Anca Giurchescu, Roma have distinct dance style, characterized by improvisation, abrupt changes in direction, bent torso, upward arm swings, high-energy stamps, and syncopation. When doing couple dances, Roma do not touch: each person does small, syncopated, crossing and stamping steps while clapping hands and snapping his or her fingers. (Silverman 277)
Polish Roma, who do not give themselves a name as the Hungarian Roma do, are professional but on a much smaller scale than Hungarian Roma. In the Carpathian Mountains of Poland during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Polish Roma played for Polish royal courts with bagpipes, violins and zithers. During the eighteenth century, however, discrimination increased, and eventually, Polish Roma dissolved into hiding (Silverman 276). Towards the end of the nineteenth century, more Polish Roma music was discovered, immigration of Kalderdash and Lovari Roma creating new musical styles into Poland - sung poetry. After World War II, though, they were forced to settle into Poland. This is not actual Polish Roma authentic music but a fake representation of what it might have been, renewing the old ways (Silverman 276).
The Balkans, all from south-east Europe, are not considered Roma but are classified under the category “gypsy.” Their music is similar to Rom music but has a completely different flavor to it, using very different instruments from Rom music and much more influenced by the Middle East. For example, Yugoslavian Balkans’ music is Turkish-influenced vocal improvisation, which has plain emotional content. South Serbian Balkans, which was formed in the 1940s, played Turkish-influenced repertoire and is kept alive by the government. For all of the Balkans, tambourine and voice accompaniment is the common ensemble. (Silverman 279-80)
Police in Bavaria, Germany, had a central registry of all Roma as early as 1899, and there were many encouragements - and a later commission - to arrest Roma in Munich. In 1933, anyone who followed the “Gypsy” way of life according to the Germans’ compiled list was arrested. They were racially “undesirable” with “alien blood,” and for this, the Roma were persecuted. (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
Because Roma were essentially Christians, it was harder for the Germans to find a real reason to persecute these people, but when Dr. Robert Ritter, a child psychologist who studied criminal biology, became the director of the Center for Research on Racial Hygiene ad Demographic Biology in the Ministry of Health in 1936, Ritter found 30,000 Roma living in Germany by doing medical and anthropological examinations. However, the only way he was able to achieve this was by threatening the Roma; Ritter said he would arrest them and incarcerate them into concentration camps. Since Roma were considered to have “mixed blood,” they were degenerate and exemplified criminal characterization. Since Ritter qualified each of the Rom as dangerous, he forced them all into sterilization - and the remaining “pure-blooded” Roma were taken into laboratories to be studied further. (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
After 1936, when the Nuremberg Laws were set into effect, rules became tighter, and Roma were considered hereditarily diseased and habitual criminals. Then, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Roma in caravans in tents at the games were forced to relocate to Marzahn, an open field located between a cemetery and a sewage dump in eastern Berlin. As one can imagine, there were over six-hundred Roma at the Olympics. Soon, Roma families were separated, men working in the concentration camps and families sent to Auschwitz. Roma wore black triangular patches, the symbol for “asocial,” or green ones, the symbol for “professional” criminals. (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
However, even when things were getting horrible during the war and Roma were persecuted, composer Bartók was still intensely interested in Roma music. Bartok wrote a two-volume monstrosity of a collection of Rumanian instrumental melodies - it only included instrumental music, so there was even more vocal repertoire left undiscovered - for Gypsy violinists and flutists. Some of these compositions were actually authentic Roma tunes, and Bartok himself altered some of them. It preserved the old music and kept Roma music authentic. So many people altered Roma music into untrue interpretations, skewing what was really meant to be Roma music. All of them in this collection actually demonstrated verbunkos and the other more obscure gypsy modes rather than imitate it. (Bartók)
Bartók was so utterly involved in Roma music that he never stopped working on it. Even when he was bedridden with his imminent leukemia diagnosis, Bartok still worked his Turkish and Rumanian materials. He edited his earliest studies of Rom music, persistent until the very end. Rom music was his absolute favorite thing to study because it was so fascinating to him (Demény 289).
There has been much debate, however, that other composers were as entranced by Roma as Béla Bartók so obviously was. For example, Johannes Brahms was said to have disliked Rumanian folk music. However, all of his Hungarian Dances, in addition to a few of his piano works, were based off of the verbunkos scale. Even earlier than this, it is proven that Mozart’s Violin Concerto in A Major, Beethoven’s König Stephan, and Haydn and Weber’s Hungarian rondos are also all written in the verbunkos style. (Verbunkos)
Other interpretations of Rom music are much more improper and perhaps even a bit inauthentic. Nonetheless, gypsy punk bands have carried themselves off as Rom interpreters, giving a whole new meaning and genre to the modern punk movement. One band, called Gogol Bordello, is not exactly authentic, but they use authentic instruments and add in modern instruments that one would see in a punk- or ska-rock band. Their lyrics really have nothing to do with Roma culture, but sometimes demonstrated in their songs are the stereotypical thoughts that one would have of gypsies, such as heavy drinking and loud, primitive-sounding whoops and jeers. According to lead singer Eugene Hutz, “I invented the term ‘gypsy punk,’ mostly to stop music journalists come up with a worse one” (Porter).
“Made up of immigrants and refugees in Russia, the Ukraine and Israel, the members converged in New York four years ago with a mission to make a new kind of rock ‘n’ roll that reflected their struggles and peripatetic heritage” (Sisario). It is not to say, however, that this band has nothing to do with gypsy music in the slightest. Their sound is very Eastern European, and Hutz has been studying the klezmer and other Eastern European sounds for at least ten years. Its lyrics, even though about stereotypical gypsy ways, sometimes go into things such as the Soviet border police, almost going into a Mexican-mixed-with-Russian sound.
Another “gypsy punk” band, called Golem, who do not particularly associate themselves with the same label as Hutz might, use the slogan, “Where Eastern Europe Meets the Lower East Side.” However, this band is a little more authentic than Gogol Bordello, actually singing real Yiddish songs that would be sung from the caravans of Roma, with a modern flare to it. An extremely eccentric band, lead singer and founder Annette Ezekiel says, “We don’t change the music. It’s just more in our attitude. We wear sexy clothes, we scream and yell and we jump around” (Shattuck). On their album Homesick Songs, Golem actually represents folk songs from each of the areas of Eastern Europe, including Odessa, Bialystok, and Rumenye -that is, Romania.
Though in modern day the Roma people have dwindled to practically nothing, there is still a following that indirectly supports Rom music, whether it is through classical music or new Russian klezmer music. By the help of Johannes Brahms, Béla Bartók, Gogol Bordello, Golem, and many other composers and bands, the spirit of Rom music has been kept alive, even if by artificial means.
Works Cited
Bartók, Béla. Béla Bartók Letters. Ed. János Demény. Budapest: Faber and Faber Ltd., London and Corvina Press, 1971.
Bartók, Béla. Rumanian Folk Music, Volume I: Instrumental Melodies. Ed. Benjamin Suchoff. Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1967.
Lewy, Guenter. The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Miller, Terry E. and Andrew Shahriari. World Music: A Global Journey. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009.
Okely, Judith. The Traveller-Gypsies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Porter, Hugh. “Immigrant Punk: Eugene Hutz.” Gogolbordello.com, Time Magazine 11 Oct. 2008. 18 Apr. 2009. .
Shattuck, Kathryn. “Here Strides the Bride: Catskills Kitsch in Manhattan.” The New York Times 11 June 2005. 19 Apr 2009. .
Silverman, Carol. “Rom (Gypsy) Music.” The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: “Europe”. 2000.
Sisario, Ben. “MUSIC; ‘Gypsy Punk Cabaret,’ a Multinational.” The New York Times 14 Apr 2002. 18 Apr. 2009. .
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Germany, 1933-1939.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. .
The “Verbunkos”: The National Music Style of the Nineteenth Century. 18 Apr 2009. < http://mek.niif.hu/02100/02172/html/6.html>.