In dark times, Khamoro celebrates a bright, rich Roma culture

Article by: Tony Ozuna Source: Prague Post

Khamoro Roma Festival on May 25-30 at Roxy, Reduta, Lucerna Music Bar and other venues Tickets: 250-460 Kč, available through Ticketstream and at the venues For more information, check www.khamoro.cz

Khamoro, Prague’s annual Roma music and culture festival, is now in its ninth year and stronger than ever. Starting Monday, this year’s edition presents six nights of first-rate Roma musicians from the Czech Republic and around Europe. The lineup includes both traditional groups and more contemporary bands offering refreshing new Roma sounds. There will also be documentary films, art exhibitions, dance workshops and a seminar titled “Roma Culture as a Part of European Culture.”

The music kicks off at Lucerna Music Bar Monday with !DelaDap, a “Nu Gypsy” group from Vienna, led by singer, DJ and producer of the group, Stani Vana, who was born in Prague. In fact, the idea for the band originated in Vani’s studio in Prague, initially as a trio. It’s now a seven-member multinational ensemble that includes fellow Czech vocalists Simona Senkiova and Kristina Gunarova, guitarist Aleksander Stojic from Serbia, accordionist Alen Dzambic from Bosnia, double-bassist Jovan Torbica from “The Balkans,” and violinist Pavel Shalman from Russia. !DelaDap plays a self-described “urban Gypsy sound,” meaning a rich mixture of contemporary ethno-pop, folk and urban sounds, rooted in traditional Gypsy music.

The following night, the Rosenburg Trio plays at Lucerna. These three cousins from the Netherlands are an acoustic trio (Nonnie on double-bass, Nous’che on rhythm guitar and Stochelo on solo guitar) that remarkably recalls the Gypsy jazz guitar wizardry of Django Reinhardt. So much so, in fact, that, when Stephane Grappelli – the eminent jazz violinist who played with Reinhardt for years – first saw the Rosenburg cousins, he invited them to play with him on a European tour, and ultimately to celebrate his 85th birthday at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

On Wednesday at Reduta, still another group strongly influenced by Django Reinhart: Basily Boys, a TV sensation from Holland featuring Zonzo, Noekie, Raklo and Morice, four young acoustic guitarists originally from the group Basily Gypsy Family. Together, the Rosenburg Trio and Basily Boys represent a special part of this year’s festival – Days of Dutch Roma, which also includes documentary film screenings and a photo exhibit at Kino Aero.

More typical Gypsy music starts at noon Thursday, with the traditional musicians’ parade that starts at Můstek and winds through Old Town, ending at Staroměstská. This annual boisterous horse-and-carriage extravaganza includes visiting Roma musicians playing Hungarian czardas on Balkan-sound trumpets, a warm-up for the evening program at Roxy, which features several larger groups: Acquaragia Drom, a traditional Gypsy wedding band from southern Italy; the high-octane Nadara Gypsy Wedding Band, Romanian Gypsies from Tirgu Mures, Transylvania; and headliners Šutka, a formidable Gypsy brass orchestra from the biggest Roma settlement in Europe, Šutka, Macedonia. The Balkan Gypsy brass sound is a sensually overwhelming combination of Turkish and Balkan rhythms and oriental solos that can make musicians and dancers alike frantic – so beware.

The Friday night bill at Roxy includes virtuoso violinist Marek Balog from Lucenec, Slovakia, and the Hungarian band Romengo, featuring soulful Gypsy singer Monika Lakatos. Also on the program are speed-demon accordionist Lelo Nika (from Serbia, though raised in Denmark) with his trio, and Russian diva Leonsia Erdenko, who leads an upbeat “new Gypsy music” group.

On Saturday night, all of the tribes gather for a gala finale at the Congress Centre. While not as intimate as Roxy or the other club venues, it offers plenty of room for a big crowd to sing and dance.

This is a difficult period for Roma throughout Eastern Europe, with unprovoked attacks and neo-fascist marches on the rise. Khamoro gives the Roma community a chance to present a united European front, and share the joys of its music with a wider audience. Particularly if you’ve never seen any of these bands before, it’s a cultural experience not to be missed.

Popularity: 31% [?]

by KADRİ KILIÇ
Source: Todays Zaman

Photo: Sedat Acil KAKAVA FESTIVITY - EDIRNE For centuries, the Anatolian people have been celebrating spring with a festival called "Hidrellez" or the "festivity of spring" on each May's 5th day. The gypsies in Edirne turn Hidrellez into a street carnival every year. They keep the Hidrellez tradition alive with their "Kakava festivities". The gypsies set the "Kakava Fire" alight in the Sarayici district of the northwestern province of Edirne. Accompanied by traditional gypsy music, people jump through the fire and dance to celebrate the Kakava festivities.

The Kakava Festival, a Balkan gypsy festival to celebrate the coming of summer, started in northwestern Edirne’s Sarayiçi Square on Tuesday.

Kakava festivities, which have been celebrated by the Roma community for centuries, have once again started in Edirne with Edirne Governor Mustafa Büyük, Mayor Hamdi Sedefçi and Garrison Commander Lt. Gen. Paşa Özen firing up the traditional Kakava bonfire. Although Kakava festivities are celebrated in the first week of May every year by the Roma community across Turkey, Edirne hosts the most spectacular celebrations every year.

Stating that Kakava festivities reflect Turkey’s colorful culture, Edirne Governor Büyük said they plan to expand it every year. Mayor Sedefçi said these festivities were celebrated in graveyards by the Roma people in the past, but now they have enabled them to celebrate the festival in Sarayiçi Square. A local Roma, Ferit Örs, said: “Today is our festival. It has been celebrated for centuries. It is a tradition handed down to us by our ancestors.” Stretching over two days, the festivities attract many from other cities in addition to the hundreds of Roma people coming to Edrine for festivities. The Roma celebrate the arrival of summer every year in this spot, with dancing and singing around the bonfire. Songs are sung, people dance and when the fire reaches a certain height, youths start to leap over it, a tradition thought to bring good luck and fortune for the coming year. Toward dawn in Kakava, the young girls all put on bridal gowns and head down to the banks of the Tunca River. The Roma pass across the bridge over the river accompanied by music and drums, wishing for good fortune. As the first light of dawn arrives, young Roma enter the waters of the river, trying to catch the bridal gowns left in the waters of the river for good fortune. The spring festival of Hıdrellez has been also welcomed in Anatolia. Shopkeepers in Bursa opened their shops early in the morning and gathered to celebrate the coming of summer.

Popularity: 18% [?]

THE Czech entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is an ethnic mix of fun and dance but no way is this going to take the top prize in Moscow.

Aven Romale is full of dance and movement but few ingredients of a melody which has enough European wide appeal other than in it own locale

Having said that Gipsy.cz has come a long way in the last three years and is considered as one of the most famous Czech music representatives. in their own country. Abroad the group has played at prestigious festivals and clubs in 15 countries from Glastonbury to Ljubljana..

The Romani rapper Radoslav has been performing since the age of 13;

Vojta Lavička, co-author of the project Gipsy.cz plays the violin and sings. The band is famous for its energetic live performances spiced with a good dose of distinct humour and self-irony.

Gipsy.cz significantly helped the mutual understanding and better communication between the minorities and the majority society. In 2007 Radoslav became the national ambassador of European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.

The popularity of the band on the international scene is also proven by its participation at the legendary festival in Glastonbury where it performed as the first ever Czech band. People also saw Gipsy.cz in the Netherlands – at the Dunya Festival in Rotterdam, the Mundial Festival in Tilburg and in the legendary Paradiso Hall in Amsterdam. The band also performed at the Couleur Café Festival in Brussels, at a festival on the Isle of Wight, the Pulse Festival in London and the Sziget Festival in Budapest. The unexpectedly enthusiastic reception brought the band twice to the World Music Festival in Ulsan, South Korea.

Music reviewers both at home and abroad have praised both their albums. The European journey of the most recent album Reprezent, started with the biggest Czech success when the group finished in third place in World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) last October. Reprezent took the overall 21st spot in the music charts out of 916 nominated albums.

The band’s albums are popular in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, Spain, Portugal, South Korea, etc. The songs from both albums are in many compilations dedicated to world music as well as Romani and modern music fusions.

The latest issue of the prestigious British magazine Songlines gave Reprezent all five stars, referring to it as Top of The World, and included the song Benga Beating in its sampler also called Benga Beating.

Lyrics – Aven Romale
They used to call me Gipsy, hello there
It means no problem to me, I don’t care
Till I’ve got microphone making you act
I love to be that gipsy rat

Word ain’t key to me
I can’t think that easily
If you keep that energy
Gipsy sounds like symphony

Hate me or love me, baby
Speed up from null to eighty
In next three seconds music turns you to slave it

Aven Romale / Come on Roma
If you really wanna understand, just sing it with me: ada dadadai…
Aven Romale
I can make you really sing like Gipsy: adadada adadada…
Aven Romale
If you really wanna understand, just sing it with me: ada dadadai…
Aven Romale
I can make you really feel like Gipsy
Music is the miracle, rhythm is the mirror, that’s right

It’s truth that Gipsies are just everywhere
It means no problem to me, I don’t care
Listen the song and free your frozen mind
And let the colours all behind

I can make you feel like
Gipsy, let colour behind
Free your Gipsy inside of your music soul to be like
And what a wonder
Truth
You got it inside
Aven Čech, Jágr, pivo /Come on, Čech, Jágr, beer
Come together once more

Aven Romale
Ma ker the šun man more / Now listen to me, man
Listen and don’t matter where you’re from
I’ll make you jump, say it
Aven Romale

Praha Brno Normale
Češí ví, my name is Gee / Czechs know, my name is Gee
So everybody rock with me, please
Aven Romale

Aven Romale
If you really wanna understand, just sing it with me: ada dadadai…
Aven Romale
I can make you really sing like Gipsy: adadada adadada…
Aven Romale
If you really wanna understand, just sing it with me: ada dadadai…
Aven Romale
I can make you really feel like Gipsy
Music is the miracle, rhythm is the mirror, that’s right

I feel something wrong
Made us separate the world on pieces
We got eyes and we still stay all so blind

Aven Romale
If you really wanna understand, just sing it with me: ada dadadai…
Aven Romale
I can make you really feel like Gipsy
Music is the miracle, rhythm is the mirror, that’s right

Popularity: 32% [?]