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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
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WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Many ethnic groups or nations have names by which we know them, correct or incorrect, and names they themselves identify with. Such are the Roma, known universally as Gypsies or a variant such as the European Cygan. The slang "to gyp" probably originated as associated with the Roma. Actually, the Roma do not object to being called Gypsies – so long as it is not defamatory, of course.
The European Cygan is somewhat derogatory, due to its use or connotation. After all, a word or name is only what its usage suggests. It is interesting that Tito of Yugoslavia outlawed that word in favor of the native Roma. And now in more learned circles, Roma is being widely used. In English, the word gypsy (not capitalized) has taken on an additional meaning, suggesting wandering or travelling in entertainment. But when referring to the people, it should be capitalized, a second-best word to the preferred name Roma.
ROMANI HUMOR
1) Invited to a Romani friend's slava (saint's day celebration) coming up the following month, I asked a young lady I wanted to impress to accompany me. She accepted, and I told her about the customs, unusual but with great food, probably some music and dancing. We were dressed in our best and drove towards their house. When we got there it was on stilts, ready to be moved somewhere!
2) Being complimented on her excellent sarma (stuffed cabbage, very spicy), as being the best ever, the lady of the house agreed with, "Yes, most of the women use ordinary rice – I use Uncle Ben's."
3) Roma can be superstitious. When a man came into my store and asked for a few blank cassettes saying he wanted to record some Romani music, I said, "Oh, no! That would bring you bad luck; a man did just that and his wife ran away with a Kalderash (considered a lower-class tribe)." "In that case," he replied, "give me a box full!"
ROMANI MOVIES
There have been Romani movies since the days of the silents, starting with Carmen. Laurel and Hardy did one in 1936 titled The Bohemian Girl which is a riot of stereotyped hilarity. There was the drama Hot Blood and the romantic Golden Earrings with Ray Miland and Marlene Dietrich. King of the Gypsies (from a true Los Angeles story) had pipe-smoking Shelley Winters as the Romani Queen. These and more all had gajo (or gadjo, meaning non-Roma) actors. Then along came Angelo My Love with a nearly-all New York Romani cast, a good comedy, very well liked by the Roma themselves. Two parts of Romany Trail document the travels of the Roma from their original homeland (Western India), first to the Middle Est, then to Europe.
Special credit is due Tony Gatlif for his Romani trilogy. The first and most valuable was Latcho Drom (The Good Road), documenting in music and dance of the migration: highlighting Egypt (where the "Gypsies" erroneously got their name), Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, France, and ending with the flamenco in Spain.
The second movie was a comedy about a Gadjo Dilo (Crazy Stranger) set in Romania, good for Romanian/Roma comparison. But the leading actress is German, probably the Roma would have never allowed that one hilarious scene, by a Romni woman that is. The third film is Vengo, set in Spain. The brochure states: "Tale of passion, music, and revenge against a backdrop of rapturous flamenco music and dance and the blood lust of vengeance."
From Macedonia came Emir Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies, another comedy with serious and emotional moments among the Moslem Roma of Macedonia. A highlight is the St. George's day celebration on the water, and the moving background music.
This writer's favorite, from the mid-1960s, is the Beograd production of Skupljaca Perja (Feather Merchants) that played in the USA under the title I Even Met Happy Gypsies. An all-Roma cast, except where gajos were needed (like the police and judge). It was filmed in the rich Vojvodina area and Beograd. Seven languages are heard in this true-to-life depiction of the Roma. It won second place at the Cannes Festival.
A documentary was filmed in California and Washington a few years ago, American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everyone's Land, in which the writer participated and supplied the music. It features one of the prominent families, the Marks in Spokane, Washington, and gives a good insight to the contemporary American Roma. Another good documentary, filmed in Los Angeles in 1970, Gypsies; The Other Americans, illustrates the Romani life, events, customs, traditions, and lifestyle of the time.
Most of the films mentioned here are available on video.
Printed in Folk Dance Scene as "Rom Culture," August 2004