|
|
 |
Global Hits
|
| Click Here to go back. |
The World, Global Hits >>
Gypsies have historically suffered discrimination and persecution throughout Europe, more so since the fall of Communism.
Still, gypsies cling to their identity and customs.
In today's Global Hit, The World's Marco Werman tells us about one gypsy whose music evokes the soul of his people.
Olah Vince's brass Iberian takes on Gypsy music. He's playing with his ensemble, the Earth-Wheel-Sky Band. They also take gypsy melodies from northern India and improvise on those.
Olah Vince has heard Gypsy music his entire life. He is gypsy, or Roma.
Vince was born in Novi Sad in Serbia. He grew up there.
He's seen the Roma denied rights that other citizens take for granted.
Vince: To be a gypsy in this moment is very difficult.
That's Olah Vince on a mobile phone from a small village outside Novi Sad. He says the fight for human and civil rights begins with Roma understanding who they are.
Vince: We are Roma, and this is one people, and this is maybe something we want to say to Europe, to accept us just like we are.
Roma originally came to Europe from Rajasthan in northwest India.
You probably wouldn't guess that based solely on this guitar solo. But this also represents gypsy music for Olah Vince.
There were several gypsy migrations from Rajasthan to Europe. Experts believe it started before 1000 AD. The waves of migration have led to gypsy sub-cultures across Europe, from the Balkans to Barcelona.
But forces have tried to eliminate the Roma and their culture. Some historians estimate, that during World War 2, the Nazis exterminated half a million gypsies.
More recently, prejudice against gypsies in Kosovo after the war there forced many to flee. Today, less than ten percent of the original 150,000 Roma population remains in Kosovo.
And then there's simmering Gypsy discrimination you find all over Europe.
These days Olah Vince considers himself a gypsy activist. He works through music. But not only music. He is trying to launch an all gypsy radio station in Novi Sad, although he says there have been financial obstacles.
Vince: This is expensive to build one radio station. And here the whole Roma community is very poor. Government does not want to finance a radio station for Roma people in my town.
So without government financing for his Roma radio station, and with no money from the Roma community itself, Olah Vince relies increasingly on his music to assert gypsy identity.
His current CD "Waltz Rromano." It's doing well on the world music charts in France and Spain. But in Serbia, says Olah Vince, only the gypsies are listening.
For The World, I'm Marco Werman.
04/01/04 >> go there
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
