“Gypsy Music” and Deejays: Orientalism, Balkanism, and Romani Musicians

Abstract

In the current wave of successful “Gypsy music” in the West, Romani bands Taraf de Haïdouks and Fanfare Ciocărlia present themselves as “authentic” Gypsy musicians. In Germany, Shantel's latest album proclaims a Gypsy theme, but without Romani musicians. With or without Romanis, “Gypsy” means “exotic” in these musical exports.

Gypsy/Klezmer Dialectics: Jewish and Romani Traces and Erasures in Contemporary European World Music

“…The attraction of the exotic in world music has been noted by numerous scholars (Taylor 1997). Roma are a prime example of this phenomenon, iconically pictured as sexual, eastern, passionate, genetically musical and defiant of rules and regulations (Szeman 2009). European narratives of Jewish outsiderness and itinerancy also make Jews as 'just exotic enough' (Kaminsky 2014) to be granted affinity with Roma as local Others.…”

Performing the 'New' Europe

“…The popularity of Gypsy music performances in the West has resulted in a range of events that take place across continents, from large international festivals featuring Romani bands from the Balkans, to 'Gypsy nights' in clubs where audiences sport Gypsy costumes. Western DJs such as Shantel and Gypsy Sound System, and Western bands such as Beirut and Balkan Beat Box, feature or sample music from South East Europe (see Silverman, 2007;Szeman, 2009). The international festival scene encourages broad distinctions and divisions between Roma and non-Roma, mostly falling along Romani/Balkan and non-Romani/Western lines.…”

“…Ethnic music -the sound of brass instruments and other popular music identified in the commercial scene as Gypsy or Balkan 6 -is redeployed at the ESC as national folklore, without directly referencing Roma and without Romani artists. In the Western context of the success of Gypsy music, Roma remain hidden in plain sight, and, as Gypsies, function as projective mechanisms -a way of reaching the wild, passionate, and unpredictable place that the Balkans are supposed to be (Szeman, 2009).…”

“…In the commercial music scene, the Gypsy element is considered marketable and is thus sought after, and the presence of Romani musicians is desired as a sign of authenticity (see Szeman, 2009). The ESC represents an opportunity for the smaller countries of East Central Europe and the Balkans to assert and represent themselves against the more powerful Western nations.…”

“…These identifications do not correspond to how the music is seen locally. Music played by and for Roma and national folklore in Romania, which locally is seen to exclude Roma, can be found advertised as Gypsy music in the West (see Szeman, 2009 reputation of the ESC's most successful country needs detailed analysis since the argument put forward here is that Eurovision success in the popular cultural medium of TV is bound up with a wider political strategy of hinging national reputation on cultural prowess, in the absence of heretofore economic markers of success. Ireland's small size, population, and location on the western periphery of Europe, away from the political centre of Brussels, always sought allegiance with its massive diasporic outreach community, particularly in the US.…”