“Gypsy” Jazz singer Tatiana Eva-Marie talks with Quail Bell Magazine

“I want my audience to feel that they are constantly traveling with their ears.” –Tatiana Eva-Marie

Read the interview “Tatiana Eva-Marie on the harmonious fusion of Romani ‘Gypsy’ music” in Quail Bell Magazine and find out what she has to say about Romani music and representation, how her multicultural heritage shapes her art, growing up in theatres and concert halls all over Europe, the Music Explorer competition/documentary (click the heart to vote for her!), and her life in the Avalon Jazz Band in New York City. You can also listen to some beautiful songs from the competition.

JR: How do you think the Romani arts scene can support the fight for Romani rights and representation?

TEM: By showing an open and generous culture, not magical creatures, not chicken thieves, but real people. I suppose it is somewhat natural to be afraid of foreign things, but in the age of internet and communication there can be no excuse for that anymore. We are all so mixed now and most people can trace their heritage back to more than one country. We should all embrace our differences and be proud of our origins. We should try and educate the people around us, share our knowledge with each other. Art is a wonderful way of doing that and has always been a bridge between people.

Opre Roma! Find out more at http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/the-real/interview-jazz-singer-tatiana-eva-marie

Tatiana Eva-Marie singing with the Avalon Jazz Band

Blog 10: a free for all poem about some aspect of Romani culture (aka: the research poem) (aka: the wild card poem)

For the last poem in our series, you will write a poem inspired by any aspect of Romani culture that you wish. For this, you need to do some research. Pick an aspect of Romani culture that you’re curious about, like rituals, human rights, language, music, dance, history, beliefs, taboos, idioms, celebrations, Romani icons, spirituality, famous Roma, folklore, folk medicine, cuisine, fashion, etc… whatever you fancy. Some good places to start are ROMBASE  , Patrin, RADOC, The Gypsy Chronicles, and the Romedia Foundation. Also, your coursebooks We are the Romani people and Roads of the Roma will be helpful too. Then, write 300 words or more about the topic you chose, citing your (trustworthy) source, and explain what you want to achieve in your poem.

Here are some more specific examples for inspiration

Romani music

an article on Hungarian Romani music on ROMBASE

Esma Redzepova, one of the most famous Romani singers in Europe, singing Dzelem Dzelem, the Romani anthem, written to commemorate those who died in the Holocaust (O Porrajmos), and for International Roma Day, celebrated April 8th.

Balkanarama— a short list of Romani singers and musicians

 The Avalon Jazz band, Gypsy-style Parisian jazz

Bireli Lagrene, The Gipsy Project, “Minor Swing”

The Gypsy Kings, “Djobi Djoba”

Famous Roma

Papusza, the mother of Romani poetry

Matéo Maximoff,  Romani writer

Katarzyna Pollok, Romani artist

We are the Romani people has a good list of famous Roma

Romani spirituality

Romani (“Gypsy”) Religion by Dr. Ian Hancock

Patrin– Romani beliefs

Rom-facts– Roma Culture: an introduction

The Romani Goddess Kali Sara by Ronald Lee

Romani Fashion

Interview with Erika Varga of Romani Design

“Romani Fashion and the Politics of Dressing ‘Gypsy'” in Quail Bell Magazine

 

And on and on….

 

The Romani flag

“Ederlezi”–song, “surrealist translation,” and festival

Today in class we listened to the song “Ederlezi” performed by Tatiana Eva-Marie (of mixed Romani heritage–like me) with the Haimana Gipsy Band in Paris. Since we’ve been doing Surrealist Word Games as invention exercises for our poetry, I thought the Surrealist Translation would be perfect. What you do is you listen to a song or poem in a language you do not speak and imagine that you know what the words mean. You can base your imagination on sound, association, or feeling– the goal is to create a song with new lyrics and it’s ok (nay, encouraged) if they don’t make sense. So if you don’t speak Rromanes, this would be a good one for you. Post your translations in your blog if you’re in the class or as a comment if you’re a reader.

After you’ve done that, you can read about Ederlezi on the Romedia Foundation blog and listen to other versions of the song. It’s very interesting!

Learning songs is a good way to learn another language because you know how the words are pronounced and you develop strong associations with the words. I’m learning to speak Rromanes since the language was lost in my family when Roma were persecuted in WWII. I’ve been learning this song and I really love it– it’s embarrassing to admit how many times I’ve listened to Eva-Marie’s rendition. Too many times. Like a crazy person.