“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

“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.