 
Like the Langa & Khan families in Rajasthan, Balkan gypsies show up at weddings and other festivities and guarantee a good time for the guests. While their economy is in no better shape now that we are for the moment past dictatorships in the region, the long heritage of "Balkanisation" has meant that ethnic minorities like gypsies have been regularly scape-goated in times of economic duress and are still marginalized in society. Though I prefer whole albums by an artist to compilations, this collection has some gems that will send you back to the artists' repertoire. Fanfare Ciocarlia's "Lume lume" is a musical masterpiece. There's a sustained horn vamp and an unearthly ladies chorus intoning liturgically over the top, with those wobbly trills you recognize from the Bulgarian Ladies Choir all those years ago. New to me is Esna Redzepova, crowned "Queen of the Gypsies" by no less than Indira Ghandi in 1976 when she won first place at the First World Festival of Romany Song in India. Esma began singing publicly as a child and now has been at it for 40 years, recording 600 songs and raising 47 children (not all her own offspring)! She has a high hoarse voice and a polished ensemble with accordion, trumpet, darbuka, clarinet, thumping bass and percussion. After a trip to Greece we get Italian gypsies in the shape of Taraf de Metropulitana. This group came together when gypsies who were busking in the Rome subway started running into one another and soon were a loose conglomeration of underground talents. This is a great track and appropriately has a big echo on it, like they were actually recorded in one of those long tiled subterranean hallways. There's cimbalom and accordion prominently, as well as clarinets and fiddles sawing away madly on the track "Espresso" from their album Next Stop Collosseo! --Alastair Johnston |
The
Rough Guide to Balkan Gypsies