Romani culture takes the spotlight at the French Institute
A true cultural event amid political amnesia in Sofia, Bulgaria
In a few days, we will reach the two-month mark since the demolition of my partner Pepi’s Romani quarter. Around 30 people are still living in tents among the ruins. After the heavy spring rains, they are now suffering in the dry heat. The only place to get shade is inside the tents but temperatures inside rise to 40°C (104°F). A few weeks ago the municipality took away the portable toilets, and in the 2 months after the demolition, there have been cases of strokes, pneumonia and other illnesses, including rashes, bruises, and injuries of the children because of the ruins.
“They are being made an example of,” a dear friend and activist said. “So that when other quarters are demolished, the people don’t protest.”
Racist sentiment and remarks skyrocketed after the demolition. Threats of violence, counter-protests against the Roma, politicians filing official reports with the sole purpose to mock. Complete abdication by politicians, institutions, and society. In the Facebook group of the neighborhood, there are constant posts calling for violence against the homeless families and lamenting how “Hitler did not finish the job.”
And in this climate of hatred, came something very unexpected.
“The Roma of Europe, the heart of the Balkans”
Cultural events and projects are always great, but this week-long event by the French Institute in Bulgaria was especially great. There is a dose of courage and integrity to shine the spotlight on the Roma in a moment when the racism against them has rushed to the surface in waves and waves. But what made this stand out in my mind and heart was that the focus was not on how to integrate the Roma, how to make them fit into our idea of a structured society, how to impose our values on them while disregarding theirs - which is what most conversations around “integration” inevitably boil down to.
The focus was Romani culture, Romani history, Romani identity, Romani art, music, and movies.
A masterclass in how to recognize and celebrate culture; and how to open spaces that politics denies.
Favorite moments and quotes
There were many things to take away from the round-table discussions, movie showings, and concert - here, I will share my top picks.
“The Prom” - a slice-of-life movie
The event opened with the movie “The Prom”, part one of a seven-part docu-series filmed in the Romani neighborhood in Sliven, Bulgaria over the course of 15 years. Film-maker and sociolinguist Cécil Canut captured the atmosphere so well that watching the movie felt like I was among Pepi’s relatives. The slow burn of big celebrations, the dancing, the conversations - so much that evades words but was portrayed beautifully and authentically in the movie.
My favorite scene was a celebratory procession taking place outdoors but it was filmed inside a house, seen in snippets through the lace curtain of a window, the drums of the orchestra creating a soft but powerful bass in the room. It reminded me of something Pepi said when we were discussing the role of the Romani orchestra in celebrations. “The goal is announce. Everyone hears about it - whether it is a wedding, a new child. Even the Gods hear it.”
“We are one.”
In the Q&A after the movie, one of the questions asked to Stefka (the young woman whose prom was filmed and portrayed) was why Romani celebrations happen out in the streets.
Her answer started with one sentence that I hear all the time in Pepi’s tribe. “We are one.”
Then she continued, “when something happens in one house, it happens in the next house, it happens to all of us.” It was a beautiful way to explain something that comes so naturally in a Romani community: the unspoken gravitational pull.
Last year, one of Pepi’s nephews was beaten up. He arrived at a celebration several days later, still in bruises. He sat down at the table. Just from the sight of him, people started crying. The mood shifted almost imperceptibly. By that point the music had gotten very loud and there was not much conversation. One moment, laughter and dancing. The next moment, tears. “We are one,” one of the uncles said after a while, as a way to name and anchor this moment. That was the only sentence that was spoken that day about the nephew’s wounds.
“Romani music is central in Russian culture.”
Historian Tatiana Sirbu said this in the round-table discussion “The Roma in European history.” She explained how after the October Revolution, there was a vilification of the Roma and a rejection of Romani music in the USSR precisely because they were so closely linked to the Russian aristocracy, as if they were “one and the same.” This link was through the music. Russian aristocrats could not live without Romani music.
I found this amusing on a personal level because my mother is Russian, one of her grandfathers was an aristocrat, and she is very much disapproving, to put it mildly, of Romani culture. A few days I ago I told her how it was so interesting to learn about this link between Russian aristocracy and Romani music. “Oh yes,” she said. She even argued that that Romani music was admired in the USSR, too. But there is an important caveat which she rushed to mention. “The Romani music there is very different from the Romani music here.”
“Here,” meaning Bulgaria and the Balkans.
I find this absolutely fascinating when it comes to Romani music (and culture.) For most non-Roma, when it’s in proximity, it’s inferior. When it’s far enough, it’s beautiful. My mother grew up in Bulgaria, and here, the Balkan Romani style of music is deemed very wild and low-class. The vibrancy of the Russian Romani style is maybe just far enough - and worthy of aristocrats. The Spanish Romani style, too. Most any Romani style. Just not the one across the street from us.
This goes not just for music. It applies to clothes, interior design, jewelry, hairstyles. The difference in saying “this looks Bohemian” and “this looks Gypsy” is between heaven and Earth. And of course, there is the “I have a Gypsy soul” all-timer but this is never said with the actual Roma around us in mind.
Just as Tatiana Sirbu said “Romani music is central in Russian culture,” it is categorically true to any objective observer that Romani music is central to Balkan culture, too. Where there are Roma in the world (and by this I mean the wider term: Sinti, Kale, Manush, and all sub-groups and vitsas), culture is created, shaped, generated. Where there are Roma, culture is not left untouched.
But just as the Spanish struggled greatly to formally acknowledge the Romani origins of the Flamenco, everywhere else we also struggle greatly to acknowledge the Roma influence on our culture. Except maybe Russia.
“The Roma orchestra is with the family at every milestone.”
In a discussion about the role of the Roma band (or orchestra) at every celebration, why is it mandatory and why the Roma are willing to pay a lot for it, Romani activist, educator and anthropologist Ognyan Isaev said something poignant.
“The Roma orchestra is with the family at every milestone and they know each family member.”
This makes the celebration more personal, more authentic, and the link between the family and the orchestra is much more spiritual than a mere money-for-music transaction. I’ve experienced this first hand with the Roma orchestra that is at every celebration in Pepi’s tribe. I first met them when I was pregnant. Then they played for the celebration welcoming my daughter into the world. Then, when my daughter was two months old, at a birthday party, one of them stopped playing to say hello to me as I just arrived - and told me his wife is due to give birth in the next few days. The next time, my daughter was 7 months old and she tried playing with the instruments while the musicians were having a coffee before the start of the celebration.
Weddings, newborns, birthdays - they “beat the drums” for all of it.
“The Roma orchestra makes us temporarily untouchable.”
In the same discussion, Romani actress Nataliya Tzekova said that while the Roma don’t have formal physical spaces for Romani culture, the moments a Romani orchestra is playing create such spaces.
“The Roma orchestra makes us temporarily untouchable because when the musicians play people don’t hate us.”
That was a beautiful observation that took me by surprise. What I keep seeing is people complaining about Romani music and its loudness. A comment in the notoriously racist Facebook group complaining about Pepi’s tribe even made me laugh: “We have been subjected to countless weddings over the years!”
But Nataliya Tzekova has observed something deeper: when the music is performed live, when you hear and see the drums, you know you’re in the presence of something sacred. I for sure feel it every time I hear the drums, and Nataliya’s comment makes me hopeful that other non-Roma feel it too, regardless of what they say.
“You’re not allowed to stand.”
The second-to-last evening, Romani band Karandila and Romani singer Valentina performed several songs. As we were waiting for them, I was standing against the wall next to the seated area, along with a few other people. To quote one of them, “This is not music you sit down for.” But we were asked by the French Institute to sit down.
“You’re not allowed to stand,” we were told. It was a rule. Everyone had to be seated down.
Then the band started playing. It took two songs, not more than 10 minutes, for almost everyone to start dancing. The seated ones were the exception. You can watch a short video with snippets here.
Romani music is not music you sit down for. It’s music that brings you to life.
Cœur des Balkans: the heart of the Balkans
I love how the French institute chose to name this event. The Roma are the heart of the Balkans. A very denied truth but a truth nonetheless.
Pepi posted a video of Karandila band and Valentina performing Dželem Dželem to our TikTok page with a caption in Bulgarian: “Not only the Roma stand for the Romani hymn, other nations do it too.” The racist comments underneath were pure gold. “This is no hymn,” several of them said. “This is from a movie by Emir Kusturica. Create something of your own.”
Create something of your own.
They have and they do, dear racist. They haven’t stopped.
The Roma, the heart of the Balkans. Deep admirations to the French Institute for creating a space to see and recognize this vibrant and rich culture as most everyone else keeps insisting on erasing it.
When you mentioned Emir Kusturica, I immediately had to think of Goran Bregovic. He has always heavily borrowed from Romani music. While I think he has done so in a form of admiration, it is quite striking that Romani culture becomes chic or cool when somebody outside of the community presents it. I have as well been to a Bregovic concert and I wonder if the same people celebrating Goran would appreciate the exact same songs if they were performed only by Romani people.