We're very excited here at The Gypsy Trail. Our small library of Romani music is slowly growing and feels slightly more complete with the arrival of two CDs we ordered late last year. Here's Luck to a Man & My Father's The King of the Gypsies are both really intriguing collections of Gypsy music from England. Much of the material are field recordings from open campfires and pubs (made during the 1960s and 70s by Mike Yates), and are quite sparse; often stripped of musical accompaniment.The most dramatic difference between these songs and those found in continental Europe is (alas) the lack of Romani vocabulary and their similarity to and/or blatant emulation of British and Irish balladry. Perhaps the geography of the British Isles is responsible, but this seems to be because of the more frequent and close proximity in which Gypsies found themselves with other British travelling folk. Thus, colloquial and (a type of) broken English dominates.The songs are important and fascinating, and contribute greatly to our growing picture of Romani history. They're cheeky, tragic, scary, fun and joyous. The Smith Family (Phoebe, Jasper, Levi, Minty & Wiggy) feature heavily, as does Mary Anne Haynes. Tune into 106.9 2VoxFM on Mondays at 5PM to hear some of them! Or you can find out more about them at http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/luck.htm and http://www.mustrad.org.uk/vop/661.htm.
Thankfully, even a cursory surf of the net reveals that the Romani language has not been lost in Britain, though its lack of presence in recordings (such as the aforementioned) does indicate an irregular usage. The University of Manchester has started a project to record and sustain the anglo-romani language, and welcomes contributions and participation. Check it out at http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/. There's a particularly interesting documentary The Roma - Fact & Fiction you can watch in the 'downloads' section.
Unfortunately, what also stands out like a sore thumb, both from this video and other items on the net, is the continued persecution of Romani people and travellers in Britain. Gypsy children are still bullied at school, and families are evicted from their caravan sites by local councils. The ignorance of the general population in connection to such minority groups is also astounding. You can watch an amateur documentary about one of these evictions on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJYze2FQzr4&feature=related, but be warned - it's disturbing and disheartening. Is this the 21st Century or the Dark Ages?
