Gypsy/ Sinti&Roma culture
April 13, 2017 4:53 AM Subscribe
I just read "up in the old Hotel" by Joseph Mitchell and I found the two features in it about gypsies in the New York of the 30's very interesting. Do you know of any more works of fiction or non-fiction that feature this culture in a somewhat central way? I don't care if it's romanticized, realistic, fantasy, blog or whatever. Maybe not about Nazi persecution.
Off the top of my head I can recall three instances I found interesting:
1. The Edema Ru in the Kingkiller Chronicles, a fantasy version of gypsies as wandering storytellers
2. "Snatch" with Brad Pitt as a gypsy bare knuckle fighter
3. "The new gypsies" by Iain McKell, a photo book about: "Unrelated to the Roma people, many of these folks have lived in caravans pulled by horses since the 1980s, inspired by the anarchic and punk ethos that flourished in England at that time. In his recent book, "The New Gypsies," veteran photographer Iain McKell presents a beautiful series of photographs documenting this ragtag community."
1. The Edema Ru in the Kingkiller Chronicles, a fantasy version of gypsies as wandering storytellers
2. "Snatch" with Brad Pitt as a gypsy bare knuckle fighter
3. "The new gypsies" by Iain McKell, a photo book about: "Unrelated to the Roma people, many of these folks have lived in caravans pulled by horses since the 1980s, inspired by the anarchic and punk ethos that flourished in England at that time. In his recent book, "The New Gypsies," veteran photographer Iain McKell presents a beautiful series of photographs documenting this ragtag community."
American Gypsy, by Oksana Marafioti, is really a good memoir so I don't know why I didn't mention it first.
posted by BibiRose at 5:21 AM on April 13, 2017
posted by BibiRose at 5:21 AM on April 13, 2017
The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies does this quite wonderfully, I think. It's set in NYC and one of the protagonists is Roma and struggles with old world vs new world throughout. Davies is very affectionate in his treatment of the family dynamics and unique profession that the family adopted upon arriving in NYC.
posted by nkknkk at 5:55 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by nkknkk at 5:55 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca is a great non-fiction resource. It does include Nazi persecution (and all other persecutions of the Roma) but it is a very good book.
posted by lydhre at 5:56 AM on April 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by lydhre at 5:56 AM on April 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
Start with We Are the Romani People, then go to Bury Me Standing. The Diddakoi (a.k.a. Gypsy Girl) is a YA novel that is very much of its time (early 1970s), but is pretty good.
Some Rom find American Gypsy to be incredibly offensive; I found it to be a pretty amusing memoir with some eye-rolly moments.
posted by Etrigan at 6:18 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
Some Rom find American Gypsy to be incredibly offensive; I found it to be a pretty amusing memoir with some eye-rolly moments.
posted by Etrigan at 6:18 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
Into the West, sometimes catalogued with juvenile
movies in my library system, is about Irish Traveler children and a magic horse.
posted by Botanizer at 6:48 AM on April 13, 2017
movies in my library system, is about Irish Traveler children and a magic horse.
posted by Botanizer at 6:48 AM on April 13, 2017
Travellers are most likely not Rom, just for the record.
posted by Etrigan at 7:00 AM on April 13, 2017
posted by Etrigan at 7:00 AM on April 13, 2017
Latcho Drom ("safe journey") is a 1993 French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music. -- Wikipedia
This is not in English, but it is a beautiful film, filled with music and dance and exploration of the Romany culture.
posted by TrishaU at 7:07 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
This is not in English, but it is a beautiful film, filled with music and dance and exploration of the Romany culture.
posted by TrishaU at 7:07 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
Angelo My Love (indy feature film from 1983 dir. Robert Duvall) is specifically about NYC Roma and employed Romani actors.
posted by flourpot at 7:19 AM on April 13, 2017
posted by flourpot at 7:19 AM on April 13, 2017
Toni Gatlif is a French director of Romani-Algerian origin; most of his films are centered around Roma/ Roma issues. I've only seen Gadjo Dilo (Crazy Stranger - Youtube link with Autotranslate in English, but I recommend trying to get a proper translation, otherwise you loose a lot of what is wonderful about the film = it's in 3 languages: Romani, Romanian, French, maybe even some Hungarian, I don't remember). Great film, though be warned, there is some really shocking violence.
Another one I've half-seen is Latcho Drom (Wikipedia), a sort of romanticized documentary/ series of vignettes trailing Roma from several continents. Both films have great music; Latcho Drom particularly relies heavily on it (hardly any dialogue) and the soundtrack was at some point available in world music sections and contributed to the career of Taraf de Haïdouks (if you're into their music, you can also search for Lăutarii din Clejani).
Not a great film at all, but here's a link to The Man Who Cried with Johnny Depp as a Romani romantic figure. Also features Taraf de Haïdouks.
Gypsies are Found Near Heaven is a film I absolutelly loved as a child. It's based on a short story by Maxim Gorky. It has every Roma-related cliche you can imagine, but when I was a kid I loved that - I'd just been told that my grandad was part-Roma (it was said dispargingly and to this day I do not know if this is actually true) and I remember thinking 'Hey, I can get on board with that!' after seeing the film. Also love the soundtrack to this.
If you want more music as a background to your reading, Ando Drom and Kalyi Jag are my favourites. I particularly love Pundela and Mori Shey, Sabina.
ROMBASE is a good resource on Roma, though not fiction, I don't think.
posted by miorita at 7:21 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Another one I've half-seen is Latcho Drom (Wikipedia), a sort of romanticized documentary/ series of vignettes trailing Roma from several continents. Both films have great music; Latcho Drom particularly relies heavily on it (hardly any dialogue) and the soundtrack was at some point available in world music sections and contributed to the career of Taraf de Haïdouks (if you're into their music, you can also search for Lăutarii din Clejani).
Not a great film at all, but here's a link to The Man Who Cried with Johnny Depp as a Romani romantic figure. Also features Taraf de Haïdouks.
Gypsies are Found Near Heaven is a film I absolutelly loved as a child. It's based on a short story by Maxim Gorky. It has every Roma-related cliche you can imagine, but when I was a kid I loved that - I'd just been told that my grandad was part-Roma (it was said dispargingly and to this day I do not know if this is actually true) and I remember thinking 'Hey, I can get on board with that!' after seeing the film. Also love the soundtrack to this.
If you want more music as a background to your reading, Ando Drom and Kalyi Jag are my favourites. I particularly love Pundela and Mori Shey, Sabina.
ROMBASE is a good resource on Roma, though not fiction, I don't think.
posted by miorita at 7:21 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Latcho Drom is wonderful and Bury Me Standing is very evocative. I found Gadjo Dilo very hard to watch but the music is great. Jaqueline Winspear writes lady detective novels set in the early 1900s and one of them features the Roma fairly centrally. I winced going into it (because it's pretty easy to use Roma casually as stereotype characters and it's rarely done well) but I thought it was pretty good. Book is called An Incomplete Revenge. Similarly Deanna Raybourn has a mystery series The Lady Julia Grey series where the lead male character is part Roma and this figures strongly into the story (more in the second and third books). The book Gypsies: The Hidden Americans is an interesting look into one specific culture (you can read the Amazon reviews to get some critiques) of Roma in California.
posted by jessamyn at 7:27 AM on April 13, 2017
posted by jessamyn at 7:27 AM on April 13, 2017
Oh, also Emir Kusturica has a couple of films that center on Roma life; the one I've seen is Time of the Gypsies, which also has a wonderful soundtrack and this famous scene. Also check out Black Cat, White Cat (haven't seen it).
Aferim is another one - pretty brutal, apparently (I haven't seen this one, either), but good.
posted by miorita at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2017
Aferim is another one - pretty brutal, apparently (I haven't seen this one, either), but good.
posted by miorita at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2017
The 1983 film Angelo, My Love is available to watch on Youtube. Produced by actor Robert Duvall using Rom non-actors he knew from his Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York, the stories were developed by the actors themselves and are a pretty good depiction of the same NYC Kalderash Roma families that Joseph Mitchell wrote about.
Romani people seem to be an ethnic group that film and TV stubbornly feels free to stereotype and exaggerate. They are depicted as either magical (Emil Kusturica,) exotic 'others' (the films of Tony Gatlif, such as Lacho Drom - Slovak Roma do not live in trees!) criminal (Snatch) or erotic/romantic ("The Man Who Cried") Romani people are gradually entering the media market to produce their own stories: for example Mundi Romani TV.
posted by zaelic at 2:34 AM on April 14, 2017
Romani people seem to be an ethnic group that film and TV stubbornly feels free to stereotype and exaggerate. They are depicted as either magical (Emil Kusturica,) exotic 'others' (the films of Tony Gatlif, such as Lacho Drom - Slovak Roma do not live in trees!) criminal (Snatch) or erotic/romantic ("The Man Who Cried") Romani people are gradually entering the media market to produce their own stories: for example Mundi Romani TV.
posted by zaelic at 2:34 AM on April 14, 2017
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posted by BibiRose at 5:01 AM on April 13, 2017