| Music |
ANTONIO EL PIPA FLAMENCO ENSEMBLE from Andalucia, Spain, is one of the most traditional flamenco groups performing today. Born in Jerez, Antonio comes from a family dynasty of Gitano artists, among whom are his grandmother, the legendary Tía Juana la del Pipa (now deceased) and his aunt Juana la del Pipa, who dances in this group and sings with a gravelly voice that feels as raw as centuries of pain. Their 'Gypsy Passion' dance production brought Antonio and his aunt Juana accolades from critics in the USA and Europe, and they continue to perform around the world and to the toughest flamenco audiences - in Spain.
ESMA REDZEPOVA from Macedonia, has been performing for more than 40 years and is recognized globally as the musical "Queen of the Gypsies." Her impassioned voice easily reduces audiences to tears, and then gets them dancing in the aisles. Esma is accompanied acoustically by the accordion, clarinet, trumpet, tarabuka and double-bass. A glamourous diva by appearance, Esma has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her Rom-related political work. With her late husband she adopted 47 children and then trained them to earn a living with music. Her basement became home to a 24-hour Romani TV station reporting on everything from new Romani pop hits or community birthdays, to Macedonia's 5,000 Romani refugees from Kosovo.
FANFARE CIOCARLIA is an eleven-man brass and woodwind band that comes from the village of Zece Prajini, near the Romanian-Moldavian border. Their music combines Romanian, Gypsy and Turkish influences, even elements of klezmer. The group's three CDs have enjoyed huge success, and they have appeared on festival stages all over the world, as well as playing on film soundtracks for artists such as Goran Bregovic and Emir Kusturica. "We're one of the last, and we're the fastest of them all!" says the group's leader, Ioan Ivancea. Fanfare Ciocarlia truly deserves the title of the fastest and perhaps the craziest of the Romani brass bands.
MAHARAJA is a group which combines leading musician tribal castes from the desert of Rajasthan in northwest India. Maharaja has performed at hundreds of concerts worldwide and dazzled audiences with an energetic hybrid of Indian music, acrobatics and dance. Founded in 1995 (originally named 'Musafir'), this group gathers musicians, poets and shamans who in Rajasthan would not play together, but here create an exciting fusion of North Indian folk, classical, Arabic, sufi trance and crossover styles that create an eclectic aesthetic. On the first Gypsy Caravan tour, they discovered the richness of flamenco and have since begun a side project, Maharaja Flamenca, which performs on this tour with Antonio El Pipa.
TARAF DE HAÏDOUKS is a vibrant group of Romanian musicians whose repertoire includes Romanian wedding music, violin ballads and accompaniments to jazz, classical and rock. They have performed with Yehudi Menuhin and the Kronos Quartet, played a prominent part in Tony Gatliff's acclaimed film "Latcho Drom" and appeared alongside Johnny Depp in Sally Potter's "The Man Who Cried." On stage, 12 musicians deftly pass back and forth musical creations that appeal to a range of music lovers far beyond World Music and Fusion fans. But however strange their new found fame may seem to themselves, their music stays true to itself, keeping a strange "edge", an undefinable charm. It seems to be getting better with each concert and new album, and they elicit ever more praise from the press. The oldest lead violinist is 79, there are others in their 60s and 20s, playing cymbalum, accordion, flute and powerful lungs. When Taraf return to their home village, the economy is boosted because modest concert earnings allow them to put their children in school and buy a few local goods, which is enough to keep the village going until the next tour paycheck. Clejani is a Romani village of musicians who were once in constant demand for weddings, but dwindling tradition has taken its toll. Now international tours are the goal. Taraf de Haïdouks (literally "band of brigands") is probably the best known of Gypsy musicians today.
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