Serbia: Farewell to Šaban Bajramović, the Gypsy King of the Balkans

Šaban Bajramović, known as the “King of Gypsy music,” died on Sunday in Niš, his hometown in Southern Serbia of a heart attack. Here's a sample of what the blogosphere has been saying about him and his music.

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Music Review: Princes Amongst Men - Journeys With Gypsy Musicians

Written by Richard Marcus
Published May 17, 2008


It's now pretty much common knowledge that the people most of the world refers to as Gypsies originated in the northern part of India. When they began their western migration isn't exactly known, but it is known that from India they set out on a road that took them first to Egypt, then Turkey, and from there on into Europe. Even though they have spread throughout continental Europe as far west as the Iberian peninsula it is the East that most of us seem to identify as being where Gypsies live.

Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Balkan states that stretch from what was once Yugoslavia down to Greece are the primary countries associated with Gypsies. Roma, as they call themselves, have become part of their cultural fabric. This is especially true in Hungary and Romania, where the folk music of these countries is now irrevocably linked to Gypsy music. This hasn't stopped them from being treated like second class, or even third class citizens in the years since World War Two.

Despised by a great deal of the general population, and denigrated as thieves, only Jews have a longer history in Eastern Europe of being ostracized and persecuted and both have suffered horribly for it. Yet somehow they have managed to survive. From the persecutions of the Inquisition to the Death Camps of the Nazis, and the intolerance of repressive Communist regimes, the Gypsies have been marginalized almost since they set foot in Eastern Europe. Living within their own communities and following their own traditions, the only bridge that has been built between them and the rest of the world has been their music.

Garth Cartwright is from New Zealand but like so many other people fell in love with the romantic side of Gypsy life. It was that infatuation that brought him to the Balkans in 1991 to begin the travelling that would end up becoming the basis for his book Princes Amongst Men - Journeys With Gypsy Musicians.

The book recounted his meetings with the men and women who performed Gypsy music in the Balkans, specifically Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. He chose those four countries for their "deep reservoirs of Gypsy music" and because their proximity allowed him to travel back and forth between the four countries with ease.

The book has been translated into a number of European languages, and is distributed by the Asphalt Tango record label in Germany, who specialize in the production and distribution of Gypsy music from Eastern Europe and Russia. So it's not surprising that they have just released a companion CD for the book.

Princes Amongst Men features the music of some of the best known performers from the four countries that Cartwright travelled through, performers that he spent time with and came to know personally.

While bands like Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia have achieved some name recognition in Western Europe and North America through touring and appearances in movies, (Taraf de Haidouks appeared alongside Johnny Depp in The Man Who Cried and he has become one of their biggest champions in the West), others on the disc won't be as well known to audiences outside of their own countries.

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Gypsies to be the focus of diaspora festival

India World News

New Delhi, Jan 4 - When an Indian scholar went to study the Romas or gypsies in Kosovo in Serbia in summer 2007, his hosts had a special term for him - Purano Manush or ancient person.

The term referred not to the age of the scholar, but the Roma's recognition of their ancestral links to India. It is therefore fitting that when India gets ready for its annual jamboree to celebrate the achievements of the Indian diaspora next week, the journey of perhaps, the oldest group of them all, will be the focus of a cultural festival on the sidelines of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Jan 8-9.

For the second consecutive year, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts is organizing a diaspora festival with Romas as the thematic focus. Nearly 60 artists and scholars from all over and outside the country to discuss are expected to attend the festival from 10 to 12 February.

Among the highlights will be performances by three Roma dancers, including Czech Simona Jovic, who has performed her repetoire of gypsy dances from Turkey, Iran, Romania and even the Kalbeliya dance of Rajasthan in cities around the world.

Besides, there will also be a lecture demonstration on Indian roots of Spanish-gypsy dance of Flamenco. There will be a photo-exhibition on the journey of the gypsies from India to Europe and beyond, as well as screening of three films.

With over 15 million people, Romas constitute the largest ethnic minority, albeit largely invisible in Europe. Their links to India were first recognised in 18th century and are now thoroughly documented through linguistic and genetic studies.

Their long journey started from northwestern India in the 10th century and there is historical evidence of their presence in Byzantine Empire. Their first footprint in Europe was recorded at Kosovo in the early 14th century.

Through the centuries, they were always treated as outsiders dabbling in the black arts, with contemporary literature documenting their presence on the outskirts of human habitation, literally and metaphorically. 'They were treated as dirt, discriminated on the basis of their traditions and the colour of their skin,' said IGNCA diaspora project, consultant Suresh Pillai.

Over the centuries, European countries have enacted laws that specifically targeted gypsies, restricting their right to residence and livelihood. By the time of World War II, their marginalisation from society was so extreme, that the targeted killing of about two million gypsies by the German nazis during the holocausts was not acknowledged by historians, till several decades later.

Modern India reconnected with 1971 at the First World Romani Congress in London, which adopted a flag, anthem, motto and decided that 'Roma' would be the correct term of their people. Interestingly, the Roma flag has the ashok chakra imposed on a background of blue and green. At the first international Roma festival, held in Chandigarh on 1976, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had supported their demand for Roma to be recognized as national minority of Indian origin.

'The Romas do not want want PIO cards, but they would like their culture should be recognized as originally from India,' said Pillai, who lamented that there were only a handful of Indian linguists who knew the Romany language.


(c) Indo-Asian News Service

Assaulted Roma boy awarded compensation

29 August 2007

Niš Municipal Court has awarded Dragiša Ajdarević compensation for the pain he suffered during an attack in April 2000.

The court ruling instructed Oliver Marković and Nataša Stojanović to pay 150,000 RSD (EUR 1,875) each to Ajdarević as compensation for mental and physical pain he suffered when a group of the so-called skinheads attacked him in 2000.

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a compensation lawsuit on behalf of the victim on March 7, 2006.

The HLC said in a statement today that it will appeal against the ruling on the grounds that the amount Ajdarević had been awarded was insufficient and did not constitute compensation for the pain he had suffered as a victim of a serious racist incident.

On the night of April 8, 2000, Ajdarević, a fifteen-year-old boy at the time, was on his way back from a store with his friend Miloš Stamenković, when he was confronted by a group of young skinheads in Niš.

As they were passing by, one of the group asked him out loud: “Hey, you! Are you a Gypsy?” Soon after, the entire group surrounded Ajdarević and started punching and kicking him in the head and all over his body.

A girl from the group, later identified as Nataša Stojanović, threw an empty bottle at Dragiša but missed him because he ducked. After beating him, the skinheads tore off his jacket and his T-shirt, leaving him half naked. Also, they shouted insults at him saying: “Gypsy, what are you doing in Serbia?”

In the meantime, Dragiša’s friend had fled the scene and informed his father, Nebojša Ajdarević, of the incident. He quickly came to the store together with his wife and daughter and found Dragiša lying on the ground.

At that moment one of the attackers shouted: “Hey, Gypsies, what are you doing here? This is not your country!”, and proceeded to attack Nebojša Ajdarević as well. However, he fought back and they ran away.

Report: Serbia`s Gypsies have few rights

Dec 12, 2006, 16:35 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (UPI) -- Nearly half of Gypsies living in Serbia do not enjoy the rights to education, employment and healthcare, a minority rights official said Tuesday.

A recent survey among a group of 36,000 Gypsies, showed 46 percent of them could not register their residence addresses as they live in cardboard shanties, often without water or electricity. With no address they cannot get ID cards, which are needed in communications with any state body.

Petar Antic, of the Serbian Center for Minority Rights, said Gypsies live in a parallel world beyond Serbia`s system, Belgrade`s B92 radio reported. Antic warned if this problem is not solved, in the next 10 years Serbia will have the biggest security-threatening ghetto in Europe, the radio said.

The Serbian government has adopted plans to solve Gypsy problems but representatives of Gypsy communities say laws also need to be implemented.

About 80 percent of Gypsies are illiterate and about 60 percent don`t complete primary school.
Official statistics say there are about 150,000 Gypsies in Serbia but Gypsy leaders claim their number could top 500,000.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

In pictures: Serbia's Gypsy 'London'

'No electricity'

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A short drive from Serbia's capital, Belgrade, is the settlement of "Little London". Its inhabitants are Roma Gypsies and they have lived there for at least 30 years.

"No-one knows why it's called Little London," says Nikola, a Roma man. "Someone started using the name and it stuck."

"Life here is not very different to life in the other London," he says, "except we have rats and snakes - and no electricity".

Pictures: Srdjan Slavkovic
Words: Neil Arun

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