Learning to speak the Roma Language

Each weekday at Amala School we will have Roma language lessons in addition to solo and group music tutors.

If I think learning music by ear along with new fingering and scales will be a good challenge, the Roma language lessons probably will eclipse everything.

The following text and alphabet were copied from a great website, http://www.omniglot.com/writing/romany.htm. I personally lay no claim to the information since I am totally ignorant about the language of the Serbian/Romani (Gypsy) people. However, Amala School, Veljevo, Serbia, should take care of that.

Romany
Romany, or Romani, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 5-6 million Roma people throughtout Europe and the USA. The largest concetration of Roma people live in Romania. In English these people are often called Gypsies. The language is closely related to the languages of northern India, particularly Punjabi, and the Roma are thought to have originally come from that region. Some people consider Romany to be a group of dialects while others think there are several, closely-related Romany languages.

The Muslim invasions of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent around 1000 AD resulted in massive movements of populations, probably including the ancestors of the Roma, who are thought to have moved into Anatolia. In 1300, after the Mongolian invasion of Europe, the Roma moved west into Europe and took up a mainly nomadic lifestyle.

Romany alphabet (Romani šib)
This is the official standard alphabet for Romany. It was standardized in 1990 at the Fourth World Romani Congress in Serock, Poland. This alphabet is used by all the Romany languages/dialects except Carpathian Romany and Finnish Romany.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/romany.htm

Traditional Serbian & Romani Dress

http://www.wildtransylvania.com/p/gypsy-culture.html

 

I found these two delightful pictures while looking for examples of textiles that might be found in the shops around Veljevo, Serbia. The top picture was taken and blogged by Paul White when he was in Transylvania, Romania, not terribly far from Serbia.

The bottom picture is from the Magelan Travel Agency web site and features different regional Serbian costumes.

http://www.magelan.rs/Serbia-MICE/national-costumes.html

Serbia and Romani music

Map of Serbia

I am very partial to the music of Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Albania. Some of the music I perform and teach are Romani (Gypsy) in origin. It is my fondest desire that the Romani immersion during Amala School, Valjevo, Serbia, will give me deeper insight to these melodies. 16 Days until I'm there.

From Wikipedia:

Serbia is landlocked country located in the Balkans(a historical and geographical region of southeastern Europe) and in the PannonianPlain (a region of central Europe). It shares borders with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria,Croatia, Hungary, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Romania. Serbiaclaims a border with Albania as well through its disputed territory of Kosovo.It is landlocked, although access to the Adriatic is available through Montenegro,and the Danube River provides shipping access to inland Europe and the BlackSea.

From Wikipedia:

Romani music plays an important role in Central and EasternEuropean countries such as Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro,Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Slovenia and Romania,and the style and performance practices of Romani musicians have influencedEuropean classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.

Kolubarski Region in Serbia

It looks so small...

Day 19 before Amala School.  Wait...what happened to yesterday? This educational and cultural excursion was decided upon over a year ago shortly after Orkestar Bez Ime (know here as 'we') won the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. We would have attended last year but not all six of us had the time in July free. So we waited, and waited, and waited and it seemed this dream was so far off in the future. Not any more! My suitcase has come out of the attic today and I'm starting the process of deciding exactly how much stuff I want to carry around with me all the time.

In addition to wrestling my suitcase I spent time looking at the regions of Serbia. The city of Valjevo is the seat of the Kolubarski Region which has around 200,000 people that call it home.

Wikipedia has these Ethnic group population totals posted from the census of 2002, a decade ago. This is a map of only Sumadija and Western Serbia. Kolubarski is the pink area.

http://www.lokalnirazvoj.org/sr/books/details/24

2002 Census
Kolubarski Region, only

Serbs 186,177

Roma 2,577

Others 11,806

TOTAL 200,560

Learning about Veljevo, Serbia

Valjevo Panorama - uptown part of the city and Church (source - Wiki)

With 24 days left before my Romani experience I took a spin through Wikipedia. The information below is my translation of the facts offered in the History online.

Condensed History:

In the nearby village of Petnica, scientists found the first complete 6,000 year old Neolithic habitat in Serbia.

In Ancient Roman time this area was an integral part of the province Moesia.

Valjevo was mentioned for the first time in 1393 when it was an important staging post on the trade route that connected Bosnia to Belgrade.

During the First World War the battle of Kolubara was fought in the vicinity of Valjevo where there was a large hospital that helped the wounded.

The city of Valjevo suffered vast destruction during World War II and again at the end of the 20th century when it was repeatedly bombed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.