Romani Music; Gypsy Harps; Group and Street Musicians

"I had never seen instruments so tall, beautifully carved and strung with catgut. They stood twice my height....They were varnished and carved with wheels and griffins and birds. The plucked sound carried through the trees. There was nothing so lovely. The women who played the harps had very long fingernails. They painted their nails every night, using whatever colors could be found, boiled up fro animals and red riverstone and some from bird eggs, light blue. The colors were brushed on with tiny brooms made from weedgrass...." Zoli at 29-30. Then came the Hlinka Guard and pulled all the nails off one harpist, leaving her with bloody stumps. What is wrong with us?

Gypsy harp - this site shows a tall 22-stringed instrument as a "gypsy harp" - starts on G below middle C, goes to high G. Listen to how it sounds there.

See Welsh harpist William Huw Bowen, who plays in the style of Welsh gypsy harpists at //www.sweetbirdclassics.org/artists/robin.html. It is called a Welsh triple harp, but its origins are mainland Europe. Triple harps were less popular after pedal harps were introduced. Read the details and the differences in kinds of harps there. See and buy your own here: ://www.ninasmusic.com/page7.




Violin, song, brass bands, guitar and voice, flamenco, as different as the regions. Good overview at National Geographic's site ://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/roma__gypsy__music_778

The music here in Romania was said to be Gypsy, but we were only tourists. Just exclude the young lady there who was just from a nearby table and I enjoyed how they Daniel, and we got their Gypsy ID CD, but how is a tourist to know. Difference between gypsy-sounding, and a good traditional group playing "gypsy?" Still, loved the sound, went at a frantic pace, this from Sighetu Marmetiei in Romania.

From Zoli - "She traveled with harpists once" p.10.


These street musicians - from Warsaw, Poland.
Same issue - how is a non-local to know Gypsy from just really fun sounding traditional?

None of the musicians shown in the photos in this post did polka, however, and we left the polka groups out of here. Tucked them in down below.

History, origins, music at National Geographic's site - //worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/roma__gypsy__music_778. The sounds of India echo in the music still


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Polka. Differentiate from Gypsy? On the other hand, we know there are Scottish "Travelers," see above, and they did play all kinds of music. Outsiders just don't know, but enjoy anyway.