A Pay-Attention List. Arts and Roma, Politics, Updated. Romany Fashion Cycle Returns

Roma in the imagination.  Many think of costume, mannerism, dance, song, traditional settings. Idealizing aspects of a cultural or ethnic group serves a useful purpose if it helps defuse fears of the different, but not if the inquiry and interest stop there. 

The New York Times featured a "Romany aesthetic" in its Styles section, July 12, 2012.  See Joining the Gypsy Caravan.  Apparently, the enthusiasm is not just fanned by outsiders. There is a "youthful cohort" exploring the heritage and joining in its morph into a commodity. There are blogs and posts, in a culture otherwise largely elusive.

I.  Roma in politics.

• Jimmy Marks has just died, see his story as a "gypsy leader" in Spokane, Washington, see http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=197123, an advocate for family and culture.
• In 2002, there were  Senate Special Committee on Aging, hearings on predators attacking the elderly, including Roma and Travelers, see http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=272113&
• Reference:  Politics in America, 1990: 1347; Steven V. Roberts, “G.O.P. ‘Gypsy Mothers’ Test Their Wings,” 26 July 1981, New York Times: E4.

Is there any interest in the political among emerging and established Roma in the arts.

The Times article is not a political one, but there should have been some reference to the larger community perhaps:  its needs, the relationship of those now in the public view to their roots, or a statement that the community wishes to remain as it is, as they all may differ.  Question remains: what is the political life or concerns as to these people in the arts, film, and fashion spheres. If it is peripheral, that is their choice. I am asking only for information.

• The State Department publicizes Assistance for Roma at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/04/139844.htm. Those, however, focus only on Roma overseas.  What about in-house?
• A Yahoo community-forum site is not often updated, is that so, at http://voices.yahoo.com/a-brief-look-roma-gypsies-america-4212919.html. 
• The Smithsonian presents them as museum pieces.  See http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/gyp/gypstart.html

Considerations:  fear of having to register to vote, locate oneself in the larger land, desire to stay autonomous, an individual difficult to find by any outsider? 

• Romania. That appears to be the case in Romania, see http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/europe/romania/gypsies-text/3.  Fear of authorities leads many to subsist without identification.

Still, votes count. So does privacy, and keeping under the radar for safety and cohesion.  How to ensure the meeting of basic needs without intruding into culture.

• Is there any movement among Roma elsewhere to have a voice in government. The European Roma Rights Center recognizes the issues, see http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=1274.  The 2006 Roma Political Leadership Academy report is not found at the site cited.

II.  Meanwhile, A Roma Pay-Attention List

In hopes that the issue of Roma voice and influence in government may also be important to the already successful and trending, here is a compendium of some current Roma-heritage interested or descended here in the United States arts scene.  Source:  New York Times article, here summarized and highlighted by names.  Anyone who crosses their pathways, perhaps mention?


Roma in Fashion:

• Peter Dundas, Gucci;
• Massimiliano Giornetti, Ferragamo;
• Joseph Altuzarra with his Balkan slant, acknowledging that the insipiriation is aesthetic, interpretive.  Add
• Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy;
• Giambattista Valle, for Margherita Missoni.
• Catherine Moellering, with Tobe Report;
• Stephanie Solomon, Bloomingdale's.  Then visit the more accessible chains offering what we used to call peasant tops and embroideries:
• Patti Hansen, Vogue. Then
• Estrella Martinez at Electric Feathers line;
• Pamela Love's jewelry;
• Audrey Louise Reynolds in art and design,

Roma Websites, Roma Books: 

• Gypsy Lore Society, by Matt Salo.  Going there: first to the book, http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/gypsy-lore-society-publications/books; and then to the papers of the organization's meetings at http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/gypsy-lore-society-publications/books/papers-from-the-meetings. 
• Another book:  Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh (pen name), about English Gypsies.  Would that include the Romneys' forbears?  Somebody go check Kent.
• Oksana Marafiota, American Gypsy: A Memoir, at http://www.harvard.com/book/american_gypsy_a_memoir/.

Roma in Music

• Angelina Roz incorporates her Roma heritage, Russian, in her pop, rock music. See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diG7A9WKkVA. That is more than "rock".  Repeat the run.  More Russian Roma heritage --
•  Gogol Bordello, punk band at http://www.gogolbordello.com/news/; features Ukrainian-American Eugene Hutz.

Roma in Film:

•  Gypsy, showing now in New York, Romany village in Eastern Slovakia. Review at http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/movies/gypsy-by-martin-sulik-fictional-portrait-of-the-roma.html

Roma in Photography: 

• Gilles Larrain, showing flamenco musicians from the 1970's, and other subjects;  recently shown in Granada, Spain.  See http://www.flamenco-world.com/magazine/fotos/gilles/home.htm;  see also http://www.gilleslarrain.com/
• Alen MacWeeney, showing Irish Travellers from the 1960's, see http://www.alenmacweeney.com/  These are black and white and riveting.

Around the world:  See Hungary, where Roma are some 10% of the population. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/arts/design/06roma.html.  No change in acceptance as separate, or in offering benefits from assimilation (into what?) --