kiwi mike, the Gypsy!

[kiwi mike]

I sent an email to Bat, about how I enjoyed Turkish music. However, it isn't the most important! Hopefully, I will try to explain. My father was born in New Zealand, but his mother came from Denmark. Her name was Johanna Dorothea, born 1868, and came on a sailing ship, Fritz Reuter, in 1875. (when she was 7 years old.) My great grandmother, called Maria Andersdoter, came from a little village, called Funen. Maria was very dark-skinned, and had "sloping" eyes! It was believed that Maria had either Eskimo, or Lappish blood! (Incidentally, my G/Granddad was called Pater Hansen, and he was Maria's husband.)

Hmm..........

I've always enjoyed Gypsy music. Even though I couldn't explain why, it got under my skin, especially Flamenco. Tapping heels, hand clapping, clicking Castinets, playing Guitar, and singing women, and men! It was great! I found out later, that the Spanish thought that Gypsies came from Flams, thus Flamenco!
The Gypsies came from Flams 500 years ago. (Flams meant Flanders.) The Gypsies were very passionate, just as the Spanish are today.
So......

My sister, called Sylvie (married to Ron) travelled to Denmark. Sylvie asked about the Great Grandmother....." were they very dark-skinned?"...."Shh.........we don't talk about it, as dark-skinned people probably are Gypsies!"
Click, click, CLICK!!

It explained a lot! My father, and his brothers were fairly dark-skinned, and Sylvie is also fairly dark-skinned as well.My great niece (who I've never met in person) travels a lot to Romania to help the people, especially those who are very poor, mainly the Gypsies!!
I also like Jazz, and the Blues, especially the jazz musician, Django Reinhart. He was born in Belgium, and raised in a Gypsy caravan. (He lived in France later) Django was a brilliant Jazz musician, and played with the Gypsies as well! Oh, so well!!
A couple of years ago, I met a guy that came from India, and his name........was Jango!!A very common name in India, well, the north west area, where gypsies are thought to originate from !!!!

Whey.......I't goes around circles!
I don't know for sure whether I am attached to the Gypsies.....but it's certainly possible!!

Kiwi Mike

[gisli]

We are all Gypsies by heart, the blood boils in us when we hear that music and our body want stand still.........yes, great music.

Great to hear from you Kiwi Mike, how are you doing?

[Manchester]

Good to hear from you again, I love your new avatar.
Anne

[Dee]

I love your new avatar.

Me too. :D

Mike,

Good to hear from you again. I'm very very impressed by the progress you are making in your writing ability too!

[moe75]

Me too. :D

Mike,

Good to hear from you again. I'm very very impressed by the progress you are making in your writing ability too!

Me three. I was thinking the same thing Daniel.

Mike, I can't believe the quantum leap you've made recently! A stream-of-consciousness tour de force!:D

Six degrees of separation never was explained so elegantly. :) I'm convinced the gypsy blood in everyone's blood starts pounding when music creeps under their skin.

[Eva]

Dear Kiwi-Mike,

I don't know if I have Roma-blood. As far as I know I don't. I am as pale as a sheet, but that's not the criterium. My parents are originally from Hungary and I know I have German (Schwabisch) ancestors. They are the latest (beginning of the 20th century) addition to my bloodline so to say. But for the rest I don't know. Being Roma or Jewish was not a thing that people would talk about in eastern Europe then because there was (and still is) a lot of anti-semitism and racism in eastern-Europe. So it was not mentioned very openly in families. Especially not around or after the second worldwar. It could be downright dangerous! Having German ancestors wasn't a thing to talk about either when the Russian came, by the way.

You know Roma and other gipsytribes used to be travellers. With music they did wonderful things. Like infuse local music with their own music. They did this in all countries where they stayed. Like for instance in Spain, where they 'invented' the flamenco. They did the same in eastern-European music. The gipsymusic from for instance Romania and Hungaria is so beautiful. It has rhythm, emotion, everything. I love listening and dancing to it. They also make use of a different kind of beat and all then western musicians do. More of an after-beat. For the rest I don't know enough about musictheory to point out the differences. It gets me dancing all night long, that's for sure. While I'm usually not someone who you can find on a dancefloor. But I just can't sit still with this music! And the emotions in it really grab me.

Maybe your ancester was Roma or from another gipsytribe. I don't know if you have 'her' music in your genes, or that you simply like interesting music. :)

There are some interesting movies and records also. Have you ever seen "Gadjo Dilo" by Tony Gatlif? It's about a French young man who goes to Romania to find a Roma woman called Nora Luca. His father had fallen in love with her years earlier because of her music. The young man records a lot of music in his search. I guess Nora Luca is not really meant to be a person in the movie but as a personification of gipsymusic. He never finds the actual woman or his father but he does fall in love with a Roma woman. And he sees how the Roma live. It's a very interesting movie, with a lot of music in it. I can recommend it to you.

Eva

[kiwi mike]

thank's once again!
"we are all Gysies"..........ain't that righ,"gisli" !
And Manchesten, Dee, Moe75, and Eva , hi there!
Actually, it took me nearly a munth to write note about the Gypsies! Whew! But we get there! Slowly mut surely, we get thair (thare?).

Eva, my daugter checked whether the Movie, "Gadjo Dilo", an it is mentioned in Franch and Romania, and America is as well!
Sara will find out wheter it can be obtained, a DVD to watch. As I can't watch a program, in Freach or Romania, it will take me a long time to watch!!
Another movie is called "Les Princes" (The Crazy Stanng), and another, called "Latcho Drom" (Sate Journey).
I know that the Gypsies are called, "Roma ", some called !Rroma", and a few fribes as well. ( Which Ive forgotten!)

Kiwi Miki

[janisian]

Mike! You're back!!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

[SongDragon]

Hey Kiwi Mike! I certainly feel like a gypsy, I've done enough wandering and I'm not even nearing a stop in that wandering yet. A break here and there, always coming back here because I have school, but at the end of this year that attatchment is broken as well. Then I'll really be drifting!

My biggest attatchment to gypsies is... the caravan outside? Yeah, my step-grandfather built a camper that looks like a gypsy wagon. Nana has done the curtains so they look "gypsyish", and she has also done the bed spread. It's a really neat camper.

So I suppose as Gisli said: We're all gypsies.

~Song

[kiwi mike]

Thaks very much.....I "play" the CB , "Folk is the..". Great! Still trying to understand some of them, fortunatlatly I can listen to som of them. My son bought a double CD for me (my present) of Bob Dylan. Any record/CD I can undertstand songs before I had my stroke, but some of the songs after my stroke, I can't understand!! But, we'll get there!!!
Have a good program to enjoy to Dubkin!! (Hmm, a bit mixed up!!) :p

SongDragon, I will write a letter on Wednesday, as I can't quite understand, so Sara will help me to write!! :rolleyes:

Eva,,,,,Sara enquired about the Gypsies/Roma, ......we can obtain a DVD, 4 programs mentioned. I will buy one, (at least), one about the Flamenco mucic, especially the Gypsies!! I can't wait!!! :)

See wa'...........Kimi Mike

[Bat]

Yes, Mike is back, and in fine fettle, too!
We mailed back and forth about Turkish music, and the fact that my (ex) daughter-in-law was a belly dancer, and a good one! I like the wild dances they play, and the minor keys, the oriental sound that is strictly middle eastern; he was telling me about his Turkish friend, Ovgu, and how she liked Nilifur's singing. She give him some tapes of Nilifur, and Mike burned them to CD and sent them to me! What a treat!

Now, I must find some excellent flamenco to return the lovely favor, and Mike needs to tell me a little more about what he wants to hear: Man, or Woman, and what he doesn't have that he wants to add to his collection.
Does anyone have any ideas about who are the best flamenco performers?
It has to be great, for Kiwi Mike!

[Gigglepottomus]

Wonderful post Mike. I don't think a jackhammer could take the smile off my face that you just put there.:D

[Eva]

Hi Mike,


I work in the citycentre of Rotterdam and now and then I go for a walk during my lunchbreak. I did just that today and I heard a Romaband playing. I went over to listen and soon I almost danced in the street. In any case, I could stand stil! Of course I was late because I stayed too long, but the music cheered me up, so it was worth it.

I have a question: I have some very old Hungarian Roma records. Would you like a copy on cassette? I can't put them on CD, because I don't have the equipment. And the records are old. Therefor the copy won't be perfect. Maybe you can put them on CD yourself once you get the cassettes? Or maybe you like to use the cassettes for in the car?

The singer on one of those records was very famous in Hungary in the fifties and sixties. She sings beautifully! Let me know if you are interested. You can send me a private message with your address if you like.

Eva

[Bat]

Mike, Paca is on his way!

[kiwi mike]

Hello, Eva!
I did'nt know that you came from Rottedam. I had a pal came from Rotterdam, but now work Rijen, nealy Breda.
The tapes would be verry walcomb!!
Me email is.....delphi7@ihug.co.nz.......:)

Bat.............I'm waitins, I'm waiting!! With a bis grin! :D :eek:

[gisli]

Was in Amsterdam, found a record store, it was huge, 4 or 5 stairs to walk around in and thousends of cd´s in every floor. Forgot myself in that one, actually so much that I missed a party I really wanted to go to on that particular evening. (it didn´t help either that I had not set my watch to dutch time, couldn´t understand why they told me to leave the store at half past five, but that´s another story) Anyways, the cd´s I bought there where Flamenco-, Latino-, Indian Bollywood-, Turkish groove- and Africanmusic. I like African music exspecially the one from Soweto, for exsample King Sunny Ade. Yussef N´Dour is also a favorite. Irish music was also bought, though I like more Canadian Irish music from New Foundland.
My and my wife listen and dance to this music here at home, it´s the only music that we can both relate to, it brings us together. Great music.