FTX-608 - THE VLAXI ROMS
European Gypsy Singers
Vlaxi Roms are found in many parts of the World. In the Czech region they represent
about 5% of Romany people, as tent-dwellers, horse-dealers, or trough- makers,
and, like the English & Welsh Romanies, they sing, mainly unaccompanied,
and, for dancing, rather than instruments, they tend to use "mouth-music".
1. "Louli ru_a salas" sung by a woman (aged 29) rec Hjsk, Rimavsk Sobota,
1967. gypsy adaptation of modern pop sung by Rybana, star of Karel May's film, "Vinetou", shown in a cinema at Vclavk (the colloquial name for Prague's
St. Wencelas Square): "You were a red rose when you lived with me/ Now you
are no longer with me, you are withering/ On the Vclavk, Rybana is dying/ Old
Chatterhand heard it and got on his horse/ He got on his horse and went to Vinetou/
When the scythe cuts a flower, the flower withers away/ When the scythe cuts
a flower early in the morning/ The gaoler man in charge of keys/ He goes around
without saying anything/ Only that he's lost the keys of the gaol" - 2.07
2. "Kana glem peko foro" (When I went to the town) sung by chief, Cibet
(56), of Gyr, Hungary, with his daughter-in-law (22), living in a small house
with a yard vaulted with wine-shots in a Rom street in Kom...rna, rec June,
1981. An 8 stanza ballad improvised when he was visited by his 2 sons-in-law.
He addresses them beforehand: "I ask your permission, all you Rom people/
What does a poor man like me know?" - 4.19
3. "Av-tar manca" (Come with me) Dance-song by a woman (24) [as #2]
- 0.40
4. "Zav-tar mange po majora jaj" (I shall go to the meadow) sung by
woman (22) [as #2] - 3.40
5. "Khani te na ol" (Nothing should be heard) Bakro (36), son of Ferko
from Kom rno, [as #2] - 1.28
6. "Ke but mrdem mura rom_a" (I gave my wife a heavy beating) sung by
Kinys (30) addressing Milena as Milka(Romany name), after being questioned as
to why she was living alone [as #2] - 1.41
7. "Kon kamel pe?" (Who makes love?) sung by Cibet, angry with his wife
for reproachment after losing at cards - 0.29
8. "Kaj salas tu mamo?" (Where were you, mother?) sung by Cibet's daughter-in-
law (22). 10 stanzas including: "Wherever I go, non-Romanies are all around
me" - 4.41
9. "Minek am?" (O why, mother?) Lulu, Tata, Hungary. "Why did you
bring me up without brains (wisdom)?/ God punishes whomsoever he wants to punish" (These are floating verses which are frequently repeated in many Romany songs)
- 1.55
10. "Phurdel balval plajinestar" (Wind is blowing from the plains) sung
by a man accompanied by balalaika, in a garden cafe, where Romanies were drinking
wine, Tata, Hungary, May 1981 - 2.31
11. "Khelimaski" Mouth-music for dancing, accomp. by balalaika & spoons - 2.03
12. "Akh rdas ma Babi" (Babi called me) Kalman (50), with guitar, a horse-dealer
from Bachso, a singer recommended by folk-collector, Rudolf Vig. "Babi called
me to come to America/ To get a lot of money, golden money/ I am dying, Babi,
I am dying/ Because of your dark eyes, my heart is aching" - 3.24
13. "Soha te na meren" (They never should die) Group of tent-dwellers
with fiddle and spoons. Song of Russian Roms adapted from the popular film, "Gypsy Camp goes to Heaven", followed by "Khelimaski", dancing song by
same group - 2.53
14. "Khelimaski" Mouth-music, guitar & tambourine with Romany adaptation
of pop song frequently on both TV & radio - 2.04
15. "Na mar ma tu devla" (Don't punish me, O God) Iboya, a girl of 17,
with her step-brother (30), tent-dwellers, rec. Hodasz, district of Nyˇregyh
za, Hungary, July 1980. Iboya prays for her 1-year old illegitimate son. While
singing she fed the boy at her breast. Beforehand, the collector asks who she
is, afterwards, Iboya tells the story - 5.20
16. "Oj de mardas o del kade luma" (God punished this World) sung by
Borosa (60) (buibasa or chief) accomp. by his son, rec. by Mic Budhui, Romania
Aug 1980 - 3.34
17. "Bnoski li" (The Song about Bano) sung by Cyrilko, rec. in his own
flat, Prague, Sept. 1980, preceded by the customary request to be allowed to
sing speech and "toast". The song describes an actual event in 1951 when Bano, "vaida" (chief) was murdered after he had denounced his Romanies to the
police. The first two strophes are in Hungarian, the rest in Romanes: "When
they first hit him, they hit him on the head/ When they hit him the seventh
time they killed Bano/ Do not murder me, Kink so, Good Lord, bless you/ So many
children will become orphaned/ Did you realise, Bano, just what you were doing?/
by what you did, you were murdering all of us/ You, you have to die, Bano, your
time has come/ Your time has come and now you must die" - 3.34
18. "Khelimaski ili" Dance-song by man (40) with hand-claps & finger-clicking,
[as #17] - 0.54
19. "Kon kerel pe gavaleri?" (Who wants to be called a gentleman?) sung
by Bojinka (10) with cousin (5) rec. Praha Kre, October 1981. "Who wants
to be called a gentleman?/ Let him prepare the table for us" - 3.09
20. "De ma mamo semo paji" (Give me, mother, a little water) sung by
Bakro, Bojinka's father. "Give me, mother, a little water, my head swims/
My head swims from the old wine (Open it!)" - 4.46
21. "Minta, minta" Dance-song by woman (26) learned in Slovakia, rec.
Praha-Kyje, 1972. Minta is probably a kind of bush. "Kiss me behind the minta/
Not on the road where my husband can see/ otherwise he'll cut off my hair/ sigh
of shame, he'll shoot once, twice/ & he may kill two women" - 1.05
22. "Bumbazi" Mouth sound rhythm for dancing by men - as previous -
0.07
Recordings by Milena Hobschmannov were made mainly around Prague, 1967-81,
in Czech & Slovak areas, as well as in Romania and Hungary, 1980-1. She
has also added some earlier tapes from the 60's and 70's.
Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1982.
