Gypsy...Punks..

golden-zephyr:

lisipuska:

golden-zephyr:

helloimlulu:

Just a quick bitch. It bothers me tremendously that Gogol Bordello has popularized the word “Gypsy.” They have non Rromani kids screaming “GYPSY PUNK!” at every turn and seem to be doing little to educate anyone on the history of that word?

If Eugene Hutz, who identifies as Rroma, wants to use that word..thats his choice. I say Gypsy and often refer to myself as a Gypsy in conversations with gadze because its tiring not to, sometimes.

I am wondering what are some of you guys (Rroma and gadze) opinions about this?

Should Gogol Bordello, as a band, stop using the word? Should they try to educate others on the history of the word and explain why gadze fans should think twice before using it?

Yeah, after hearing him explain it, I felt better with it. I suppose their idea was to alter the perception of the word—the fact that Rroma can be (and are) successful and modern and stuff…

But, the more I see the people who idolize him…. I don’t know. I mean some of his songs try and and explain things, but I’m not sure people get it. I think the songs are just … nice sounding words, they don’t mean anything…

I think even he has been romanticized and sometimes I think he’s sold out just a little bit. Like you say, where is his activism and education of the gadže?

One of my friends here loves him and has met him… but she still used the word “gypsy” ALL the time until I explained things to her…

So, obviously, he’s not doing a great job…

Being Gadje, I can’t say how the music speaks to Roma - I have no idea of that. However, a lot of their fans are immigrants - first or second generation, many from eastern Europe, South America, etc. I strongly identify with the songs, because they sound like everything I listened to growing up.

Slavic music mixed with Latin and Italian. A mish-mash of languages spoken. Speaking of living poorly (by monetary standards), etc.

I think she does romanticise Roma a bit, but growing up in Ukraine, they are romaniticised. I was actually confused, because in America Roma are really romanticised, and I didn’t realise they were in former USSR too (not sure if right now, but before - yes).

Even websites I may visit that are Russian and are out to explain the “facts” just say a bunch of bullshit about how “Gypsies prefer not to wear shoes” and “Gypsies, being so loved, were allowed to roam freely across Russia, unlike everyone else”.

If someone grew up in the USSR, like my family, these thoughts, ideas, and very different perception of the world is really hard to shake off.

So to me, even if Hütz is trying very hard to get the word out, to say what Gypsies really are, he still has some of this mindset, even if he doesn’t realise, doesn’t want it, that is there. THe other musicians in the band aren’t Roma - they’re immigrants. I think this also immediately skews the image and message. Westerners/Americans look at this “Gypsy” band and see multi-coloured people (which is wonderful, by the way), and think “Yes, this is Gypsy. Americans, Ukrainians, Chinese, Israelis, etc, playing together and roaming the world freely”.

I don’t think his music really gets the message out - if you don’t listen to it right, or don’t already have a slight understanding of who Roma are and their ongoing situation. But his interviews are nice. He usually does talk a bit about it, his family, etc.

I don’t even know what I wrote - just, uh, sort through it, sorry, haha.

Reblogging for commentary

I’m not Rroma, so I can’t really say how it speaks to Romani people, but I can say what affect their music had on me. I fell in love with the band when I was a about 13 and didn’t know anything about Rroma. I only knew what western media presented me with, which was just a load of stereotypes. When I learned that Eugene Hutz was of ‘Gypsy’ descent I decided to learn more about it, because I liked learned about different cultures and I loved the music. Now, a while later, I actually want to have my job be something to do with properly educating non-Rroma people about them. So, in that way, the use of Gypsy Punks to describe the band brought about a new consciousness, for me at any rate.