Caravan carries music to campus

The Gypsy Caravan will pass through Ann Arbor tomorrow, when the University Musical Society hosts this celebration of gypsy culture and music at the Michigan Theater.

Energetic and soulful, gypsy music has found its way into many of the world's cultures. For a people with no written history and a century of migratory existence, its unity is amazing and owes much to the power of the gypsy music.

Found to influence such composers as Bartok, Kodaly and Paganini, as well as the soulful Spanish Flamenco and Romanian folk music, Gypsy music and dance has made a huge imprint on our world's cultural heritage.

The concert will include six groups of performers from Central and Eastern Europe, the traditional home of the Rroma people. For centuries the gypsies of Romania, Hungary, Russia, Spain and other nearby regions have kept up their music and culture. Originating from the Rajasthani desert in India, the Rroma people began their migration through the Caucuses, Turkey and North Africa into Europe about 1,000 years ago.

Courtesy of University Musical Society Gypsy Caravan will perform tomorrow evening at the Michigan Theater.

Though most of the concert will focus on European groups, the special presence of Musafir, an ensemble from Rajasthan will lend a taste of the original Indian area music, including the colorful Langas from the Thar desert, the knife-wielding Kalbelyas (female dancers) and the Saperas (Gypsy dancers and singers).

Though the Rroma people often took the religion of the country they migrated to, they've kept up many old Indian traditions, including an entire book of conduct, or laws, that can be found from Russia to Spain. Their Romanese language resembles some dialects from Rajhastan and is, for the most part, understood by the Gypsies from region to region in present-day Europe.

Other groups featured in the Caravan include Antonio Pipa's Flamenco Dance Company, which entertains with guitar, dancing and song and the Taraf de Haidouks. The Kolpakov Trio from Russia will also perform, featuring the flamboyant seven-string guitarist, singer and dancer, Sacha Kolpakov. The Bulgarian Gypsy saxophonist Yuri Yunakov will lead his six-person ensemble, the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble, in playing Bulgarian wedding band music and the Turkish-influenced Gypsy music of Bulgaria and Macedonia.

One of the groups, the Taraf de Haidouks, has the representation of three generations within its 10-person ensemble. Aged 18-74, the Romanian musicians will flavor the concert with energetic and soulful music from their village of Clejani, where they've lived for and from their music until the release of their first album in 1991.

Taraf de Haidouks participated in the film, "Latcho Drom," which traces the history and migration of the Gypsy musicians in India, Asia and Europe. The festival will follow a similar format to this critically acclaimed film.

The Rroma people have been relentlessly persecuted throughout history and repeatedly pushed to the fringes of society. By hearing their culture through their music and dance, an awareness and appreciation can be fostered for this often historically oppressed group of people. Their music is full of life and soul and the Gypsy Caravan's tour in America is allowing people to see a culture they hardly ever hear or read about.

For tickets call the UMS Box Office at 764-2538 or purchase over the Web at www.ums.org. They range from $22 to $34 but students can obtain Rush tickets the day of the concert for $10.

03-24-99