Re: Gypsies

[Huppert23 <Huppert23...>]

In a message dated 6/20/00 11:25:49 AM, rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com writes:

<< In that case, how come we have the cultural image of the "wandering 
Gypsy"?  
Am curious -- Robert Cohen
 >>

I don't know about Eastern Europe, but I was living in France as recently as 
1973 and there were plenty of wandering Gypsies there, then. I don't know how 
many were musicians but certainly some were. The routine was that the 
musicians (adults) would play outdoors, usually by an outdoor cafe or 
restaurant. The kids would go around to the tables and ask for $. The rumor 
was that if you got too enthralled with the music, the kids would pick your 
pocket.

Some of the Gypsies then were in horse drawn caravans, but usually they drove 
a particular Citroen vehicle which was speciallly designed (and named, I 
think) for them.
It was common to see a vacant field with a sign "No Gypsies," meaning they 
cannot park or camp there.

About Gypsies and Jewish music, I only know that there are some Gypsies here 
in Chicago who have a tradition of having Jewish music at their weddings. 
They say their families come from New York ( I believe that's somewhere on 
the East Coast). I remember that they mentioned one of the famous 
clarinetists there who used to play  their family's weddings. I think it was 
Brandwein, but maybe it was Tarras.

Joshua Huppert

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