Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation: Balkan Dilemmas of Postmodernity

Ethnologia Balkanica 15 (2011)

Carol Silverman, Eugene OR

Abstract

Balkan Gypsy music has recently become globalized – it is found in festivals of Balkan music and world music, on YouTube, and in dance club remixes by DJs. As Europe’s largest minority and its quintessential “other,” Roma face severe marginalization, yet ironically, their music, especially brass bands, commands growing attention. Referenc- ing debates about how collaborations and hybridity may be liberating and/or exploitative, I explore strategies through which non-Roma appropriate, perform, and consume Balkan Gypsy music. Noting that Roma are rarely in charge of their own representations, I illus- trate how the image of the fantasy Balkan Gypsy has been created, and who participates in and who benefits from the popularization of Gypsy arts. I focus on DJs and club culture in western Europe and North America and tie my analysis to performative displays of European multiculturalism.

The global musical landscape of Balkan Romani music has expanded dramati- cally in the last two decades. While in the early 1990s it was admired by a small group of fans, by 2002 Time magazine’s music section proclaimed “Roma Rule” (Purvis 2002: 70–71) and in 2007 Newsweek wrote “The World Embraces Gyp- sy Culture” (Brownell, Haq 2007). In 2006 Balkan Romani music exploded on the Borat movie soundtrack, and today young people dance to Balkan Gyp- sy remixes played by DJs in cites such as New York, San Francisco, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Melbourne. Before we celebrate too glibly I suggest we investigate representational and perform- ance issues, as well as the flow of international capital and media attention.1

1 Fieldwork took place in Romani communities in Bulgaria, Macedonia and New York (1988–2011); in New York and San Francisco clubs and festivals (2005–2011); and in Lon- don, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Vienna, and Lisbon clubs (2011, funded by the Oregon Humanities Center and by the Guggenheim Foundation). This article was initially presented as a keynote lecture at the conference “Southeast European (Post) Modernities,” International Association for Southeast European Anthropology, Regens- 16 Carol Silverman

Elsewhere I have underlined the paradox that Roma are loved for their music yet hated as people (Silverman 2007a). These twin poles of admiration in the arts and marginalization in social life are a historic pattern, yet their recent manifestation in the realm of world music reveals significant hierarchies. This article builds on my earlier work on musicians in their own communities (Sil- verman 2012) to explore the postsocialist globalization of Balkan Gypsy music in commercial world music markets by relating its consumption and production to issues of representation. Referencing debates about how collaborations and hybridity may be liberating and/or exploitative, I focus on one site of global Gypsy music, the club scene in western Europe, to explore the strategies through which non-Roma perform and appropriate Gypsy music. Noting that Roma are rarely in charge of their own representations (Hancock 1997),2 I investigate how the image and sound of the fantasy Gypsy is created, and who participates in and who benefits from the popularization of Gypsy music. This project has current resonance: a rising tide of xenophobia and anti-Gypsyism (under the rubric of nationalism and pop- ulism) is sweeping Europe precisely at the time that Gypsy music has become a “hot” commodity. Who is collaborating with and appropriating from whom, and how are power relationships implicated in these exchanges?

Roma

Linguistic evidence shows that Roma migrated westward from northwest India and reached the Balkans by the fourteenth century and western Europe a century later. Initial curiosity about Roma by Europeans quickly gave way to discrimination, a legacy that has continued until today (Hancock 1987, 2002).3 As

burg, Germany, April 2011. Portions of this article are expanded from parts of Silverman 2012. 2 However, in Romania, Roma control the manele (folk/pop) industry and some artists make huge sums of money (Radulescu 2004). On the other hand, the pop/folk industry in the rest of the southern Balkans tends to be controlled by non-Roma; a number of Roma have become stars in this industry. I do not focus on pop/folk in this article because it is not the most globalized form of Balkan Gypsy music; for analysis of the role of Roma in Bulgarian pop/folk, see Silverman 2012, chapter 9. 3 In the southern Romanian principalities Roma were slaves from the fourteenth to the nine- teenth centuries. Despite their small numbers, Roma inspired fear and mistrust and were expelled from virtually every western European territory. Bounties were paid for their cap- ture and repressive measures included confiscation of property and children, forced labor, prison sentences, whipping, branding, etc. Assimilation was attempted in the eighteenth century in the Austro-Hungarian Empire by forcibly removing children from their parents Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 17

Europe’s largest ethnic minority (10–12 million), Roma are socially, economi- cally, and politically marginalized in virtually all arenas of society. In the postsocialist period, harassment and violence towards the Roma of Eastern Europe have increased, along with marginalization and poverty. They have a low stand- ard of living in every country, with unemployment reaching 80 percent in some regions. Balkan Roma face inferior and segregated housing and education, including tracking of children into special schools for the disabled. Poor health conditions, specifically higher infant mortality and morbidity, shorter life expectancy, and higher frequency of chronic diseases all plague Roma. Discrimination is widespread in employment and the legal system, and even educated people routinely express disdain for Gypsies. Hate speech and racial profiling are common in the media. Perhaps most troubling are the hundreds of incidences of physical violence against Roma perpetrated by ordinary citizens and also by the police.4 According to The Economist, Roma remain at the “Bottom of the Heap” (2008: 35). Observers have shown that rather than being the purview of extrem- ists, anti-immigrant and anti-Romani sentiment is becoming more mainstream. For example, in 2008, the Italian government started to fingerprint all Gypsies living in camps in an effort to crack down on crime; in 2010, the French government deported Romani European Union citizens back to Bulgaria and Ro-

and outlawing nomadism, traditional occupations and Romani language, music, and dress; similar legislation was enacted in Spain after 1499 (Fraser 1992; Petrova 2003). In the Bal- kans, the policy of the Ottoman Empire towards Roma was, in general, more lenient than state policy in Western Europe, at least from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries (Ma- rushiakova, Popov 2000). Perhaps the most tragic period of Romani history was World War II when over 500 000 Roma were murdered (Hancock 2002). The communist regimes in Eastern Europe defined Roma as a social problem. They were targeted for integration into the planned economy, forced to give up their traditional occupations, and assigned to the lowest skilled and lowest paid state jobs (e. g., street cleaners). Specific policies varied by country and by decade, e. g., forced sterilization in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. No- madic Roma were forcibly settled, settled Roma were forcibly moved, and aspects of their culture, such as music, were prohibited. 4 For detailed information on these topics see the World Bank Reports by Ringold 2000; Rin- gold et al. 2004; and Revenga et al. 2002; and various issues of Roma Rights, the journal of the European Roma Rights Centre (http://www.errc.org). The European Roma Rights Centre submitted the following statement to the United Nations Committee on the Elimina- tion of Racial Discrimination: “Roma remain to date the most persecuted people of Europe. Almost everywhere, their fundamental human rights are threatened. Disturbing cases of racist violence targeting Roma have occurred in recent years. Discrimination against Roma in employment, education, health care, and administrative and other services is common in many societies. Hate speech against Roma, also prevalent, deepens the negative stereotypes which pervade European public opinion” (ERRC 2002: 5). 18 Carol Silverman mania; in 2010 right-wing militias patrolled Hungarian villages against Gyp- sies; and in 2011, Bulgarian anti-Gypsy demonstrations erupted into violence. All over Europe, nationalist parties are growing and the population is becoming more polarized. On the other hand, since 1989, Balkan Gypsy music has found a secure place in Western European and American world music festivals, dance clubs, and on CDs, DVDs and YouTube. Part of the appeal comes from promoters (and sometimes Roma themselves, see Silverman 2012) who market the exoticism of Gypsies. The positive yet dangerous coding of Romani otherness hinges on their historical romanticization by non-Roma as free souls (outside the rules and boundaries of European society), their association with the arts, especially music and the occult, and their proximity to nature and sexuality. Using Said’s concept, we can claim that Roma are “orientalized” and exoticized (1978). Todorova, discussing whether the Balkans are orientalized in reference to the rest of Europe points out that we are not dealing with a colonial situation (1997); nevertheless, the Balkans are posed as “other” to Europe, and, Roma are posed as “other” to the Balkans. Ken Lee specifically extends Said’s argu- ment to Gypsies: “Whilst Orientalism is the discursive construction of the exotic Other outside Europe, Gypsylorism is the construction of the exotic Other within Europe – Romanies are the Orientals within” (2000: 132). Trumpener emphasizes the association of Roma with an ahistoric, timeless nostalgia: “No- madic and illiterate, they wander down an endless road, without a social contract or country to bind them, carrying their home with them, crossing borders at will” (1992: 853). Simultaneously they are reviled as unreformable, untrust- worthy liars, and rejected from civilization. This contrast expresses the “ideol- ogy of Gypsy alterity – feared as deviance, idealized as autonomy” (Trumpener 1992: 854). Roma, then, serve as Europe’s quintessential others.

Roma and Music

Music figures squarely in the exotification of Roma (Szeman 2009); often Roma are presumed to be genetically talented and to play music with abandon, despite poverty and squalor. Note that music is one of oldest Romani occupations in the Balkans, a fact corroborated by historical documentation dating from the fifteenth century. The patron/client relationship has reinforced certain performative features, and these have fed into stereotypes (sometime perpetuated by Roma) about the power of Roma in music. Historically, Roma have been profes- sionally involved in many different musical forms, both folk and popular, have had a virtual monopoly of some forms, and have been virtually absent from others. In addition, from Ottoman times there has been a trafficking of musi- Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 19 cal styles facilitated by Roma (Peycheva 1999). Dimov comments that Gypsies are “the clearest example of the polyethnic characteristic of Balkan music, and its negotiation, translation and integration” (1995: 14); Peycheva also discusses the “polylingualism” of Gypsy musicians in text and style (1995). Professional musicians play at weddings and other life cycle events, and at calendrical events such as saints’ day celebrations; they regularly serve patrons from many ethnic groups, and thus their repertoires tend to be large and varied. Improvisation, emotionality, and innovation are all valued in music and song. The genre čoček/kyuchek has become emblematic of Roma in the southern Balkans; furthermore it is now the iconic genre in the non-Romani western club scene described below. Čoček/kyuchek may be defined as a rhythm in varieties of 2/4, 4/4, 7/8, and 9/8, and also as a style of dance. As a solo dance, čoček is improvised, utilizing hand movements, contractions of the ab- domen and pelvis, shoulder shakes, movement of isolated body parts (such as hips and head), and small footwork patterns. Čočeks use Turkish-derived scales (makams) that sometimes employ microtones and sometimes employ western- ized pitches. There is no one typical scale or typical makam for Balkan Romani music.5 Čočeks are associated with characteristic rhythms that have many varia- tions, each imparting a distinct style that often indicates to dancers what should be danced (see Silverman 2012). In the Balkans, the economic crisis since the 1990s has not only severely curtailed community markets for live music but also shortened celebrations. Most families who relied on music for their income are now suffering greatly. However, several wedding performers have launched new careers because they have secured steady work in western Europe performing for Balkan Romani mi- grants; bands such as Kristali (from Bulgaria), and performers such as Amza (keyboard player from Macedonia) or Džemalj (singer from Kosovo) command high fees and are booked months in advance. These performers, however, tend to perform only for Roma; they command high fees from Roma and thus they need neither western recording contracts nor non-Romani audiences; they exist in a Romani diasporic music network which tends to be quite separate from western festivals. A small and select group of Balkan Romani bands have obtained contracts with several west European production companies (such as Asphalt Tango in

5 A variety of scales are used, including major, minor, phrygian (similar to the Turkish makam kurd), and other modes and Turkish makams (modal scalar patterns) such as hicaz, nihavent, etc. Čočeks typically have pre-composed sections plus solo sections which are distinguished by taksim or mane, a highly improvised free rhythm and/or metric explora- tion of the scale or makam, often using stock motives and figures, played over a metric os- tinato. In the mane musicians display their improvisatory virtuosity. 20 Carol Silverman

Berlin and Divano in Brussels) which has led to tours and bookings at western festivals. Audiences for Balkan and Gypsy live music events are mostly non- Balkan and non-Roma youth from the hipster crowd. The bands in this circuit include Fanfare Ciocarlia (brass band from Romania), Taraf de Haidouks (string band from Romania), Ork. Kocani (brass band from Macedonia), and Ork. Boban Marković (from Serbia). These bands are doing well, while their musical neighbors, who may be just as talented, are not; the blessing of a western contract makes a huge difference. Note that many of these ensembles are brass bands. In the current world music market, the terms Balkan, Brass, and Gypsy are often used interchangeably. According to testimonials by non-Romani audience members, brass appeals because of its energy, passion, sexuality, wildness, masculine strength, and danceability. In western Europe and North America, a new and expanded market developed in the 1990s that cultivated either Romani music remixed by DJs or live Romani music played by non-Roma. Thus, many of the current purveyors of Balkan Gypsy music outside the Balkans tend to be well-paid non-Romani DJs and members of Gypsy punk and other pop and fusion bands. True, some Bal- kan Romani bands are hired at festivals, but these tend to be the very same group of bands that are featured on western labels. More and more non-Roma are becoming involved in Romani music and DJs and club audiences, and much of this music is remixed. In every west European city and in several North American cities, there is an active club scene under the term “Balkan Beats” where young people dance to DJs spinning Balkan Gypsy music, more specifically, brass band music. Audience members in western Europe tend to be young, white, and middle class; some of them moved to Balkan from other club scenes, such as house and techno. To them, the Balkan/Gypsy scene is more “authentic” than other scenes; also, although there is a great deal of drinking of alcohol in Balkan clubs, there is less drug use than in other club scenes. How did this non-Romani sub-culture appropriate Romani brass music, and how do non-Ro- ma feel about appropriation?

Hybridity and appropriation

Most non-Roma performing or re-mixing Gypsy music subscribe to the belief that hybridity and fusions are inherently liberating. Roma, on the other hand, are aware of the slippery slope from collaboration to appropriation to exploitation. By appropriation I mean taking music from one group and using it in other Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 21 musical projects, usually for profit.6 I am aware of the underlying essentialism in the concept of appropriation: music cannot be ultimately assigned to unitary “sources.” Post-modernists would argue that neither music nor any other part of culture is owned by individuals or groups, and I would agree that music cannot be ultimately owned – intermingling has always occurred.7 Notwithstanding this observation, certain musics are associated with certain groups and do get used in new contexts. Avoiding the terms source and origin and instead focusing on the process of transmission, that is, giving and taking, I ask who orchestrates and who benefits from these musical exchanges? Historically, Roma have been characterized as the ultimate music appropriators. They have been accused of neither having nor creating music of their own and merely appropriating the music of other ethnicities.8 Despite being associated with music, Roma have been plagued with the popular and scholarly notion that they have no folklore or heritage of their own, especially in the realm of music. They are known as inveterate borrowers, appropriators, and “cultural sponges” who take the “hosts’ music” and sell it back with “Gypsy style.” While it is accurate to highlight the historical service relationship between non-Romani patrons and Romani professional musicians, we should remember that non-Roma have also appropriated music from Roma. The older Balkan scholarly stance toward Romani music was one of con- tempt. For example, as early as 1910, Serbian scholar Tihomir Djordjević dis- paraged Gypsies because, when adopting Serbian music, they “gypsified” it (1984 [1910]: 38); as late as 1977 Adrijana Gojković wrote that Gypsies “cor- rupt not only the national music of various countries, but also new music, for instance, jazz” (1977: 48). Similarly, Bulgarian ethnomusicologists in the socialist period demonized Romani wedding music as kitsch and foreign (Silver- man 2007b). In these accounts, “Gypsy style,” threatened the preservation of “authentic folk music” via improvisation and innovation. On the other hand, in the postsocialist period, a cadre of ethnomusicologists from the Balkans (such

6 Ziff and Rao define cultural appropriation as “the taking – from a culture that is not one’s own – of intellectual property, cultural expressions or artifacts, history and ways of knowl- edge and profiting at the expense of the people of that culture” (1997: 1). In the anthropo- logical, ethnomusicological, and cultural studies literature the term is sometimes used in a negative light but there is also a strong celebratory strain defending appropriation in relationship to the free flow of art. I discuss this theoretical tension below. 7 The literature on ownership of culture is vast; the recent scholarship on UNESCO initia- tives to copyright culture examines the legal and theoretical frameworks of this debate (M. Brown 2004, Kurin 2004, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 2004). 8 In his discussion of culture and appropriation, Samson states “almost axiomatically, Rom musics from all over the region” can be subsumed in the category synthetic (2005: 44). 22 Carol Silverman as Lozanka Peycheva, Ventsislav Dimov, and Speranta Radulescu) has emerged who are seriously producing thorough and high quality work on Romani music. While it remains true that Roma have taken numerous musical elements from co-territorial peoples (as well as from western classical and pop music), it must also be remembered that they do not borrow indiscriminately, but rather selectively and, furthermore, they creatively rework what they take.9 Roma have contributed to many musical styles and genres in the Balkans (Silverman 2012). When Roma appropriate, however, their class relationship is rarely altered; no matter how powerful their music, they have not become powerful politically. They may provide a desirable commodity, but they have not lost their stigma. Furthermore, Roma still need patrons; even the most famous performers are managed by non-Romani producers.10 Appropriations by the powerful are different from appropriations by the marginal; when the powerful appropriate, the marginal often lose in the process because they can’t fight back in terms of ownership, copyright, or clout in the marketplace. Musical appropriations by non- Roma from Roma, thus, need to be investigated in terms of motivation, profit, and artistry. Goran Bregović is a good example of a non-Romani appropriator who has become more famous and wealthy than most Roma; he is perhaps the most wide- ly known performer/arranger of Balkan and Gypsy music in the world, earning top billing and fees of $ 30 000 at Gypsy, Balkan, and world music festivals. Photograph 1 shows him with non-Romani brass players headlining at the 2008 Guča brass band festival in Serbia. On the other hand, he is routinely an object of wrath by Roma and is even described as a thief and robber. Why do Roma speak of him in condemning terms? Born in Bosnia of mixed heritage, Bregović was a guitarist who pioneered in performing rock/folk fusions of all the ethnic groups in Yugoslavia. In the 1980s and 1990s he became internationally famous for his musical scores for Bosnian director Emir Kusturica, whose films (Time of the Gypsies, 1988; Underground, 1995) dealt with Romani themes and em- ployed Romani actors (Markovic 2008, 2009). Precisely Bregović’s arrange- ments of Romani brass music have become the iconic sound in European club

9 This is related to the professional role and the requirement to provide music that the patron knows and desires. Samson and Pettan remind us that Kosovo Roma have appropriated to remain neutral in a war. Samson writes: “Kosovo Rom musicians deliberately adopted transnational idioms, including Western popular music, if not to promote a universalist ide- ology then at least to maintain ethnic neutrality at a time of prevailing ethnic tension and dispute” (2005: 46; also see Pettan 1996). 10 Here I am referring specifically to Bulgaria and former Yugoslavia bands that have western managers and producers. Again, Romanian manele (folk/pop), produced and managed by Roma, is a notable exception. Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 23

Photograph 1

culture. At the same time, Roma hate Bregović because he copyrighted his ar- rangements under his own name and has not given credit to his Romani sources. The case of Bregović’s dubious ethics can be compared to other cases of world music collaboration/appropriations such as Graceland (Feld 1988, Meintjes 1990)11 and Deep Forest (Feld 2000b). Feld asks “Is world music a form of artistic humiliation, the price primitives pay for attracting the attention of mod- erns …?” (2000b: 166). Similarly, do Roma need appropriators like Bregović to achieve popularity in the modern world? Feld points out that collaborations with famous artists are often presented as part of “a politically progressive and artisti- cally avant-garde movement … This process has the positive effect of validating

11 Graceland (1986), a collaboration between Paul Simon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and others, won awards, sold millions of copies, and even figured in the anti-apartheid movement. Simon’s lyrics contributed to the project, and he clearly respected his collaborators, paid them well, toured with them, and donated to political causes. But in terms of ownership, Simon’s name appeared above the title and he copyrighted the music (Feld 1988). In the end, perhaps “Musicians fill the role of wage laborers” (Feld 2000a: 242). 24 Carol Silverman musicians and musics that have been historically marginalized, but it simultaneously reproduces the institutions of patronage …” (2000a: 270).12 The issue is how music moves between multiple contexts of commercial power. For many non-Roma, Bregović has come to stand for all Balkan Roma- ni music; for example, the program notes for his 2006 Lincoln Center concert state that he has developed “a reputation as an eloquent spokesperson for Gypsy culture in eastern Europe.” He is actually taken to be Romani by many fans; indeed a Serbian Romani activist cynically called him part of the “Gypsy music industry.” Bregović asserts that Roma do not recognize belonging; this gives him li- cense to appropriate from Roma. We may clearly place Bregović in the “celebratory camp” of fusion artists. Feld has noted the divide between “anxious” and “celebratory” narratives of world music appropriation. Celebratory narratives valorize hybridity, feature hopeful scenarios about economic fairness, and “even have romantic equations of hybridity with overt resistance” (Feld 2000b: 152).13 Anxious narratives fret over purity and underline the economics of exploitation. I believe that we need to interrogate both narratives. Celebratory scholars can too easily eschew ownership and valorize the fertile artistic exchange of musical styles; they sometimes assume that exchanges happen on an equal playing field, producing radical art. George Lipsitz, for example, shows that appropriations create cultural zones of contact where intercultural dialog between ethnic groups can happen; he says hybridity produces an immanent critique of contemporary social relations (1994).

12 Feld asks if we should believe Peter Gabriel when he says he wants to make third world artists as famous as he is, and when Youssou N’dour gives him special thanks (Feld 1994: 271). Feld asked Charles Keil: “how do you respond to Joseph Shabalala when he says that without Paul Simon Ladysmith Black Mambazo would have never gotten a record contract with Warner Brothers? CK: I would tell Joseph to be content with Shanachie Records … If that is the price to pay for keeping Warner Brothers and Paul Simon from having the copyright and ownership rights to those grooves, it is worth it. SF: I don’t think you can say that to third world musicians. You just can’t … CK: Everybody is hoping that they are going to make money because of this ownership principle of music, but they never do. All the musicians with the exception of Michael Jackson end up poor” (Keil, Feld 1994: 315). 13 For example, “Hybridity can rebound from its discursive origins in colonial fantasies and oppressions and can become instead a practical and creative means of cultural rearticula- tion and resurgence from the margins” (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 19). Postmodernists tend to see a “resolution of issues of appropriation into unproblematic notions of crosso- ver and pluralism.” Aesthetic pluralism is then divorced from extant socioeconomic differ- ences and “held to be an autonomous and effective force for transforming those differenc- es. The aesthetic is held to portend social change; it can stand … for wider social change” (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 21). Hutnyk critiques this stance of postmodernists (2000). Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 25

On the other hand, Lipsitz may “overstate the relative cultural power of these musics” (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 27) to effect change.14 Celebratory tales tend to naturalize globalization, emphasizing its inevitability (Feld 2000b: 152). They espouse a “democratic vision for world music,” which then becomes part of the marketing scheme. When audiences observe the incredible diversity of music available, they see it “as some kind of sign that democracy prevails that every voice can be heard, every style can be purchased, everything will be available to everybody” (Feld 2000b: 167). But, in celebrating diversity, we should not confuse the flow of musical contents with the flow of power relations (Feld 1994: 263). Often too much attention is paid to the sound aspect of hybrid musics and not enough to the social, political, and economic relationships that produce them. Anxious narratives often narrowly focus on the pitfalls of more commercial forms, less pure forms. “This fuels a kind of policing of … authen- ticity” (Feld 2000b: 152). Regarding Roma, I am not concerned about authen- ticity; the music that is produced by Roma is neither becoming more homogene- ous nor less authentic. Rather, a narrow aesthetic analysis ignores “who is doing the hybridity, from which position and with what intention and result” (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 19). Thus we need to focus more on questions of transmission, agency, profits, and representations. Along these lines I turn to DJs.

DJs

As mentioned earlier, since the 1990s clubs in western Europe and North Amer- ica draw large crowds of young non-Roma to dance to remixed Balkan Gypsy music. But what do DJs mean by “Balkan Gypsy” music? Approximately 90 percent of their core repertoire is brass music, including many songs popularized by Bregović and by the select Balkan brass bands found on western CDs. Balkan, Gypsy, and Brass are now interchangeable labels, whereas each of these generic rubrics includes a much wider repertoire. The remaining 10 percent of the rep-

14 African-Americans provide a useful comparison as a marginal group with musical power. Ingrid Monson’s statement that “African-Americans invert the expected relationship between hegemonic superculture and subculture” (1994: 286) could apply equally to Roma. But is this another from of exploitation? Has the socio-economic position of Blacks im- proved as a result of their music becoming popular throughout the world? Simon Jones (a celebratory scholar) asserts that when white British youth adopt Black musical styles they are implicitly rejecting racism (1988). Others, however, focus on how Black music never lost its imputed exoticism and primitiveness even when taken into white commercial forms (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 22–23). In jazz, white musicians have tended to receive greater rewards; similarly, in rock, “its white stars have generally been paid much more attention than black innovators” (Born, Hesmondhalgh 2000: 23). 26 Carol Silverman ertoire is composed of string bands such as Taraf de Haidouks from Romania, Hungarian Romani string bands that feature vocables, and Klezmer bands (fre- quently the Amsterdam Klezmer Band). These bands share an acoustic style; most DJs reject amplified music that features synthesizers and electric guitar and bass, even though this is the most widespread music in Balkan Romani communities. DJs who are from western Europe specifically shun folk/pop fusions and wedding bands because they consider them too kitschy. Many DJs told me these “acoustic” bands are “more authentic” than synthesized wedding bands. There are scores of DJs in a pan-west European network that sometimes extends to North and South America, Australia, and Japan. Some are young and naïve about the Balkans and Roma but a few are from the Balkans; none, however, are Roma. On the one hand, some DJs remix for the love of it and make little money; on the other hand, Shantel, the highest paid, receives as much as 2000 Euros for one night. The most popular pan-European DJ enterprise is trademarked under the name “Balkan Beats.” It was coined in the 1990s by leg- endary Bosnian DJ Robert Šoko, who initially attracted Balkan immigrants to his Berlin parties as part of the boon in Yugo-nostalgia; later Šoko expanded his purview to Germans and other west Europeans (Dimova 2007). Today Balkan Beats is an international trademark that brings Šoko to numerous European cities and well as New York, Tokyo, and Mexico City. Balkan DJs have formed a subculture where trans-border invitations for club events are issued in a recipro- cal manner, even across continents. A cursory glance at the discourse and the visuals advertising Balkan Beats and other DJ events reveals the trafficking in iconic fantasy Gypsy/Balkan mo- tifs emphasizing passion, wildness, and exoticism. DJs adopt names like Gyp- sy Jungle, Gypsy Box; Gypsy Sound System, Tipsy Gipsy, the Tsiganization Project, and Balkan Hotsteppers; advertising imagery draws on the circus, car- nivals, travel, animals, Yugo-nostalgia, and brass instruments. One group of DJs has trademarked the name Balkan Circus; clearly the romantic fantasy of the carefree musical Gypsy is invoked. For example, the poster in photograph 2 advertising a 2009 London event promises “another night of lush and gypsy mayham, balkan luxuries and exilarant dances [sic].” Virtually all DJs are in the “celebratory camp;” although some are quite in- trospective about social justice issues, they tend to disavow ownership theories of music; they believe that all music is available to everyone to use. They celebrate creativity and reject any hint that artistic or economic exploitation could exist. They valorize their own artistry and truly admire Romani musicians; furthermore, they claim they are helping Roma by popularizing their music by in- creasing the number of audience members who listen to it. This is true; however, young audience members rarely buy CDs, and even if they did, Romani artists on CDs rarely receive royalties because recording contracts tend to be exploita- Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 27

Photograph 2 tive. Moreover, only a handful of Romani bands have recorded on western CDs, as I mentioned earlier. Most Balkan Romani bands, even brass bands, are suffering due to decreased demand at home in the Balkans. However, DJs view the market for Gypsy music as continually growing, so everyone benefits. One strand in the celebratory camp asserts that appropriation is not problem- atic because there is no such thing as authentic Gypsy music. Village Voice crit- ic Robert Christgau, for example, writes: “Purity is always a misleading ideal. With the gypsies, or Roma … its an impossible chimera … real Gypsy music is a myth” (2006). Similarly, “There is no such thing as Gypsy music, insists DJ Shantel … you can only talk about traditional music from different regions in southeastern Europe” (Lynskey 2006). Like Bregović, these artists claim that because Roma have appropriated, then appropriations from Roma are unproblematic; but I claim they confuse artistry with economics. As Lynskey writes: “… bands are looking to the Balkans for inspiration, but … is this a genuine new musical hybrid or just cultural tourism? Gypsy music has always been a hybrid, but for centuries the underdogs assimilated the music of the dominant society. Now they are the ones being assimilated …” (2006). 28 Carol Silverman

Fusions and multiculturalism

Another strand in the celebratory discourse of appropriators is the feel-good, peace-making “multicultural” aspect of the music. Bregović, for example, sees himself as transcending the conflicts of the Balkans through Gypsy music. Shantel similarly views the DJ club experience as bringing people together: “It’s only music, you know. It’s to make people happy, not to fight against each other” (Lynskey 2006). I wonder how some producers can claim that racism has declined in western Europe due to dance clubs. There are virtually no Romani patrons in remix clubs – not only can’t they afford them, but also they can’t re- late to the scene. Many Roma in western Europe have a precarious legal, political, economic and social status as refugees or as illegal immigrant workers. The popularity of Gypsy remixes hardly mitigates racism and discrimination. How- ever, a multicultural fantasy of harmony overlays the club scene. For example, when I asked DJs if they knew anything about the plight of Romani refugees in the same neighborhoods of the clubs (e. g., evictions), most were ignorant, but some said their music could help dispel stereotypes. Most put their work in the realm of art, as opposed to politics. Many were surprised to learn that the labels Gypsy and Tsigan could be insulting to some Roma. Are DJs putting Romani musicians out of work? Are they being hired instead of Romani musicians? It is certainly cheaper to hire one DJ than to bring a band from the Balkans. But DJs have argued with me on this very point. A few do invite guest Romani musicians. In some clubs, at about 2 AM, a live act per- forms for an hour for a modest fee. But live acts are increasingly composed of non-Roma playing Gypsy music. How do Roma feel about remixes? It is hard to ascertain their honest opinions because most are extremely practical and do not want to alienate possible “collaborators” from whom they may derive future revenues.15 Most dislike remixed music and disregard the club scene, preferring to focus on markets they can influence, like weddings and festivals. Feld similarly observes that third world musicians want more exposure, sales, and “a greater cut of the action. If their perception is that the same process that is screwing them over is the process that is eventually going to give them a larger cut, then how to you tell them to take a smaller cut?” (1994: 315).

15 Producer Marc Hollander realizes that in all remixes “electronics are added by a producer rather than a member of the band, which distinguishes it from fusion from within, though this too can be very satisfying for all participants” (Dacks 2005). He, as well as Dacks, still seem to emphasize the fairness of the process: “In the end, call it world fusion or party music, all parties are concerned to make sure each project is an equitable work situation and generates goodwill amongst the participants” (Dacks 2005). Gypsy Music, Hybridity and Appropriation 29

Conclusion

With the popularization of Balkan Gypsy music, we can observe a process res- onating with the historical example of the appropriation of African-American blues and jazz by white musicians. A musical genre of a marginalized, racial- ized minority captures the pulse of fashion, but the group itself may be edged out of profit, fame, and credit because of appropriation and hierarchical market forces. Most DJ remixes are played in clubs and shared on digital plat- forms without securing legal permission (laws in western Europe vary regarding remixes). If DJs produce CDs, their label needs to obtain permission; but music is produced and copyrighted by a label, which decides whether to issue permission for remixing. The revenues go to the label, which may or may not have a revenue sharing agreement with their artists. The music business is supported by three pillars: record companies, major contract artists (like Madonna) who have control over their art, and “musicians are laborers who sell their services for a direct fee and take the risk (with little expectation) that royalty percentages, spin off jobs, tours, and recording contracts might follow from the exposure and success of records with enormous sales” (Feld 2000a: 245). Balkan Romani musicians as a whole are a varied group of performers. Most musicians have little contact with the west and only dream of western audiences; they rely on local wedding work which tends to be poorly paid or erratic. Sev- eral wedding bands, however, have found fame and fortune among audiences of Roma in the west European diaspora. Some Roma are involved in the pop/ folk industries in the Balkans with varying degrees of success. Another group, mostly composed of brass bands, is represented by western managers and labels. Those that have western contracts tour more often but rarely profit directly from DJ remixes. Non-Romani DJs, on the other hand, cultivate expanding youth audiences in clubs and at festivals spanning western Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Gypsy music in the west, then, no longer needs to be live and no longer needs Roma. The future direction of Balkan Gypsy club culture will be interest- ing to follow, both in the United States where it is now gaining momentum and in Europe where it has more than a decade-long history.

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