learn to play Roma-style violin

Eventually! Soon! When I’m back to having just a job rather than a job plus school.

I played with my first balkan band last night… yikes that’s fast!! and not exactly in 2/4. But so thrilling. now I have stuff to practice, and potentially a gig!

But this was my main way of entertaining my family ha!!

yeah it not easy to find classical folk music in stores that is romany – it’s mostly pop and rock types or from the hippie era!! I’ve played my violin in a fusion group for dancers. It’s a family thing to me the music is really comparable to rai music or for spanish gypsies there is always some spanish fusion violin in gipsy kings. Look for a song called Lekhayim it’s by kumpania zelwer – I taught myself a lot listening to that song and anything classical arabic and russian folk.

...with no movement on the goal.

However, I was recently inspired to start thinking this goal after hearing these guys interviewed on NPR. I’d heard about Eugene Hutz several times before, and always meant to check out his band, but never got around to it.

FRICKING. AWESOME. I’m going to buy all of their CDs.

I am picky about punk and punkish music. Some of it I really love (The Sex Pistols, The Clash), and some of it I really dislike (almost everything recent that’s masquerading as “punk”). But Gogol Bordello is the real thing. As Hutz said in the interview I heard, it’s no stretch to put Roma music and punk music together – Roma music is already wild, crazy, fast, over the top.

I’m looking for this stuff. It’s not that easy to find! It’s buried in the world music section. Try searching for “fasil” or “koumpaneia” styles in the Amazon CD section and you’ll see. This will take some research. But I love the idea.