Nomadic Magyar Gypsies, photos and videos

Magyar Gypsies come to Russia from Transcarpathian Ukraine. Their barefoot women carry children on their backs and beg alms in the underground and at railway stations. Even in winter they live in forests and cook on fire. I always wanted to know the way they sing and dance. Once I took a tape with Romany Gypsy music and went to a forest camp. It was big — about three hundred people. There was an old tape-recorder in one of the polyethylene tents. I heard a familiar melody — Hungarian Gypsy band “Kali Yag” plays similar music.

You can see some videos: I danced for them and they for me. I want to mention that men’s and women’s dances of Ruska Roma are equally complicated. Magyar Gypsies have big difference there. Men’s dance is complicated, women on the contrary have only three or four movements. But one can dance all day long like this. In general my impression of the camp was very “Gypsy”: it’s amazing to see those people having fun.

I still keep in touch with Magyar Gypsies. Nowadays we visit forest camps with my husband and we are always welcomed. We give concerts to nomadic Gypsies and they sing and dance for us. Their melodies and cheerful interjections influenced our work. The song “Korchma” from our first CD was written on the basis of our tabor impressions.