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Gypsy punk is the term used to describe a hybrid musical genre that crosses traditional Roma music with punk rock and other brands of rebel music. The origin of the term is unknown, but bands playing Gypsy punk have existed at least since the 1990s. The term became well-known to a broader audience after the band Gogol Bordello released the album Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, with front man Eugene Hütz describing their performance as a "Gypsy Punk Cabaret"[1]in reference to their 2005 album Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike. The term has also been subject to the debate that it exploits Roma culture. Gogol Bordello have since insisted it was just the name of their album, which was then taken and used by the music press as a term to define the genre of their music and similar artists - not an offshoot term for authentic gypsy music.
Representatives of this genre include blackbird RAUM, Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, DeVotchKa, Luminescent Orchestrii, J.U.F., Mititika, Golem, Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants, Kultur Shock, Jason Webley, Jabul Gorba, Dorlene Love, and to an extent, The No Smoking Orchestra, as well as some related offshoots, such as Alamaailman Vasarat, Romashka and Beirut. Gypsy punk bands usually combine rock beats and instrumentation with more traditional Gypsy instrumentation such as drums, tambourine, accordion, fiddle, trumpet, and saxophone. In addition, due to the varied ethnic makeup of the Gypsy culture, many bands sing in several different languages, often switching language multiple times within a single song.
[edit] References
- ^ The Village Voice: Gogol a Go-Go
[edit] See also
