The music associated with the people known as the Romani (or Rom, or Roma) just doesn't get any better than what's heard during Gypsy Caravan. Writer-producer-director Jasmine Dellal accompanied five Gypsy artists (a singer from Macedonia, two bands from Romania, and one each from India and Spain) on a six-week North American tour, capturing outstanding performances full of striking diversity. Polka, klezmer, raga, country, bluegrass, even Dixieland…it's all here, sometimes in the course of a single tune. The two Romanian ensembles, Taraf de Haïdouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia, combine these and other sounds to wild, electrifying, and occasionally rather nutty effect, while Macedonia's Esma Redzepova offers perhaps the purest distillation of Gypsy music with an amazingly supple voice that regularly reduces audience members to tears. Dellal also takes us to these artists' respective countries, although the very notion of a “Gypsy homeland” is almost antithetical, given that Gypsies are among the most nomadic people in history, and have routinely endured both the kind of subtle mistrust and blatant persecution that came with being stereotyped as murderers and thieves (despite the fact that, as Redzepova puts it, “We never went to war, never occupied any country, and never harmed anyone”). The cultural insights are valuable, but the music (including several uncut performances among the bonus features) is what really elevates this film. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)
Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends…
(2007) 111 min. DVD: $26.95 (w/PPR for $175 from www.shadowdistribution.com). Docurama (avail. from most distributors). ISBN: 1-4229-0206-4. Volume 23, Issue 6
Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends…
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