Archive Page 2
From Roma Virtual Network.
Romani Dreams is a poetry collection of one of the most famous Romani contemporary authors – Valdemar Kalinin, the winner of the Roma Literary Award from OSI-Budapest in 2003, the Hiroshima Prize for Peace and Culture (2002), and the Poetry Prize at the 8th International Romani Art Festival in Lanciano (2001).
As a poet, Valdemar Kalinin continues the tradition of the Russian Romani Poetic School which was established in the 1920’s century by Nikolay Pankov, Alexander German, Olga Pankova, Georgy Lebedev, Evdokia Orlova, and was revived in 1970-80s by Nikolay Satkevich, Leksa Manush, Karlis Rudevichs, Nikolay Zhemchuzhnyi, etc. Influenced by the folklore tradition, Romani Dreams aims to present the past and present of the Romani culture in its unique language. Moreover, the Belorussian and English translation of the collection allows the non-Romani audience to enter the world of one of the most notable representatives of Romani culture.
Copies of the book are available for review on request from the contact below. Requests for interviews with the author are also welcome.
Contacts:
E-mail: v.kalinin@btopenworld.com or dken@globalnet.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)207 609 6047
Address: Flat 2, 52 Penn Road, London N7 9RE United Kingdom
Book details: 309pp
Cost: £10.99 + P&P
Published by Stepping Stones School, London 2005.
A new virtual exhibit is published in a Gipsy web-magazine ‘Romany Kultury i Dziipen’: pictures of a Romano artist from Hungary, Zsolt Vari.
Romani literature in Russia seems to rise again. For the last years three new Romane writers appeared at one time: Anastacia Drobina (several historical romantic stories), Alexey Ilyinsky (”Gypsies. Three centuries in Russia”) and Oleg Petrovich (”The prince of Saporonni clan”). But all of them write in Russian to be published.
And what about books in Romani chib, are they available?
Yes, they are. Commonly serious ones, for adults. But Romane children also prefer to read in native language! Alas, usually they even learn to read using books in other languages. That’s make learning more difficult for them.
That’s why a Romano pedagogue from Ukraine, Yury Ivanenko, decided to publish children books in Romani chib for his own money. He translated to Romani several fairy-tales of a Russian classical poet Pushkin and published two versions of them, with Cyrillic letter (for children in the former USSR) and in Roman letters (for children in other Europe).
Every book costs only 10$, and if you want to read a book in Romani chib or to buy it for your children or just interested, you may ask Yury Ivanenko more about them, his email is elpart@public.kherson.ua .
Gypsies have a flag, an antheme, a National Day and symbols.
The Gypsy flag contains two stripes, blue and green, and a red wheel. The blue stripe mean heavens, not only the sky, but also seeking God. The green stripe mean earth (covered with grass), because ‘the earth under Gypsy’s feet is his motherland’.
The wheel is a symbol of traditional, nomadic way of life, it is also a symbol of Gypsy soul. It is red like blood of Gypsies murdered in the past. But red is the color not only of memory, but also of joy, because Gypsies enjoy life!
The wheel lays on both stripes because Gypsies go by both a path of the Earth and a path of the Soul.
The Gypsy anthem is ‘Djelem, djelem’. Here is it’s common translation:
‘I went, I went by long roads, I met, I met happy Gipsies. Hey, Gipsies, where are you going from, with your tents, by lucky roads? many years ago I had a big family, but Black Legions murdered it… Gipsies of the world, come on, with me, Gipsy roads are open! It’s time to rise for Gipsies, and we’ll rise if we act!’
The main Gypsy symbols are a red or golden wheel and a horseshoe.
The National Gypsy Day is April, 8.
We all know that there are many Slavs in Europe: Russians, Ukranians, Belarussians, Czechs, Rusins, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbians, Montenegrins, Bosnians. They all are Slavs and they all are Europeans, that’s true. But also we know, that’s not all of Europeans are Slavs.
The same situation is when we say about Gypsies and Roma.
Continue reading ‘Are all of Europeans Slavs?’
come back soon for something blogalicious.
Gipsy women have been always considered to be beautyful and attractive, and Gipsy dancers are an alive symbol of grace and passion. New picture series of Russian artist and ethnographer Nikolai Bessonov show the truth of those considerations.
What a lucky day! Strolling through the Saski Park in Warsaw this morning, by pure accident, I came across wonderful 
open air photo exhibition on Polish Roma. “Gypsies - Roma. Forgotten Images“. The collection presents documented everyday life of Polish Roma in 50-60s of XX century. These black-and-white images probably the last saved piece of world and nomadic life style of Roma. It seems that random visitors of this amazing public art presentation were lucky enough - these photos have not been published for a long time. The photos were taken by Janusz Helfer, Polish photographer from Cracow, who was enthrall by Roma culture.
Although, the settlements have dramatically changed life of Travellers, it have not cut them off their roots and traditions. The photographer has captured various aspects and interesting moments of everyday life of Polish Roma. You can see images of smiling children and people of older generation, tentcamps and family gatherings.
I was really happy to see that this exhibition has attracted attention of quite a lot of people who happened to be in the park. Good news! I had my camera with me and I am more then happy to share with you my photos on the photo exhibition on Polish Roma of 1950-60s. I hope this will give you an impression of this great collection.
Continue reading ‘"Gypsies-Roma. Forgotten Images".’
Last week Ljubljana welcomed about 30 participants from different countries at the IAPSS International Seminar Youth Bridging the Gap: Reaching Out to Roma. This international event was “dedicated to increasing the level of acceptance of the Roma as a minority group and of the Roma culture among youth”. The organizers did a spectacular job and the seminar turned out to be both productive and full of interesting events.
Young people from various countries and different backgrounds gathered together to share experiences and to prove that there are always people who are struggling for better world. Presentations on Roma in Slovenia and Serbia, project management workshops, a visit to a Roma community in Kamenice, a movie on Roma culture and way of life in Macedonia, a lot of provocative discussions and ideas for future projects - these are just a few things that took place during five day the seminar. One of the formal results of the meeting is the Manifesto of youth fighting discrimination against Roma which was signed by all participants.
Continue reading ‘International Seminar: Reaching Out to Roma’
NOTE: The following post is written by R.N.
No one has ever heard about the village called Tomor except for the 
people who live in the neighborhood. Still, this small village in Northern-Hungary got into the news. A foundation decided to help the villagers, mostly unemployed and poorly educated, to break out of the segregation: it gives them free wi-fi and used, cheap computers. They say that it helps them for instance to finish their studies, obtain a profession, and then, to find a job.
Not only in this area is segregation widespread. Roma pupils (and in Tomor most of villagers are Roma) got often into segregated schools where everything is worse, and only a few manage to finish their studies. This was one reason why the foundation called Rom Som decided to help them. Now it operates community centers in six villages where the villagers can study or simply browse on the web.
Nevertheless, they started another project in Tomor. With the help of some companies, computers are available for the villagers at a cheap price – around 80 euros, which reminds on the 100-dollar-laptop project of Nicholas Negroponte that inspired the Hungarian initiative as well. Monthly payments are also possible. And beside the computers, free wi-fi covers the whole village.
The foundation says, if the program works, they will continue it in other villages, and then, they may also extend the program abroad. One thing is sure so far: the people in Tomor are enthusiastic.
