WHO CREATES GYPSY MUSIC? NON-ROMA AND "THE GYPSY FRIEND" SOCIETY CHOIR (1932–1933)

Abstract

Music-making has not been a traditional occupation for Latvian Roma (lotfitka roma). Until the 1980s, local Roma were rarely present on stage and were not known as musicians at informal non-Roma events. When the first known public Roma artistic collective – the Gypsy Friend society choir – was formed in 1932, there already was a lively ‘Gypsy music’ scene in Riga governed by non-Roma ‘Gypsy choirs’ in the popular Russian model, as well as public admiration of popular Hungarian ‘Gypsy music’. ‘Gypsy music’ was performed in the evening programs of cafes and restaurants, it was included in divertissements and cabaret programs of movie houses, dance halls and casinos, as well as in theatre performances and circus shows.

The Latvian Roma choir made its debut on 29 April 1933. In the representation style it followed the Latvian choral singing tradition. Two Latvian composers Jānis Kalniņš and Ralfs Alunāns (the latter becoming also a conductor of the choir) made four-part arrangements of traditional Latvian Roma songs for the choir. The reviews of the only known choir concert show that the performance was not convincing neither in its ‘authenticity’ nor mastery.