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For many people the word Gypsy evokes an air of mystery and romance and scenes of unbridled dancing, fortune-telling, music, and brightly painted caravans of horse-drawn carriages.
The word “Gypsy” has become synonymous with the kind of wanderlust and exhibitionism we find tempting and dangerous, fantasies kept hidden deep within ourselves, rarely acted upon. No other ethnic group in the world has its name so popularly used as an adjective by an artist (all too often written with a small “g”) and advertisers to sell their products or alternatively, as a pejorative. This course will examine who the Roma (coming from the Sanskrit word for man) people really are and their unique place in European history and world culture.
Focusing on the origins of the Roma and their dispersion throughout Europe from the British Isles to the Ural Mountains. The lecture will also look at why certain negative stereotypes about the Roma began.
The lecture will examine the origins of the Porajmos (Romani for devouring) where some half a million to one million Roma were murdered.
Examine how the Romani Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives during the Stalinist years in the East Bloc. This lecture will also look at how the Roma and Jewish survivors interacted with each other, particularly the klezmer and Roma musicians in Eastern Europe.
The lecture will examine how Roma musicians and dancers have created many genres of music in the world. From Gypsy jazz to flamenco to classical music, the Roma have had an enduring influence.
The lecture will examine how some Roma were encouraged by the “gaje” (non-Romani people) to become more integrated into the general society while at the same time, anti-Roma sentiment grew among the working and middle classes in Europe, especially in the former East Bloc countries.
Yale Strom is also one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Roma music and history. He has conducted extensive ethnographic research throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans since 1981. He has made nine documentary films, written thirteen books, has had numerous photo-exhibitions throughout the world and with his band Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi he has made fifteen recordings. They run the gamut from traditional klezmer to "new" Jewish jazz. He has also composed for theatre, film, radio, television, symphony orchestras and various artists such as Rachel ...
Yale Strom is also one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Roma music and history. He has conducted extensive ethnographic research throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans since 1981. He has made nine documentary films, written thirteen books, has had numerous photo-exhibitions throughout the world and with his band Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi he has made fifteen recordings. They run the gamut from traditional klezmer to "new" Jewish jazz. He has also composed for theatre, film, radio, television, symphony orchestras and various artists such as Rachel Barton Pine, Sara Caswell and many others. His latest documentary film is American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs and newest recording is Yale Strom's Broken Consort: Shimmering Lights. He is currently artist-in-residence/professor in the Jewish Studies Program at San Diego State University. Prior to this Strom taught at New York University, where he created a course in ethnography and art that is taught to this day. www.yalestrom.com
Yale Strom: From Rajisthan to the World, the History and Culture of the Roma
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