Art in Community among the Poor

Here is a sketch I worked on for a larger oil painting in progress. Almost every major composer in music history has done tributes to Roma (incorrectly called Gypsy) music. Here is a clip of Roma music by violinist Sandra Layman who studied, 'muzica lautareasca', with Roma in Bucuresti some years ago. Roma have often become used in literature and common language as a symbol of wander lust, rootless peoples, and adventure seeking. In reality this was historically the lot of a people running from slavery. In Romania there are more Roma than anywhere else, mainly because they were enslaved for a couple centuries. For more good information on Romani people check out the Roma scholar Ian Hancock's book, 'We are the Romani People' Rather than being a symbol of wandering adventurers, Roma are becoming for me an example of cultural identity and rootedness in the midst of an uprooted world and its prevailing mono culture. Also, see more recently posted on the Word Made Flesh site my 'Reflections on Rootlessness'