LOZANKA PEJČEVA (Institute of Folkore, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria)

Gypsy Music - Integrator of Eastern, Western and Balkan Popular Music

The study is based on audio and video cassettes with music played by Gypsy musicians and the performances of Gypsies at several music festivals in Bulgaria during the 1990s.

One can find many Eastern music elements - in the melody, mode, dance forms, etc. when listening to nowadays Bulgarian Gypsy musicians. The latter borrow from Western pop music hits or certain hit motifs, the electric instrumentarium, popular West European and American dance rhythms (lambada, samba, rap, disco etc.). Being musical polyglots Gypsy muscians are universal interpreters of the various ethnic musics on the Balkans - Greek, Turkish, Rumanian, Serbian, Bulgarian. In their musical interpretations they use some popular kinds of Bulgarian folk music, namely the so-called table (trapezni) and dance leading (horovodni) songs, town popular songs and paticularly instrumental folk music. Eastern, Western or Balkan - the popular music performed by Gypsies has their specific mark - fluency with any music material, rich improvisation, spontaneous perception by the audience. All these facts make the "Gypsy Music" a popular music product widely used in the everyday life of different ethnic groups living in Bulgaria.