Valjevo!! Long at last, the Amala School is in full swing, so much that I have had no time for computer updates. So much has happened in the past 10 days, I can't possibly condense the experience into this format, so I'll share a few pictures and videos from the past week that hopefully will give some idea as to what's going on in these parts.
View from the Valjevo station - the somewhat imposing orthodox church (happens to be the second largest in the Balkans). Given the recent history of religious strife in this area I suppose I should have expected that religion would play a strong role in most people's lives, but somehow I imagined that it would have faded or crumbled like many of the other institutions of Serbia's former era. Not so. Almost every house is adorned with pictures of saints, and many men, Roma especially, are sporting saint charm-bracelets.
There are several different language and cultural groups among the Roma, even in Serbia. The language groups can be divided largely among religious lines. The dialect spoken here in Western Serbia, Gurbeti, falls squarely into the Serbian Orthodox church.
Valjevo is particularly important to orthodox Serbs, as the surrounding hills have two active monestaries that were home to two saints in the church. Apparently this is very rare. Besides its saints, Valjevo is also considered to be the birthplace of Serbian identity, where Karodjordje (Black George) first initiated an uprising against Ottoman rule. Many a head have been removed on the small white bridge at the center of town.
But, beyond saints and beheadings, I am most excited about the amazing music and musicians in these hills. My first night opened with an incredible display of musicianship and energy from Branco and Ljuba Petrovic, two young musicians from the nearby Romani village of Grabovica.
Ljuba's hands-on teaching technique in action.
The view down the street and into the hills of Valjevo. The driving here is some of the most wanton I've seen. On my bus ride from Belgrade I felt like I was reliving the passing scene in "Speed." This is also the first place I've been where it is routine to honk at motorists in front of you for driving too slow.
me happy to be on a walk around town
Me happy to be drinking a beer after a long first day of music classes. I say classes but the kind of musical instruction I've been getting can't really be described as a class or lesson. After breakfast I meet with Ljuba for about two hours. We share some misunderstood greetings, he shreds on my accordion and eventually settles on something I'm supposed to play. I learn the song and then he says yes or no until the morning is over. This is repeated again in the afternoon.
Up until now I have been learning mostly songs. Tempos are slower than the break-neck speed of the kolos, but the ornaments and progressions are still very challenging to nail down. Some of the songs, like "Djelem Djelem" and "Ederlezi" are Serbian Romani classics, often sung by Romani super star Ezma Redzepova.
The other songs I'm learning were written by Dusko Petrovic, a Romani Superstar in his own right, and also the second cousin of my teacher, Ljuba Petrovic. Dusko wrote the number one hits in Yugoslavia in 1969, 1970, and 1971. And whats more, he sang all of those hits in Romanes. It's striking how the mainstream can support Roma in a limited number of roles (music being very high on the list) but deny them other, more basic ones. More on that later.
This is Baba Ruzha, our in-house (literally) Romanes coach, doughnut maker, and coffee server. She has the most amazing voice. I was practicing near her house the other day and suddenly I was engulfed by a cloud of dense wood smoke. Her grandson informed me that this is common feminine Romani etiquette for getting your neighbors to stop watching you.
In addition to my 4+ hours of music playing each day, I have been learning the Romani language, Romanes. Romanes is an Indic language, with no relation whatsoever to the Indo-European language group (except for local words that are absorbed). The Roma migrated from Rajasthan, India, about 800 years ago, and have basically maintained their language wherever they went, with the strongest density of speakers living in the Balkans. Gurbeti, the dialect spoken here in western Serbia, is a combination of Sanskrit, Turkish, and Slavic languages.
While the phonemes are not that tricky to pronounce, the grammar is brutal for English speakers. Where we would use a pronoun, e.g. on, for, from, to, with, etc., Romani implements cases that modify the subject in a sentance. For example, instead of the formulation, "I am with my friend's sister" Romanes would have something like "I am friendith sisterof," with the word endings changing depending on gender and number.
To make things trickier, the family I am living with and the musicians I am playing with switch back and forth between Romanes and Serbian. What little English is spoken is heavily laced with Serbian inflection, so whenever someone speaks to me I have to first figure out if it is Romanes, Serbian, or English, and then respond accordingly. This often happens while learning heavily ornamented dance music. So, my ears and brain are often pretty tired by the end of the day.
ddition to my 4+ hours of music playing each day, I have been learning the Romani language, Romanes. Romanes is an Indic language, with no relation whatsoever to the Indo-European language group (except for local words that are absorbed). The Roma migrated from Rajasthan, India, about 800 years ago, and have basically maintained their language wherever they went, with the strongest density of speakers living in the Balkans. Gurbeti, the dialect spoken here in western Serbia, is a combination of Sanskrit, Turkish, and Slavic languages.
While the phonemes are not that tricky to pronounce, the grammar is brutal for English speakers. Where we would use a pronoun, e.g. on, for, from, to, with, etc., Romani implements cases that modify the subject in a sentance. For example, instead of the formulation, "I am with my friend's sister" Romanes would have something like "I am friendith sisterof," with the word endings changing depending on gender and number.
To make things trickier, the family I am living with and the musicians I am playing with switch back and forth between Romanes and Serbian. What little English is spoken is heavily laced with Serbian inflection, so whenever someone speaks to me I have to first figure out if it is Romanes, Serbian, or English, and then respond accordingly. This often happens while learning heavily ornamented dance music. So, my ears and brain are often pretty tired by the end of the day.
Baba Ruzha, our in-house (literally) Romanes coach, doughnut maker, and coffee server. She has the most amazing voice. I was practicing near her house the other day and suddenly I was engulfed by a cloud of dense wood smoke. Her grandson informed me that this is common feminine Romani etiquette for getting your neighbors to stop watching you.
Fortunately, the food here has been amazing. Here we have some stuffed fermented cabbage leaves and beef. Tomatoes have been on the table three meals a day, and fresh hot peppers grace lunch and dinner. There are plums, apples, pears, and walnuts growing on trees in the yard. My only gripe is the tiny cups of Turkish coffee. You can throw back enough to make you jittery without waking up, and unless you boil it just right the whole thing erupts onto the floor like a grade school science experiment. Oh well, so far complaints are very few and precious moments are abundant. Stay tuned for some videos.
Vidimo se.
View from the Valjevo station - the somewhat imposing orthodox church (happens to be the second largest in the Balkans). Given the recent history of religious strife in this area I suppose I should have expected that religion would play a strong role in most people's lives, but somehow I imagined that it would have faded or crumbled like many of the other institutions of Serbia's former era. Not so. Almost every house is adorned with pictures of saints, and many men, Roma especially, are sporting saint charm-bracelets.
There are several different language and cultural groups among the Roma, even in Serbia. The language groups can be divided largely among religious lines. The dialect spoken here in Western Serbia, Gurbeti, falls squarely into the Serbian Orthodox church.
Valjevo is particularly important to orthodox Serbs, as the surrounding hills have two active monestaries that were home to two saints in the church. Apparently this is very rare. Besides its saints, Valjevo is also considered to be the birthplace of Serbian identity, where Karodjordje (Black George) first initiated an uprising against Ottoman rule. Many a head have been removed on the small white bridge at the center of town.
But, beyond saints and beheadings, I am most excited about the amazing music and musicians in these hills. My first night opened with an incredible display of musicianship and energy from Branco and Ljuba Petrovic, two young musicians from the nearby Romani village of Grabovica.
Ljuba's hands-on teaching technique in action.
The view down the street and into the hills of Valjevo. The driving here is some of the most wanton I've seen. On my bus ride from Belgrade I felt like I was reliving the passing scene in "Speed." This is also the first place I've been where it is routine to honk at motorists in front of you for driving too slow.
me happy to be on a walk around town
Me happy to be drinking a beer after a long first day of music classes. I say classes but the kind of musical instruction I've been getting can't really be described as a class or lesson. After breakfast I meet with Ljuba for about two hours. We share some misunderstood greetings, he shreds on my accordion and eventually settles on something I'm supposed to play. I learn the song and then he says yes or no until the morning is over. This is repeated again in the afternoon.
Up until now I have been learning mostly songs. Tempos are slower than the break-neck speed of the kolos, but the ornaments and progressions are still very challenging to nail down. Some of the songs, like "Djelem Djelem" and "Ederlezi" are Serbian Romani classics, often sung by Romani super star Ezma Redzepova.
The other songs I'm learning were written by Dusko Petrovic, a Romani Superstar in his own right, and also the second cousin of my teacher, Ljuba Petrovic. Dusko wrote the number one hits in Yugoslavia in 1969, 1970, and 1971. And whats more, he sang all of those hits in Romanes. It's striking how the mainstream can support Roma in a limited number of roles (music being very high on the list) but deny them other, more basic ones. More on that later.
This is Baba Ruzha, our in-house (literally) Romanes coach, doughnut maker, and coffee server. She has the most amazing voice. I was practicing near her house the other day and suddenly I was engulfed by a cloud of dense wood smoke. Her grandson informed me that this is common feminine Romani etiquette for getting your neighbors to stop watching you.
In addition to my 4+ hours of music playing each day, I have been learning the Romani language, Romanes. Romanes is an Indic language, with no relation whatsoever to the Indo-European language group (except for local words that are absorbed). The Roma migrated from Rajasthan, India, about 800 years ago, and have basically maintained their language wherever they went, with the strongest density of speakers living in the Balkans. Gurbeti, the dialect spoken here in western Serbia, is a combination of Sanskrit, Turkish, and Slavic languages.
While the phonemes are not that tricky to pronounce, the grammar is brutal for English speakers. Where we would use a pronoun, e.g. on, for, from, to, with, etc., Romani implements cases that modify the subject in a sentance. For example, instead of the formulation, "I am with my friend's sister" Romanes would have something like "I am friendith sisterof," with the word endings changing depending on gender and number.
To make things trickier, the family I am living with and the musicians I am playing with switch back and forth between Romanes and Serbian. What little English is spoken is heavily laced with Serbian inflection, so whenever someone speaks to me I have to first figure out if it is Romanes, Serbian, or English, and then respond accordingly. This often happens while learning heavily ornamented dance music. So, my ears and brain are often pretty tired by the end of the day.
ddition to my 4+ hours of music playing each day, I have been learning the Romani language, Romanes. Romanes is an Indic language, with no relation whatsoever to the Indo-European language group (except for local words that are absorbed). The Roma migrated from Rajasthan, India, about 800 years ago, and have basically maintained their language wherever they went, with the strongest density of speakers living in the Balkans. Gurbeti, the dialect spoken here in western Serbia, is a combination of Sanskrit, Turkish, and Slavic languages.
While the phonemes are not that tricky to pronounce, the grammar is brutal for English speakers. Where we would use a pronoun, e.g. on, for, from, to, with, etc., Romani implements cases that modify the subject in a sentance. For example, instead of the formulation, "I am with my friend's sister" Romanes would have something like "I am friendith sisterof," with the word endings changing depending on gender and number.
To make things trickier, the family I am living with and the musicians I am playing with switch back and forth between Romanes and Serbian. What little English is spoken is heavily laced with Serbian inflection, so whenever someone speaks to me I have to first figure out if it is Romanes, Serbian, or English, and then respond accordingly. This often happens while learning heavily ornamented dance music. So, my ears and brain are often pretty tired by the end of the day.
Baba Ruzha, our in-house (literally) Romanes coach, doughnut maker, and coffee server. She has the most amazing voice. I was practicing near her house the other day and suddenly I was engulfed by a cloud of dense wood smoke. Her grandson informed me that this is common feminine Romani etiquette for getting your neighbors to stop watching you.
Fortunately, the food here has been amazing. Here we have some stuffed fermented cabbage leaves and beef. Tomatoes have been on the table three meals a day, and fresh hot peppers grace lunch and dinner. There are plums, apples, pears, and walnuts growing on trees in the yard. My only gripe is the tiny cups of Turkish coffee. You can throw back enough to make you jittery without waking up, and unless you boil it just right the whole thing erupts onto the floor like a grade school science experiment. Oh well, so far complaints are very few and precious moments are abundant. Stay tuned for some videos.
Vidimo se.
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