Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends
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Customer Review
Joyous
The premise here is very simple: 4 countries, 5 bands, and a 6 week tour of the US/Canada circa 2001 by filmmaker Jasmine Dellal ("American Gypsy: A Stranger In Everybody's Land"). The bands represent different styles of Roma/Gypsy music coming together at a crossroads of diasporic jamming. This film has the feel of "Festival Express" meets "The Last Waltz", but with better music and some awe inspiring stage performances!The bands come from Rajasthan, India (Maharajah), Macedonia (Esma Redzepova/Ensemble Teodosievski), Spain (Antonio El Pipa), and two are from Romania (Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia). For those who've seen the films of Tony Gatlif, Emir Kusturica, or the films "The Man Who Cried" and "Borat", the Romanian bands will sound very familiar to you because their music has been featured in these films. The sounds represent flamenco, brass, orchestra-ensemble, strings, laments, and ragas...an incredibly mixed bag over the Romani diaspora and even...
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a force of nature.
The Roma people are little known, like the wind ranging over the earth, transformative and invisible, but felt unless you never leave your domicile. Not surprising, Johnny Depp's glance with a Roma troupe resulted in lifelong changes, I think especially for him. The film follows many living threads of "gypsy" culture and music, which had been unaware of each other, having dispersed to distant lands, and naturally evolved musically with different ways. The phenomenal idea actualized and here documented: a colloborative concert bringing family together, who sing, play, and dance their way along time and continents all home to the roma. There is nothing simple about portraying any people, but these people and the filmmakers are undeniable in their authenticity. This film can contribute to anyone's experience and understanding of our humanity.
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Spirit Music
Thoroughly enjoyed this movie. An incredible capture of different gypsy cultures and their music (they're really ONE culture, that has spread out through Western Europe and the Middle East). Having grown up in southern Spain and attended elementary school and high-school there, this movie quite moved me. It flooded me with all sorts of memories and emotions, of a people very enlightened, who almost intentionally reject this"cerebral era" that we live in, and choose to look towards miracles in every day life.Having sat in elementary school with numerous gypsy kids it was great to watch these groups of gypsies traveling through the U.S. on tour. In multiple instances I burst out into laughter watching them interact with our American culture.To end my review and most importantly, this movie is about music. Gypsy music. Which is pure spirit and emotion. I hope you enjoy this movie.
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Product Description
Released in Spanish. NTSC (Canada & USA). An audience favorite at film festivals worldwide, Gypsy Caravan is a dazzling display of the musical world of the Roma, juxtaposed to the real world they live in. Five bands from four countries unite for the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan 6-week concert tour across North America with the musicians astounding every audience they meet. Their musical styles range from flamenco to brass band, from Romanian violin and Indian folk to Raga and jazz. And with fire in their bellies and soul in their voices, they present an explosion of song and dance that celebrates the best of Gypsy music and the diversity of the Romani people. Top to learn more
The astonishing variety of music made by the folks known as the Romani is spotlighted in Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends... (the title references a Gypsy proverb: "You cannot walk straight when the road bends"). Such diversity isn’t surprising, considering the history of these most peripatetic people, who are also known as Rom, Roma, or simply Gypsies. As writer-producer-director Jasmine Dallal’s film tells us, they originated in India, but began migrating a millennium ago, ending up both everywhere (primarily Europe, but scattered across the rest of the globe as well) and nowhere (Gypsies have no homeland; as one puts it, "We never went to war, never occupied any country, and never harmed anyone," and yet they are among the world’s most mistrusted and persecuted peoples). The one thing they’ve always had, however, is music, and plenty of it. Originally released in 2006, the film chronicles a six-week trip on which five bands from four countries performed in New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Austin, Ann Arbor, and other North American cities. The musicians are all excellent, but several stand out. Macedonia’s Esma Redzepova, a force of nature known as the Queen of the Gypsies, has an amazingly supple voice and a wailing power that regularly reduces audience members to tears, while two Romanian groups, Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia, combine a mind-boggling array of sounds (the short list includes everything from polka and klezmer to country, bluegrass, and Dixieland) to wild, electrifying, and occasionally rather nutty effect; other artists include India’s Maharajah, whose show includes a young male dancer who appears in female dress and makeup, and an exciting flamenco ensemble from Spain. The documentary also takes us to their respective homelands, which adds considerably to our understanding of this fiery, soulful culture (as do the bonus features, which include uncut performances by the principals as well as off-stage turns by them and various others). A side note: one of the cinematographers is Albert Maysles, whose previous work includes Monterey Pop and documentaries about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many others. --Sam Graham Top to learn more
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