By Colin Covert Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Published on Friday, Oct 12, 2007
The music documentary Gypsy Caravan is an eye-opener, an ear-opener and most importantly, a heart-opener. The film follows five Roma bands from Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain as they tour the United States in a raucous, irresistible whirlwind of drums, brass and fiddles.
Recording them on their six-week excursion, with side trips to their homes, director Jasmine Dellal dispels many stereotypes about the gypsy lifestyle, props up a couple others and creates an honest and affectionate portrait of a much misunderstood group of people.
The film is in the vein of The Buena Vista Social Club, with fly-on-the-wall camera work, on-the-run interviews and long, infectious swaths of concert footage. The film leavens the performers' often painful stories with absurd humor.
A befuddled policeman arrives when the musicians hook fish out of a municipal art center's courtyard pool, and the ever-worried American stage manager ceaselessly urges the artists to get to the auditorium on time.
Appropriately for an Indo-European people scattered over half the globe, a diverse cross-section of music is included.
There's Fanfare Ciocarlia, the funky 11-man Romanian brass band that plays supersonic gypsy, klezmer and Turkish rave-ups.
You may have heard their rendition of Born to Be Wild at the end of Borat. Their four CDs have been so successful they have brought electricity to their impoverished village.
''Queen of the Gypsies'' Esma Redzepova, a humanitarian who adopted 47 children and was twice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, sings captivating Macedonian tunes.
The raga and dance group Maharaja, resplendent in northwest Indian finery, features Sayari Sapera, a specialty act to end them all. He twirls, dervish-style, in transvestite wedding dress, jewelry and full makeup. Hey, it's a tradition.
Romanian violin wizards Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands), who get an affectionate plug from fan Johnny Depp, work miracles with scratchy strings, and Spanish flamenco artist Antonio el Pipa is passion personified. You can see why their tour sold out, fans traveled hundreds of miles for an autograph and concertgoers couldn't resist dancing in the aisles.
The music documentary Gypsy Caravan is an eye-opener, an ear-opener and most importantly, a heart-opener. The film follows five Roma bands from Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain as they tour the United States in a raucous, irresistible whirlwind of drums, brass and fiddles.
Recording them on their six-week excursion, with side trips to their homes, director Jasmine Dellal dispels many stereotypes about the gypsy lifestyle, props up a couple others and creates an honest and affectionate portrait of a much misunderstood group of people.
The film is in the vein of The Buena Vista Social Club, with fly-on-the-wall camera work, on-the-run interviews and long, infectious swaths of concert footage. The film leavens the performers' often painful stories with absurd humor.
A befuddled policeman arrives when the musicians hook fish out of a municipal art center's courtyard pool, and the ever-worried American stage manager ceaselessly urges the artists to get to the auditorium on time.
Appropriately for an Indo-European people scattered over half the globe, a diverse cross-section of music is included.
There's Fanfare Ciocarlia, the funky 11-man Romanian brass band that plays supersonic gypsy, klezmer and Turkish rave-ups.
You may have heard their rendition of Born to Be Wild at the end of Borat. Their four CDs have been so successful they have brought electricity to their impoverished village.
''Queen of the Gypsies'' Esma Redzepova, a humanitarian who adopted 47 children and was twice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, sings captivating Macedonian tunes.
The raga and dance group Maharaja, resplendent in northwest Indian finery, features Sayari Sapera, a specialty act to end them all. He twirls, dervish-style, in transvestite wedding dress, jewelry and full makeup. Hey, it's a tradition.
Romanian violin wizards Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands), who get an affectionate plug from fan Johnny Depp, work miracles with scratchy strings, and Spanish flamenco artist Antonio el Pipa is passion personified. You can see why their tour sold out, fans traveled hundreds of miles for an autograph and concertgoers couldn't resist dancing in the aisles.
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