Mónika Lakatos and the Gipsy Voices: Hangszín

More than anything else, her voice—soaring, soulful, charismatic, bluesy, passionate—explains why Mónika Lakatos received the 2020 World Music Expo (WOMEX) Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming the first Roma artist to win the prestigious honor. Hangszín (Sound Colors), her second album with Gipsy Voices, further enhances her reputation on the world scene and also in Hungary … More Mónika Lakatos and the Gipsy Voices: Hangszín

Romano Drom: Give Me Wine

Millennials, baby boomers, GenX and Z—today’s vocabulary suggests that each generation is a world unto itself, with distinct attitudes and values. Romano Drom’s Give Me Wine is all about generations, but in the classic sense of culture transmitted from parents to children, from antiquity to the twenty-first century. The Budapest-based band was founded in 1999 by the late Antal Kovács and … More Romano Drom: Give Me Wine

Khamoro Budapest Band: Hungarian Gypsy Music

One of the most commonly used Romani loan words in English is “pal”—a fraternal takeaway reflecting the solidarity that binds a wandering people. A powerful byproduct of that solidarity is music that breaches social barriers the Roma themselves have often been unable to penetrate. They planted flamenco in Spain and gave manouche jazz to France; further east, the Roma sound is routinely viewed as synonymous with Hungarian … More Khamoro Budapest Band: Hungarian Gypsy Music