HERDELJEZI is a traditional Romani (Gypsy) neighborhood celebration announcing the end of the cold indoor season and the
beginning of the warmer season of movement and outdoor life. Survival from the winter and the seasonal renewal of life is celebrated at Herdeljezi through the sharing of music, dance, food and community.
How it started
In 1996 VOR created the first Herdeljezi Festival in California. It was designed as a means of preserving and sharing the cultural traditions and folk arts of the Romani people here in the United States, while building a sense of community among the friends and neighbors who help to make it happen. Since then the Herdeljezi Festival has become an annual event that draws larger crowds each year. Ten years later, the Herdeljezi Festival continues to exemplify the way in which VOR creates a sense of "mahala" (community-neighborhood) infusing it with the traditional and authentic Romani music, songs, dances, stories, foods, crafts, literature and customs of the Roma. This Event benefits VOR's efforts on behalf of the Roma in/from Kosovo, to educate the public and international organizations about their plight and to provide them with humanitarian aid.
The 15th Annual California Herdeljezi Festival, a traditional Romani (Gypsy) folk arts festival will be held May 6 and 7, 2011, in Sebastopol California. The festival celebrates the folk art traditions of Roma (Gypsies); featuring traditional music, songs, dances, stories, foods, crafts and customs of the Roma, within a strong community-building context, and with a goal of creating a sense of 'mahala' (shared community-neighborhood) amongst all who participate.
For its first several years, the California Herdeljezi Festival was held on the grounds of a neighborhood cul de sac and nearby local church in a small town in Western Sonoma County. Having outgrown this space by the fifth annual festival, the location was moved to the downtown block of Graton; where over 700 people attended.
In 2003 the 7th Annual Herdeljezi Festival was expanded to a two-day event, this time at a community center and beautiful park in downtown Sebastopol, the largest city in Western Sonoma County. 2003 was the first year that a grant from the California Arts Council enabled small fees to be paid to artists, technicians, and festival coordinators. More than 900 people attended this highly successful gathering.
Preparation for the Herdeljezi Festival begins months before the actual event. VOR president Sani Rifati takes the lead in soliciting input from other cultural experts, such as Esma Redzepova (The Queen of "Gypsy" Song), Ian Hancock (Rom scholar and professor of linguistics at the University of Austin, Texas), and Carol Silverman (professor of Folklore and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oregon with a specialty in Romani music), as well as Romani friends and family from diverse countries. Volunteers attend planning meetings, make arrangements for and with the participating artists, and work with local partners such as the Sebastopol City Council and Sebastopol Parks and Recreation Services as well as many local businesses.
Past Festivals have included celebrated performers such as Flamenco! Live! Dance Ensemble
with dancer La Fibi; Rumen Shopov, master Bulgarian Rom musician and band leader; Sani Rifati, drummer, dancer and dance instructor in the Balkan Romani tradition; Kitka, Bay Area Balkan Women's Choir singing Romani folk songs; "El Lolo" Mario Torres, a Spanish Rom Flamenco singer-guitarist; Kajira and United We Dance, the soloist and belly-dance troup, performing in the Romani tradition; Edessa and Anoush, two popular Bay Area Balkan Bands; Jaime del Rio and his Flamenco musicians and dancers; Eugene Hutz and other members of the band "Gogol Bordello," plus many others.
In addition to the high caliber music, dance, and spoken word performers, some of whom come from as far away as Vancouver, BC, New York, Virginia, Iowa, Washington, Oregon and Southern California to participate in the festival, the festival includes other expressions of Romani culture and folk arts such as: henna painting, an exhibition of traditional Romani handcrafts such as colorful crocheted shawls, tablecloths, embroidered decorative pillows, hand knit clothing, etc., photo exhibits and screenings of video documentaries, traditional Romani circus arts, etc. The involvement of the surrounding community is enhanced by a parade through the neighborhood, featuring music and dance. The day's festival lasts all afternoon and evening, and includes the ritual lighting of the fire and burning of the symbolic "biggest" log, maintaining this important Romani cultural tradition celebrating the spring-summer season of movement and outdoor life.
Featured Artists
RUZSA NIKOLIC-LAKATOS
Born in Hungary in 1945, she
has lived in Vienna since 1956. Having grown up in a traditional
Lovara family, she has been singing traditional Roma songs since she
learned them from her father in early childhood. These songs tell true
stories of the life of the Roma, of happiness and sadness. Ruzsa sees
herself as an "ambassadress of the Roma". She hopes that her songs
will help to enhance awareness of her people and that coming
generations will preserve the musical resources of the Roma.
REYHAN AND HÜSNÜ TUZSUZ
video demo
We regret to inform you of a last minute cancellation by Reyhan and Hüsnü Tuzsuz from Turkey.
We hope to have them in the future !
Reyhan Tuzsuz is an internationally known and much sought after teacher of Turkish Roman (gypsy) dance. She,
her husband and her two daughters live in the same Roman neighborhood she grew up in, GaziOsman Pasha,
Istanbul. She learned to dance as all Roman do, by watching others and feeling the music at weddings and
special events.
From a young age, Reyhan had a gift for interpreting and stylizing to Roman music. She is totally
improvisational, surprising even herself with what the music can inspire from moment to moment. "Roman without
the joy of life is not Roman" as she would say. She is a young and vivacious woman who has not separated her
dance from her core identity and her spiritual being.
She occasionally instructs workshops for such well-known Middle Eastern Dance artists as Helene Erickson,
Artemis Mourat and Eva Cernik.
Hüsnü Tuzsuz comes from a long line of violinists. He studied in the direct lineage of the great Roman
violinist, Haydar Tatliyay, whose special decorative technique is difficult to mimic, but easily recognizable
in Turkish Roman music.
Although he will tell you his talent comes from birth. His skill for understanding the learning process comes
from his disciplined studies at the Uskudar Mosque under the direction of Suheyla Altmisdort. Husnu also takes
international students into his home to teach his technique. He is a regular performer at restaurants and
nightclubs in Istanbul.
GYPSY BOYS (Paul and George Stevens)
The "Gypsy Boys" are the third generation of the Stevens Family
Band, performing Romani music that includes Django Reinhardt's jazz,
plus Serbian, Greek, Hungarian and Russian influences The band formed
in the 80's when several grandchildren began playing with
grandfather Vine, a renowned mandolinist and important leader of the
Los Angeles Romani community. They perform frequently at Romani
gatherings and celebrations in Southern California, New York, and
Florida, and have also performed at New York's Skirball Museum with
the famous guitarist Les Paul and with renowned bouzouki player Yanis
Yamakis Sporos in Greece.
DANNY FENDER
"He plays his music at Gypsy weddings, dances, and reunions. His wicked brand of guitarwork
is known as 'California Style,' which is all but unknown to anyone but fellow Gypsies." (hotclub.co.uk)
SAZET BAND
video demo
The members of this eight piece wedding band are Roma from Macedonia and Turkey. Their material
is based on traditonal Balkan and Romani music from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Greece,
and Turkey, but also influenced by Western classical, jazz, funk, and techno. They call it the
"New York City style of Roma music," but their distinct sound is similar to
the famous electric/acoustic Roma bands of Macedonia - an innovative blending of complex rhythms,
great melodies, dense ornamentaions, amazing improvisations. Sazet Band was
formed in 2011 under the leadership of Sal Mamudoski and Romeo Kurtali, and has been
performing at weddings and concerts, notably at 2012 Golden Festival in NYC. They will
be releasing their first album together in May 2012.
VADIM KOLPAKOV and VIA ROMEN
Russian seven-string guitarist, vocalist, actor and dancer. One of the foremost Russian Romani guitarists
in the world, and a leading artist at Moscow's Romen Theatre. Born in Saratov, Russia, he began his training
in earliest childhood, and at the age of fifteen, started dancing, singing, playing the Russian seven-string
guitar, and composing for the Romen Theatre. He has toured internationally with The Kolpakov Trio and Gelem,
playing for heads of state, Romani music festivals, and the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan, and at
Carnegie Hall. Founder of the Boston-based Russian Romani group VIA Romen, Kolpakov has made historical
reconstruction, solo, duet, and ensemble recordings. Kolpakov was Artist-in-Residence at Harvard,
Boston University, Oberlin, Grinnell, and the University of Iowa, and is now Artist-in-Residence at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Vadim performs Saturday in the group "Vadim Kolpakov and VIA Romen": Arkadiy Gips (violin), Alex Gorodezky (guitar),
Petra Gelbart (vocal, accordion), Helena Safarova (vocal) and Vadim Kolpakov (guitar, vocal, dance)
www.VadimKolpakov.com
-
www.MySpace.com/VadimKolpakov
MARIO WILLIAMS
Information coming soon!
Raymond van Tassel |
SONOMA ACADEMY BALKAN BAND
Information coming soon!
Raymond van Tassel |
INSPECTOR GADJE
inspectorgadje.com
Inspector Gadje brings a big sound to the beautiful and bumpin' brass
band music of the Balkans. Formed by students of Rom master Rumen "Sali"
Shopov, the band draws on talents known to Bay Area audiences from such
bands as the Brass Liberation Orchestra, Zoyres Eastern European Wild
Ferment, and the Gomorran Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Inspector Gadje
is an acoustic dance machine that makes the party move!
Petra Gates, truba; Noah Levitt, trumpet; Morgan Nilsen, clarinet;
Ofir Uziel, alto saxophone; Paul Bertin, alto saxophone;
Mike Perlmutter, alto saxophone/clarinet; Greg Michalec, baritone saxophone
Jeff Giaquinto, trombone; Paul Marini, baritone horn
Andrew Cohen, sousaphone; Sean Tergis, percussion, Marco Peris, percussion.
Raymond van Tassel |
CAROL SILVERMAN
Carol Silverman is a professor of folklore and cultural anthropology at the University of Oregon. She has done extensive
field research on Romani music, culture, and politics, and has worked with Roma in Macedonia, Bulgaria and New York on
human rights issues. She teaches singing locally in Oregon and nationally and has won several university teaching awards.
She toured and recorded for over a decade with the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble, and performed in the 1999 North American tour
of the Gypsy Caravan, also serving as its educational coordinator. She is the author of many articles on Balkan and Romani
music; her book Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora is forthcoming from Oxford Univ. Press.
SANI RIFATI
President and co-founder of Voice of Roma and of the California Herdeljezi Festival. Is an exuberant and
exhilarating dance instructor. He has taught at Kolo Festival in SF, the Chicago Spring Dance Festival,
Mainewoods Camp, Portland Maine, Balkanalia, Portland Oregon, Folkball, Madison Wisconsin, and at Balkan
music and dance camps in the U.S. as well as at schools and folk dance events throughout the Bay Area.
OTHER PERFORMERS
