The History of the Gypsy Band 1904–1944
The History of the Gypsy Band 1904–1944

Summary/Abstract: The gypsy bands with which we are familiar today began to form in the decades around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Their evolution and transformation have been steady ever since, a process without breaks or milestones. The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, however, offers a convenient point of orientation. I begin here with the year 1904 and end with 1944, in other words with the end of World War II, a year which obviously represented a significant moment in the history of the gypsy ensemble. From this point on the displacing force of new trends, such as jazz and the increasing presence of the folk music movement from the 1930s, as well as contemporaneous politics, more specifically the cultural policies of the regime, made it evident that the gypsy music, as distinct from authenic Roma music, would cease to have the role it had previously played.

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