New York Gypsy Festival

Matt and Dorit

Ivo in back stage

Husnu and Pono in Back stage

Roxy at Nov 6th

Sine

Zlatne Uste

Gogol Bordella

Eugene Hutz

Ismail, Husnu, Yuri and Ivo

Romashka at Maia

Mad-juana at Maia

Zlatne Uste in Back Stage

Gypsymania

About The Festival

The New York Gypsy Festival aims to offer a broad perspective on various
cultures and musical genres in a city that's considered at the crossroads of many cultures. Taking place October 29 through November 6, 2005 at The Roxy, Symphony Space and various downtown clubs in NYC, the festival will highlight local and international talent of gypsy (Romani) music.

Covering a wide geographical region including Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and the Balkans, the rich diversity of this music is on full display at this festival. The highlight is the show at The Roxy on November 6th featuring NYC's very own, Gogol Bordello, a gypsy punk rock band with a wild energy. Also on the bill that night is Husnu Senlendirici (founder of the gypsy-funk band Laco Tayfa) who will fly in from Turkey for an exclusive jam session of The Clarinet All-stars featuring Senlendirici, Lefteri Bournias (Greece) and Ismail Lumanovski (Macedonia). Last but not least, the Hungry March Band, a 20+ piece marching band, the 12-piece powerhouse brass band Zlatne Uste, DJs and gypsy dancers will round off an 8-hour marathon.

The festival also includes appearances by Bulgarian masters Ivo Popasov & Yuri Yunakov and Russian ska - punk band Leningrad (produced by World Music Institute and Metpo.com, respectively). The festival also aims to highlight the aspect of Romani dancing with dance performances by ethnic dancers.

The New York Gypsy Festival is produced by two seasoned event production & nightlife patrons: Serdar Ilhan, who put together the hugely successful Jazz Made In Turkey Festival at Lincoln Center in 2004 and co-owns
Maia Meyhane and Alex Dimitrov, who built an underground phenomena with Mehanata, The Bulgarian Bar.

Says Ilhan, "New York's cultural diversity makes sense to put together this
festival here. We are trying to open the door to world music and more specifically gypsy (Roma) music in the US by an accessible festival."

The programming for the festival was done very carefully in order to allow the mix of many genre-bending acts from punk-rock to jazz, hip-hop, global beats, funk and cabaret music with an underlying gypsy aesthetic.

The festival will continue throughout the week at downtown venues Maia Meyhane, Mehanata and Nublu with local bands and DJs presenting an eclectic mix of world, gypsy and dance music in a cozy atmosphere. Check the schedule and artists area of this website to find out more about the performances and bands involved.

www.patrin.com About Romani Culture