The Tremendous Contribution of the Gypsies

 I haven't posted in over a month, and have been very busy playing and attending concerts.  I realized that there was a coincidental theme to the shows I've seen this month:  the tremendous contribution of the Gypsies to world music.  Everyone from Beethoven to Chopin to Miles Davis has been influenced.  There were probably two great migrations from the east across Europe; around 700 AD and again around 1200.  Early last month I saw the SF Opera production of Bizet's Carmen, a wonderfully balanced cast with a fabulous performance by Kendall Gladen.  Then the Compania Flamenca of Jose Porcel, in a tribute titled Gypsy Fire.  Last night my beloved Caminos Flamencos played a 10th anniversary show titled Solo Flamenco with Juan Ogalla, Yaelisa, Fanny Ara, Melissa Cruz, and Jason McGuire AND Chusco on guitars.  Chusco was raised in the caves of Granada.  Jason is from Texas, and one of the dancers was Japanese.  All first rate performers of the music.  So it has become universal, even as the Gypsies struggle for freedom and basic human rights to this day.  This afternoon I saw the Takacs Quartet, playing Janacek and Ravel,  both highly influenced by Gypsy themes.  And one of the founders, Karoly Schranz, says his earliest musical experiences were listening to Gypsy bands in Budapest restaurants.