• the217
• Stage
• Gypsy Jazz at Courtyard Cafe

buzz: If you were to describe gypsy music to someone who had never heard it, how would you?

It's difficult for me to describe music. I'm much better in delivering it, (and that) means singing it. I'm not quite the academic type, but let me give it a try though: it's a very beautiful music full of emotions (well, that's actually the definition of music altogether I guess - music is emotion!) full of drama and flash.

The gypsy music is originally a highly rhythmic, improvised a capella music accompanied by hand percussion.

As the Roma went from place to place, they learned the music of the people around them in order to make a living. Thus the music that they absorbed in one country would then be blended with the music of the next country giving it a unique and new feeling. The gypsy music tends to cross borders anyway and is a wild mix of Rom, rock, jazz and folk.

buzz: How did you growing up in East Germany and Romania create who you are today?

Living in a communist system is a very different experience. On the one side you learn to fight for your rights and for your individuality; otherwise you'd become a zombie and on the other side you don't have the problems of earning your living because a) you don't get paid well anyway no matter what you're doing and b) you can't get anything for your money anyway - at the end of the day you don't have a real feeling of that what money means in a life! But you do get a very good and free education, etc.

And then there were the two very different cultures I learned to live in. The southerness and balkanesc mentality and then the German one!

buzz: Can you explain to me the importance of song and singing in your journey?

The singing is for me the only real way of expressing myself and my needs and feelings and the best way to communicate with people! i guess that's for every artist the same!

buzz: Do you think of yourself as an ambassador of Romania and its music?

Maybe in a certain way I do -- right now and within this tour maybe more than usual because there's the Romanian Culture Institute in New York who made this tour possible!

buzz: I heard on the NPR feature that you feel at home in New York. How so?

It's very simple since i've been in NY now for 16 years, but also because the city welcomed me as a new citizen like no other place before! And simply because I love NY!

buzz: This is your first major American tour. Where are you at in it? How has the reception been?

The reception was altogether terrific and warm and very enthusiastic! We're now in the middle of the tour.

buzz: You are known for your renditions of traditional songs yet you have been in rock and roll bands since your youth. Where do you find your home as an artist?

Gypsy music, gypsy jazz and sometime German cabaret.

buzz: Do you think of yourself as a not only a singer, but a storyteller?

Yeah, both: singer/storyteller.

buzz: And finally, what should my readers expect when they come to the show?

I would say to your readers they shouldn't miss the show in any circumstances. They will really regret it enormously. The show will be the best they saw in a very long time. It is absolutely a unique combination of a Romanian gypsy music singer and an all japanese band with Shoko Nagai on piano, accordion; Kermit Driscoll on bass and Satoshi Takeishi on percussion!