The Gypsy Soul

The first time I realized that gypsies were not just characters in a film but real people was as a child when my father, an orthopaedic surgeon, told us of a gypsy patient he treated. Of Irani origin, he was told his leg was to be amputated and he came to my father to see if it could be saved. The reason caught our imagination: in gypsy law, if a man was disabled, another could take his wife, as it meant he could no longer take care of her. His wife was beautiful and his cousin, who accompanied him, was keen to benefit from his amputation and marry his wife. My father managed to save his leg and the gypsy gave him a blanket with a huge tiger printed on it. 

The next time I met a gypsy was more recent: he was from England and had come to understand truck art so he could paint a truck in London. As we shared experiences, I discovered many words in Romany, the language gypsies spoke, were similar to Urdu.  Andre: inside; angustri: ring; bal: hair; baro/barri Large; bakht: luck; bebee aunt; kak: uncle; chor: thief; chura; knife; kon: who; mang: beg; nevo: new ; ooprey: up; pi: to drink; poker to ask; rarti: night; sov: sleep; wuzho: clean; zor: strength and many more. 

The colourful scarf that is worn on the head or around the waist, which some Baluchi men also wear on one shoulder, is called a diklo, from dekh lo, - “he is seeing” . The cheent pattern is common to Central Asia, Russia and rural South Asia.

The word gypsy is a derivative of gipcyan , as in Europe, people mistakenly felt that their origin was in Egypt. Genome mapping has confirmed that gypsies or Romani as they prefer to be called, originate in Northwestern India.  A series of migrations, whose reasons are still being debated, took them westwards around 7C into the Middle East, Europe in the 12C and in the 19^th C to the Americas – especially USA, and Brazil.  They rarely assimilate into the host countries, and have faced mistrust and persecution.  They were deported during the Spanish Inquisition, 2 million rounded up and sent to gas chambers or shot by the Nazis, banned from entering USA after the 19 C, endured forced sterilization in Czechoslovakia, and continue to be marginalized or perhaps self-marginalized in most countries.

There is a difference between nomadic tribes such as the Powinda of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Gujjar Himalayan gypsies,  and the Roma gypsies. In Pakistan there are 22,000 Arhagar Romany speaking  gypsies. The Dom, the other major tribe of gypsies, is a small community in Gilgit Baltistan. The gypsies have a strong and closely guarded cultural code and set of beliefs, which seem to exclude non-romany people, dismissively called gudjo.- perhaps refering to the Himalyan Gujjar gypsies?  

In Europe they were once associated with superstitions, magic, fortune telling, music and dance. Today they are mostly a poor community living by their wits. Some have broken into mainstream society. Their musical heritage has influenced jazz, bolero and flamenco music, as well as classical composers including Franz Liszt.  Actors Michael Caine, Charlie Chaplin -born in a gypsy caravan, Yul Brynner, Rita Hayworth  Bob Hoskins,  Helen Mirren and Tracey Ullman have gypsy roots. The artist Pablo Picasso, was proud of his gypsy heritage.   Django Reinhardt introduced a gypsy sound to jazz.  The tennis star Nastase and a number of other sports persons, writers and musicians have gypsy origins.

They have a distinctive visual culture: Traditionally the women wear full skirts similar to ghagras, colourful shawls and diklo scarfs trimmed with coins. The men wear colorful neckerchiefs and amulets similar to the taaveez of South Asia, cover their heads with scarfs or hats, and wear loose trousers. Gypsy jewelry  is very similar to rural South Asian and middle eastern necklaces  and earrings. This flamboyant style is also seen in the decoration of their horse driven mobile homes or vardo, which bear resemblance to decorated transport in Pakistan.  Richer gypsies live in houses with colourful, ornately decorated interiors.  Today  European gypsies live in plain modern caravans. Ironically the modern caravan ( from the Persian Karvan) designed in 1885 by Dr W Gordon-Stables, called “the Wanderer”,  was inspired by gypsy lifestyles .

Gypsy is not just a tribe but a concept. A gypsy soul is seen as free spirited, outside the confines of society, fiercely independent, leading a life of unpredictable adventure.  The word Bohemian, descriptive of non-conformists, comes from the French word for gypsies, Boheme, who were mistakenly thought to come from Bohemia.

It is easy to romanticize the gypsy life. They have fascinated artists including Caravaggio, Frans Hals , Manet, Rousseau,, Van Gogh and Modigliani.  Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, and major novelists from the 18C onwards depict to gypsy characters or culture.  The members of the famous band, Gypsy Kings, have  gypsy heritage, but many musicians have performed songs about gypsies- Fleetwood Mac, Joan Baez, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Van Morrison , Santana, Cher and Elton John. Bizet’s exotic and mysterious gypsy, Carmen, and  Roux, Johnny Depp’s gypsy character in the film  Chocolat  represent the seductive, but disruptive  challenge to  the conservative  order of society .

The fashion designer, Galliano says, "the Gypsy lifestyle is a perfect fantasy, and as we all know reality is often very different from the fiction."

Durriya Kazi

February 3, 2018