The Romani people, also known as the Roma, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Roma originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of Rajasthan. Their first wave of westward migration is believed to have occurred sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries. They are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are believed to be in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Romani is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to Ethnologue, seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their own. The largest of these are Vlax Romani, Balkan Romani (600,000), and Sinte Romani (300,000). Some Romani communities speak mixed languages based on the surrounding language with retained Romani-derived vocabulary – these are known by linguists as Para-Romani varieties, rather than dialects of the Romani language itself.
Romani music is the music of the Romani people who have their origins in northern India but today live mostly in Europe.
Hungary has made many contributions to the fields of folk, popular and classical music. Hungarian folk music is a prominent part of the national identity and continues to play a major part in Hungarian music. The Busójárás carnival in Mohács is a major folk music event in Hungary, formerly featuring the long-established and well-regarded Bogyiszló orchestra. Instruments traditionally used in Hungarian folk music include the citera, cimbalom, cobza, doromb, duda, kanászkürt, tárogató, tambura, tekero and ütőgardon. Traditional Hungarian music has been found to bear resemblances to the musical traditions of neighbouring Balkan countries and Central Asia.
Ektomorf is a Hungarian groove metal band.
Gurbeti are a sub-group of the Romani people living in Cyprus and North Cyprus, Turkey, Crimea, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia and the former Yugoslavia whose members are Eastern Orthodox and predominantly Muslim Roma. The Gurbeti make up approximately two thirds of the population of Roma in Mačva, many of whom work in agriculture. In Kosovo, other Romani groups viewed the Gurbeti negatively.
The Kalderash are a subgroup of the Romani people. They were traditionally coppersmiths and metal workers and speak a number of Romani dialects grouped together under the term Kalderash Romani, a sub-group of Vlax Romani.
Muslim Romani people are people who are ethnically Roma and profess Islam. There are many different Roma groups and subgroups that predominantly practice Islam, as well as individual Romani people from other subethnic groups who have accepted Islam. Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non-Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the largest Arlije and Gurbeti Muslim Roma settlement in Europe in Šuto Orizari, locally called Shutka in North Macedonia have their own Romani Imam and the Muslim Roma in Šuto Orizari use the Quran in Balkan Romani language. Many Romanlar in Turkey, are members of the Hindiler Tekkesi a Qadiriyya-Tariqa, founded in 1738 by the Indian Muslim Sheykh Seyfullah Efendi El Hindi in Selamsız. Roma Muslims in Turkey and the Balkans are mostly cultural Muslims or nominal Muslims.
Xoraxane is a historical umbrella term to refer to the Muslim Roma population in the Balkans, or alternatively, all Muslim Roma in the areas of Southern Europe and West Asia. They are non-Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire. They are colloquially referred to as Lovers of the Koran. There are several subgroups Roma considered to be Xoraxane Roma, named after their old traditional professional activities, also divived in sedentary and nomadic groups.
The Basketry Museum of the Roma is a folk museum in the Thrylorio/Trala/Tralangere Village of the municipality of Komotini of the Rhodope regional unit, in Western Thrace Greece. The museum collection represents examples from Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Romani people in North Macedonia are one of the constitutional peoples of the country.
Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra is a Hungarian symphony orchestra of Romani (Gypsy) musicians. It emphasizes works by composers inspired by Hungarian folk and urban music including Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Vittorio Monti, Piotr Tchaïkovski, Johann Strauss and Johann Strauss II. The orchestra has been performing for 30 years as a classical symphony orchestra.
Lovari is a subgroup of the Romani people, who speak their own dialect, influenced by Hungarian and West Slavic dialects. They live predominantly throughout Central Europe as well as in Southeastern Europe.
Carpathian Romani, also known as Central Romani or Romungro Romani, is a group of dialects of the Romani language spoken from southern Poland to Hungary, and from eastern Austria to Ukraine.
Romani people in Austria have lived in the country since the Middle Ages. According to the 2001 census, there were 6,273 Romani speakers in Austria, or less than 0.1% of the population. Estimations count between 10,000 and 25,000. A more recent estimation count between 40,000 and 50,000 Romani people or about 0.5%. Most indigenous Romani people in Austria belong to the Burgenland-Roma group in East-Austria. The majority live in the state of Burgenland, in the city of Oberwart and in villages next to the District of Oberwart. The Burgenland-Roma speak the Vlax Romani language.
Sepečides Romani, also known as Sevlengere Roma, is the Romani dialect of the traditionally basketweaving Roma originally from Thessaloniki. Their ancestors lived there as nomads during the Ottoman Empire until the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The Sepečides dialect is considered to be non-Vlax. It belongs to the Southern Balkan group of Romani dialects, although the RomArchive claims the language is practically extinct.
The Cegléd water jug is a container for water named after the city of Cegléd, Hungary. It is also used as a musical instrument in folk music, in particular, in Romani music of Hungary.
The sedentary Arlije are the main group of the Romani people in North Macedonia, and the majority live in Šuto Orizari Municipality. They are Muslim Romani. There are various subgroups of the Arlije, named after their traditional occupations, living in North Macedonia, Kosovo, and southern Southern Serbia, and Montenegro. Beside Macedonian and Albanian, they speak the Arli dialect of Balkan Romani. The word Arlije is derived from the Turkish word yerli, as does the name Erlides (Greek: Ερλίδες, of a similar group living in Greece, and the Sofia-Erli in Bulgaria. The biggest settlement of Arlije is in Šuto Orizari in North Macedonia. In East Thrace at Turkey, they are called Yerli Romanlar and only speak Rumelian Turkish.
Romani dress is the traditional attire of the Romani people, widely known in English by the exonymic slur Gypsies. Romani traditional clothing is closely connected to the history, culture, and national identity of the Roma people.
