The Romani people, also known as the Roma or Romani, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people 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 first arrived in Europe sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are believed to be in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
The Romani Holocaust was the genocide of European Roma and Sinti people during World War II. Beginning in 1933, Nazi Germany systematically persecuted the European Roma, Sinti and other peoples pejoratively labeled 'Gypsy' through forcible internment and compulsory sterilization. German authorities summarily and arbitrarily subjected Romani people to incarceration, forced labor, deportation and mass murder in concentration and extermination camps.
The Sinti are a subgroup of Romani people. They are found mostly in Germany, France and Italy and Central Europe, numbering some 200,000 people. They were traditionally itinerant, but today only a small percentage of Sinti remain unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities.
Bohemian Romani or Bohemian Romany was a dialect of Romani formerly spoken by the Romani people of Bohemia, the western part of today's Czech Republic. It became extinct after World War II, due to the genocide of most of its speakers in extermination camps by Nazi Germany.
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.
Romani culture is the culture of the Romani people, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group originating in northwest India. They constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe, where they are believed to have lived since the 9th century. There is also a significant Romani population in the Americas, stemming from later migrations from Europe.
Gypsy jazz is a musical idiom inspired by the Romani jazz guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–1953), in conjunction with the French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908–1997), as expressed by their group the Quintette du Hot Club de France. The style has its origins in France and the Manouche clan of Romanis, and has remained popular amongst this clan. Gypsy jazz is often called by the French name jazz manouche, or alternatively, manouche jazz in English-language sources.
The Romani diaspora refers to the presence and dispersion of Romani people across various parts of the world. Their migration out of the Indian subcontinent occurred in waves, with the first estimated to have taken place in the 6th century. They are believed to have first arrived in Europe sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries, via the Balkans. They settled in the areas of present-day Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, by order of volume, and Spain. From the Balkans, they migrated throughout Europe and, in the 19th and later centuries, to the Americas. The Romani population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.
The Manouche are a Romani subgroup who have lived in France since at least the 18th century. The term Manouche is the self-ascribed name of the French Sinti. The word "manouche" means "man" or "human being" in the Romani language, and is closely cognate to the word for "man" in many modern Indian languages such as Hindi मनुष्य and Bangla মানুষ. Their Romani dialect, cognate to the one used by German Sinti, exhibits strong German influence. They are nowadays primary French-speaking, though the dialect of French they use exhibits many linguistic peculiarities compared to standard French.
Romani people in France, generally known in spoken French as gitans, tsiganes or manouches, are an ethnic group that originated in Northern India. The exact number of Romani people in France is unknown; estimates vary from 500,000 to 1,200,000.
The Romani people are known by a variety of names, mostly as Gypsies, Roma, Romani, Tsinganoi, Bohémiens, and various linguistic variations of these names. There are also numerous subgroups and clans with their own self-designations, such as the Sinti, Kalderash, Boyash, Manouche, Lovari, Lăutari, Machvaya, Romanichal, Romanisael, Calé, Kale, Kaale, Xoraxai, Xaladytka, Romungro, Ursari and Sevlengere.
Sinte Romani is the variety of Romani spoken by the Sinti people in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, some parts of Northern Italy and other adjacent regions. Sinte Romani is characterized by significant German influence and is not mutually intelligible with other forms of Romani. The language is written in the Latin script.
Romani people in Germany are estimated at around 170,000–300,000, constituting around 0.2–0.4% of the German population. One-third of Germany's Romani belong to the Sinti group. Most speak German or Sinte Romani.
Santino Spinelli is an Italian Romani musician, composer and teacher.
Sandra Jayat is a French writer and artist of Romani descent. She left her nomadic family at age 15. She travelled on her own to Italy and Paris. She became associated with the surviving family of Django Reinhardt. In Paris, she was encouraged by the writers Marcel Aymé and Jean Cocteau, plus as an artist by Chagall and Picasso. She published many works of literature documenting the experience of Romanies in France and has advocated on behalf of Roma and Sinti at the international level, and is a recognized artist whose work has featured in well regarded exhibitions. She currently resides in Paris.
The RomArchive is a digital repository of Romani culture, established in 2015. Fourteen curators organised 5,000 objects, available in English, German and Romani. The archive has won a European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage and a Grimme-Preis.
About 80,000 to 100,000 Romani people live in Switzerland.
Melanie Spitta was a German Sinti film-maker.
Anita Awosusi is a German writer, musician, documentary filmmaker and human rights activist. Herself a Sinti woman, she has been active in campaigns for the rights of the Sinti and Romani people. Since the 1990s, she has published works on the history of the Romani Holocaust, on the music and on stereotyped representations of Sinti and Roma.
