New York Latin Culture Magazine

World-class Latin American, Indigenous, European & African culture

You are here: Home / Latin / Asian / Romani

Romani

Spanish flamenco is Romani.

Romani NYC

Romani Day

Thursday, April 8, 2021
–
We were originally traveling court musicians in northern India. Flamenco is Romani.

Romani NYC Archive

Romani

Traveling court musicians, originally from northern India.

There are Romani in Romania, but we are not Romanian. We were originally traveling court musicians in northern India. We still have a community there.

In the Middle Ages, some of us traveled from India to the end of the European world in Andalusía, Spain. Along the way we absorbed Persian, Arab, Jewish, Turkish, Balkan, European and African traditions. All this is in flamenco.

Columbus and Spaniards conquered the Americas from Cádiz, Andalusía’s Atlantic port. They brought flamenco and us to the Americas.

In Cuba, the other side of the Spanish galleon route, flamenco guitar mixed with African drum into what we now know as Latin music. So Latin music has Romani roots from India. How about that?

Nais Tuke

Thank you!

New York's leading cultural institutions support you by sponsoring New York Latin Culture Magazine. Please support them in return.

Thank you: NYC & Company (NYC's official tourism agency), Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York City Center, Google, Live Nation/Ticketmaster, AEG Live, Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, 92nd Street Y, New York Stock Exchange, Red Bull Music Academy, World Music Institute, Blue Note Entertainment, Instituto Cervantes, Flamenco Festival (New York & Madrid), Repertorio Español, Ballet Hispánico, Calpulli Mexican Dance, and many more.

America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath – America will be!”

Langston Hughes, Let America Be American Again, 1936
Register to Vote (vote.org)

Black Lives Matter
America will be!

PS: This is a learning project. We have made some mistakes, but with your help, we get better every year. Also we use the pronoun "we" no matter who we are writing about. Creating a "them" is the first step in dehumanization. In our world, there is no "them," there is only "us." Thank you for joining us.