'So That We Look More Gypsy': Strategic Performances and Ambivalent Discourses of Romani Brass for the World Music Scene

This article explores the semiotic and performative negotiations of Gypsy tropes on the New Old Europe Sound scene by Romani brass musicians from Vranje, Serbia. Roma eager to access world music markets since the 1990s must engage with stereotypes popularised by the global hype for 'Gypsy Brass', characterised by two interrelated complexes: one conferring 'authenticity' by depicting Roma as pre-modern and passionate, and another connoting 'hybridity' through assertions of Romani rootlessness and perpetual musical borrowing. The juxtaposition of these tropes produces much-desired 'authentic hybridity' for western fans. While many Roma reproduce essentialisms to garner popular interest, they also strategically manipulate performances to resist clichéd impositions of Gypsyness, coding their practices as sophisticated artistry or inherent musical talent. Popular demand for Gypsy 'authentic hybridity' silences critical economic, cultural and historical specificities of Romani musical performance, however, re-embedding Romani performers within power relations that deny them full agency over self-representation and musical choices.