ROMA LAMENT SONGS IN THE PAST AND TODAY
ROMA LAMENT SONGS IN THE PAST AND TODAY

Summary/Abstract: The layer of lament songs plays an important role in the repertoire of Slovak Roma. Either they are songs of the old layer phurikane giľa or in the new layer neve giľa. Laments songs were called by interpreters also čorikane giľa (poverty songs) or žalosno giľa (lament songs). Their singing has often been connected with memories of sad or tragic events in the life of a singer and both singers and listeners experienced strong emotions during their performance. Singing, often connected with crying, used to release sadness, tension, sometimes helped to express things which were hard to say. In the field research we find only a few such songs. Usually they are sung by older people, because the younger generation cannot fully identify with them.

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