Even the name of the band, KAL, is depressing as it means black in the gypsy language, and than there's the songs themselves and what they talk about. It's a darn good thing they don't sing very many songs in English, I tell you. Who wants to hear songs like "Radio Romanista" which imagines a gypsy country that has a national radio station. Gypsies don't have a country - they wander, how could they be gypsies if they had their own country - don't these guys know anything? Or what about "I'm A Gypsy", the title sounds promising enough, but then the lyrics: "I'm a gypsy, I'm looking for my place under the sun, I have no home, my country is the entire road" Well, duh? Everybody knows that - but he doesn't sound happy about it, it sounds like he wants a place to call home. What kind of real gypsy complains about not having a home or a grave?
They don't even call themselves gypsies these guys in KAL, they call themselves Roma, which is really confusing as it makes them sound like they either come from Italy or from Romania. Why can't they be happy being called gypsy like we've been calling them for years? Don't they understand anything about tradition? Have they no respect for what we expect from them? What ever gave them the idea that we wanted to know about their reality? That they fall in love, get their hearts broken, or that their lives are anything at all like ours? Why can't they be happy being what we want them to be?
No, they insist upon joining the twenty-first century and changing their music to suit their needs so it expresses how they're feeling. Who wants to know that they live in segregated neighbourhoods, that their houses get burnt out from under them, and that they are still harassed and tormented wherever they go? Why can't they sing songs about caravans, dancing around the fire, and other traditional stuff like they show in the movies? Haven't they ever seen King Of The Gypsies or listened to Cher? Aren't they modern enough for them?
Article comments
1 - cristina
i seen kal in garden grove california and got to meet them and hang out i heard their music and was amazed by the gypsy quality and the modern rock style they had since then i have been listening to their songs on a daily basis ... u guys rock from youre gypsy frien liza