THE GYPSY CARAVAN.

THE GYPSY CARAVAN

SANDERS THEATRE CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS APRIL 3 AND 5, 1999

The variety of troupes presented by World Music Institute's tour of "The Gypsy Caravan" reflected the diverse nature of the Rom, or Gypsy, people, along with their nomadic way of life. Research on the origins of the Gypsy peoples now concludes that they came to Europe in about 1300 from India, as Hindu warriors fighting the advance of Muslim armies. Persecuted as outsiders throughout the centuries and even up to modern times, they managed to retain a distinct identity across national borders.

"The Gypsy Caravan" included companies from six different countries. The Indian ancestors of the Rom were represented by Musafir, a five-member music and dance troupe from Rajasthan, India. They appeared on a program that included the Kolpakov Trio From Russia; Kalyi Jag from Hungary; the Romanian group Taraf de Haidouks; the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble, which is based in the United States but plays Bulgarian music; and the Antonio El Pipa Flamenco Ensemble from Spain.

Their common heritage is evident in the strong emotions expressed in the music and the definite dance rhythms, a reminder that Gypsy orchestras have served as entertainment for community celebrations such as weddings in the many countries to which they scattered. The male musicians of the Russian and Hungarian companies also danced, a heel-and-toe stomping of macho exuberance, accompanied by body slapping.

Bachu Khan Langa, Musafir's exquisite vocalist and percussionist, employed a pair of wooden clappers to weave a mesmerizing gesture dance as far around his seated body as he could reach. Sayeri Sapera, one of the few women traveling with `The Gypsy Caravan", performed a wide-skirted twirling nautch dance with Musafir musicians that harked back to the Indian culture that inspired the American dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis. Sapera's performance combined Indian mudras with a pliant torso and swinging hips reminiscent of Middle Eastern belly dancing, enhanced by an acrobatic agility that allowed her to bend her body and head so far backward to the floor that she could pick up two jeweled rings by her eyes.

Antonio "El Pipa" might be best described as the Michael Flatley of flamenco, performing an idiosyncratic, pap-star brand of the classical style. His aunt, Juana la del Pipa, with a deeply graveled voice and intense vocal delivery, is no less mesmerizing to watch as she moves with him, backed by Patricia Ibanez Romero and Nele Tirado. The program's grand finale brought all the companies onstage to jam to each other's music.