"Cadê o Cigano?": reflexões sobre gypsy jazz e ciganidades

Abstract

This article discusses traces of gypsyness in gypsy jazz based on participative observations of a musical scene situated in Rio de Janeiro. Employing Brazilian cultural studies on gypsy ethnic groups and a critical revision of pertinent bibliographic references as debate framework, the genre’s main constitutive elements are introduced considering the complexity of its process of genesis as social discourse in permanent construction. Seeking to situate Gypsy jazz within the phenomenon of glocalization and the commodification of gypsy cultures, the author questions the forms with which the music industry and social agents shape contradictory connections to identity between the genre and imagined gypsynesses, frequently perpetuating distorted and discriminatory views of diverse gypsy ethnic groups. Further, proposing a broadening and deepening of the research into the genre, the article seeks considerations more attentive to the plurality of gypsy cultures, in order to create paths for an interpretative approach in which gypsy jazz is conceived as a space of transits, encounters and intercultural dialogues.