The "C" or "©" in the radio station's name stands for cigány, the Hungarian version of the host population name of Greek origin (athiganos=outcast) found in many languages (f.e. German Zigeuner, Czech cikán, French tsigan); which elsewhere mutated into the assumption of Egyptian origin and hence "Gypsy" in English (gitan in French, gitano in Spanish).

It is a widespread view in enlightened host populations that the G word is a racial slur (similar to the N word in the US), and the Romani language self-name 'Roma' should be used instead. But in the intro text above the fold, you see 'Gypsy' and 'Roma' (resp. their Hungarian versions) used interchangeably. Why is that? Basically, because the words denote a more complex population (populations) than assumed from outside.

The Gypsies in Hungary

First, not all traveller people denoted "Gypsie" are of Indian descent. In Hungary, this means above all the Yenishe (one of the groups sometimes called "White Gypsies").

Second, the original Romani-language immigrants to Europe didn't form a single community: they were different 'tribes' or 'clans', who often kept as strong a separation from each other as host populations from all of them. (The 'Roma Nation' movement is fairly recent and not yet widespread enough at the roots.) The 'tribes' usually separated according to profession.

Third, in the more than half a millennium of residence in Europe, cultural and language mixing created other differences. The Sinti are more Western, more assimilated Romani language groups that less often call themselves "Roma" (though just in Hungary more often). The Romungros are a group separating out in historical Hungary (today most who preserved that identity live in Slovakia).

Fourth, the majority of Gypsies in Hungary don't even speak Romani. Only some 5% do, most speak Hungarian, and a significant minority (another 5%) speaks Romanian (the Latin language of Romania, no relation to Roma despite the homology) or Romanian-enriched Romani. The latter came in multiple waves of immigration to Hungary, which again formed different groups (oláhcigány, beás, and the latest just "Romanian Gypsy"). This level of language assimilation is the result of three centuries of at times forced assimilation.

Old beás cigány man in a village in Southern Hungary. Photo from EtnoFoto

In her diaries of Roma in Athens, Devious Diva noted that Albanian Roma are the most discriminated against in Greece. Similarly in Hungary, the most recent arrivals from Romania are held in the lowest respect. There are village majors protesting accusations of racism by saying that "we have zero problems with 'our' Romas, who live here for decades, I just wanted to get rid of those Romanian-Gypsy thieves". I note that similar attitudes can be found among Hungarian-Roma communities.

Fifth, the post-1990 identity question is a thorny one. While prejudices existed and there was a history (though less worse than in other East Bloc countries) of attempts at forced assimilation (leading to settlement of nomads and partial loss of traditions), under communism, racism and racist language in public was suppressed. When free-market capitalism arrived, not only were the Roma the first to be fired and last to be hired, but were confronted with racist talk and the "Gypsy problem" exploding into the open.

As a reaction, according to studies and pre/post-1990 censuses, the (probably overwhelming) majority of people considered by others as Gypsies flat-out reject to take on a minority identity and simply identify as "Hungarian". (The total of Gypsy/Roma/Beás/Sinto etc. self-identifiers was 190,046 in the last census, Roma organisations estimate at least twice as much.) More just want a hyphenated-Hungarian identity, and most Hungarian- and Romanian-language Gypsies claiming the minority identity use the cigány self-identifier or some narrower one (especially beás).

The use of "Roma" was also adopted around this time in media and politics, but I sharply remember reactions from the affected to the tune of "so what, why does it matter under which name you discriminate and segregate me?" By today, "Roma" is indeed also used derisively by the racists, while more generally, roma and cigány became synonyms in practice for most people.

Gypsy music, Roma music

For centuries, music has been the strongest means of connection between the Roma and the host population in Hungary. So much so that "Gypsy music" (cigányzene) in restaurants is associated with Hungary like horses and goulash.

This strings (violin, doublebass, folk cello) and percussion (dulcimer) based music has its origins in the 19th-century romantic, fake-traditional Hungarian 'artifical music'. (I note it went largely out of fashion among domestic restaurant guests but not with foreign tourists.) As such, it is not the traditional Roma folk music, but a commercial trade, one traditionally practised only by specific 'tribes' and 'clans'.

Primarily from these families came some internationally renowned artists in another musical style, one I must admit I know litte about, jazz: Tony Lakatos, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, Roby Lakatos, Kálmán Balogh, Kálmán Oláh, Aladár Pege.

Meanwhile, made popular by films of Yugoslavian director Emir Kusturica, the real traditional Roma folk music had a revival. This involves much more singing, and is practised in a variety of local traditions by much more Roma communities.

But back in Budapest, more modern influences gave birth to new genres. There is Roma disco, Roma pop, Roma winners of talent shows - and Roma hip-hop.

In the nineties, some Roma in District VIII, which has the highest concentration of Gypsies (though even there most probably well below 25% -- note that in the last census, only little over 12 thousand or 0.7% self-identified as Gypsy/etc. in all of Budapest, for District VIII, that came to 3.1%) felt inspired by gangsta rap and more broadly hip-hop. They created their own hip-hop style, what's more, together with non-Gypsie inner-city rappers, they created a myth of District VIII as a parallel of Harlem in New York (e.g. a Gypsy, Hungarian and Chinese gangland ghetto), a myth spawning a number of movies since.

To give one example, one of the pioneers was Fekete Vonat:

The band name means black train, which was the nickname of a train transporting mostly Gypsy migrant workers from the impoverished villages in the East to Budapest in the sixties-seventies (and were simultaneously the symbol of poverty, segregation and the prejudice-busting hard-working Gypsy).

The inspiration from US black culture went further, going from hip-hop to R&B, also in the work of the above band and its members (now the chubbier guy, artist name LL Junior, is the biggest name).

Rádió ©

Rádió © was founded as a public radio, that is a legal category assuming doing public service in the form of news or shows in at least part of its time. Such radios can pursue public funding from the state. But it mostly lives from donations. The bulk is given by a circle of Roma businessmen. More comes in smaller sums from donations of 1% of income tax (which people can declare what to spend on).

The radio got itself a studio in District VIII, and kicked off to a rough start. That included accusations of closeness to political parties: it got a frequency allocation with the vote of the socialist, liberal and also the Fidesz [right-populist] media oversight board members, and some top Roma intellectuals said they bought the last with concessions f.e. in the radio's oversight board. They also protested that the initial oversight board and initial owners included non-Gypsies. Later that changed, but there were financial troubles and infighting.

(My father, whose office and present home is also in District VIII by the way, was one of the minority non-Gypsy business donors during an initial financial crisis. He was at the studio personally, and told how surprised the crew was, he must have been one of the first reasons for the last quoted sentence in the intro.)

The success of the radio after a bumpy start was chiefly down to music. (During two months of the deepest crisis, they aired nothing but music.) They got some rather good DJs, maybe the most important was one György Müller (son of a Sinti father and Jewish mother). Their eclectic selection - from traditional domestic Roma music through Roma music from Spain to Turkey, jazz, world music, hip-hop, to mainstream Western music - was (is) good, and filled niches not covered by other channels.

Péter Müller greets listeners from the studio

Current star DJ Béla "Gipsy" Ponczók (left) with singer and former TV talent show winner Caramel

The radio has since established itself both as a forum for Gypsy listeners and as kind of an entertainment industry brand for a broader public it (at first unexpectedly) drew. The latter involves presence at festivals, selling T-shirts with the slogan Barnulj velünk! = "Get brown with us!" and other merchandise. The former means that an original aim was achieved, the radio was 'taken on', to the extent of angry demands to supply missing content (say for the often missing Romani language shows).

Another original idea was to let the 'markets' discover Gypsies, as people to aim advertisements at, first with advertisements in the radio. The latter never really got off in terms of high income for the radio, however, the advertisers did discover Gypsies: last summer I saw the first street posters for clothes with a Roma model, more followed.

Overall, I'd say this radio has become a small force of good, both as community-building tool and as a provider of a different visibility for the minority towards the majority population.

(P.S.: if you follow the link, you can tune in on-line with Winamp or Mediaplayer.)