wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

While the term Balkanization has come to mean ethnic strife, one of the few groups to avoid the tribal clashes of the last decades have been the Roma, also referred to as the Gypsies. Instead, Romani musicians have unconsciously worked as a kind of cultural glue in the region, keeping alive hybrid musical traditions of disparate cultures. Music critic Charlie Keil and his wife Angeliki have regularly visited the Roma community of Jumaya in Northern Greece over the last 40 years. They retell some of the stories they heard, accompanied by music and sounds collected by Steven Feld. The Keils and Feld collaborated on the book Bright Balkan Morning. Produced by Michael Kavanagh.