Kajda. Music and Women's Rites among Kosovarian Roma. With contributions by Silvia Bruni

At the beginning of the 20th Century following the establishment of the kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro compulsory military service was introduced. However, as the conscripts from Kosovo moved with a totally different rhythm in respect to those from other areas it was soon deemed necessary to introduce special courses in which they were taught to march to the rhythm of tambourines. In Kosovo, the sense of rhythm has developed in a unique way; the rhythmic structures used in the area are based on the juxtaposition of non proportional duration which produce musical forms among the most complex and sophisticated in the world. These traditions are the by-product of the interpretation of local music by specialized musicians from the Rom community. Therefore, a population which is different to and marginalized by all the other ethnic groups has indispensable to the cultural life. The Albanian, Turkish, Serbian and Goran populations’ musical memory is preserved by the Rom. The principle element of this peculiar tradition is the music played and sung (originally for women’s rituals), by duos of specialized musicians, Rom women or male homosexuals. The historic relationship between the tambourine, female rituals, transvestite phenomena and homosexuality are demonstrated, from antiquity to the present day, in a area between the Indian sub-continent and the Mediterranean basin. Thus Rom become the heirs and interpreters of an ancient tradition which has developed into modern forms. In their vast repertoire the most rare yet typical in its complexity is the tamburine music played usually by a duo of either Rom male homosexuals or Rom women during the rituals reserved for the female participants in either marriage or circumsision ceremonies. Their music is based on an intricate juxtaposition and variation of complex rhythmic structures. Each dance is made up of rythmic formulas in continual transition. These rhythmic formulas (which consitute the piece) are called kajda: a word of north Indian origins like the Rom people. A word brought to the Balkans about a thousand years ago by Rom women who then applied it to a different musical structure. In the kajda music each and every (asymmetry) rythmic irregularity imagineable and feasable is included. Not only are the kajda themseles un-even, their duration is never proportional, the effect being that of a continuous anticipation or delay in the beat which gives the structure an over-all feeling of instability. All of the extrordinary beauty and complexity of kossovan traditional music is present in these complex rhythmic structures which have their origins in sacred ceremonial music dating back to the 8th Century BC. Thus, those most emarginalized among the emarginalized, Rom homosexuals and Rom women have become the guardians of ancient traditions, both theirs and that of others. They are the sole custodians of a musical knowledge which is fundamental to the cultural identity of even the largest ethnic goups in the area.