la la li lai lai

do i know what this means? em, no. but last nite, with some friends, i went to a gypsy music concert and it was pretty awesome. it was modern music, so very few pipes (which drive me insane) but traditional instruments (hand drums, accordian, etc) plus electric guitars, bass, and drums. the opening act was a really good serbian group playing similar music

i swear there were like 50 people on the stage between singers and a bevy of dancers. people in the audience were dancing and i learned a few moves from me friends.

on of the funny bits was near the end when this woman in evening wear came out. the rest of the band, who apparently are pretty famous outside of romania, were wearing something close to traditional costumes. she came out threw her arms out, waiting for applause. I turn to my friends and ask if she is famous, because at the beginning of the show we had recitation of poetry by a well known romanian actress (she was also in the the Passion of the Christ- dont know, didnt see it). anyway - not famous. she sang the first verse of whitney houston's the greatest love of all then the band resumed playing music again. its like shes some's girlfriend who has convinced them to let her be on stage. cause she did it badly and at the end she came forward to screech in the microphone.

also there was a famous romanian rapper. the dancing gypsy girls hung in the back, unsure of what to do when the rapping was going on. all in all a very entertaining nite. heres a totally crappy pic.