About the Festival



Consolidating three years of history into nine-day stretch, the Droma Gypsy Festival 2008 (previously the NY Gypsy Festival) will take place from September 24 to October 3 this year at only one location, the East Village venue Drom. After having held the eclectic festival at numerous locales over the years, including Symphony Space, Central Park’s De La Corte Theater, and Joe’s Pub, Drom will serve as the ideal host for this celebrated gathering of some of the most important Gypsy and Gypsy-influenced artists in the world today. The fourth edition of the festival will feature 20 bands and DJs as well as belly dancers from across the planet.

“This year we felt the music and the spirit would be better presented at one single venue,” said festival co-producer Serdar Ilhan. “The festival will continue the tradition of presenting the amazing world of Gypsy music to New York audiences at Drom.”

While the romanticized labeling of the term “Gypsy” has lent the term rather ambiguous connotations, the artists partaking in the festival are well aware of the social and sonic importance of the word. By its very nature, “Gypsy” implies multiculturalism, given the vast stretches of land the nomadic dwellers have covered over the last 700 years. This open-eared globetrotting has come to fruition with acts like Turkey’s Baba Zula, whose ritualistic performances meld art, belly dancing, elaborate costumes, poetry and theater into one magnificent audio-visual production.