les saintes-maries-de-la-mer

Romany music as seen through the ancient story of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a town in the Camargue region of France where "gypsies" throughout Europe travel each May on a religious pilgrimage to honor their Saint Sarah in prayer and song.  The music at this yearly gathering has inspired and "pollinated" flamenco, Django Reinhardt's jazz, traditional Hungarian and Balkan brass, the Gipsy Kings' Rhumba.  A wonderful little film piece from Django Reinhardt biographer Michel Dreni including additions from 1910s Romany violinist Georges Boulanger, Thierry Robin, and Django Reinhardt's great-grandson, Dallas Baumgartner.




The filmmaker also reports

My children (ages 7 and 13) filmed the events during our family vacation—except for the knifefight, which I filmed by chance (my children were in bed, happily). I was shooting the church at night when the fight broke out; you won't actually see the blades, but the footage was shot amidst the panic as the crowd ran in fear. The fight was a crime of passion: a spurred Romany lover decided to slice his beloved. He tried to get her earlier in the day, then returned at night, leaving her with blood running down her arm and her clan vowing revenge. Next year, Disneyland instead. Ha!