After watching the video "Latcho Drom," it was evident that there were similar instruments used throughout the movie in a various scenes in the Middle East. One instrument that was in most of the musical scenes was something that looked like an erhu. It looked like it had two strings and a bow similar to an erhu. However the way it was played was quite different in that many of the melodic phrases that were played on it were more syncopated than what an erhu normally sounds like when played by an East Asian musician. Other instruments that seemed to be predominant in most of the musical scenes were various drums. These drums looked a lot like the tabla however they were also played a little differently. The rhythms that were being played on the drums weren't necessarily more complex but they were just different from what is normally heard on drums such as a tabla. In a lot of the musical scenes, it seemed like the women also had a lot of little percussive instruments on their hands and feet to give the song a little bit more of an edgy sound. In one scene in particular, the one under the moon, one man is playing an instrument that looks a lot like the pipa in East Asian music. However, this pipa-looking instrument sounded nothing like the pipa. The melodic lines that were being played on it were much smoother and more legato than the articulate lines in East Asian pipa music.
Throughout the movie the director demonstrated how the "gypsies" absorbed various musical cultures into their own music. However, I myself was a little confused about how he went about doing this. I guess I wasn't really sure who the "gypsies" were in the film and I didn't really see how they adapted to the music around them. It seemed to me that the musical scenes that were presented seemed to demonstrate the music of the "gypsies" but didn't really show how this music was influenced.
For me personally, the film was interesting because it gave me a glimpse of what life is like in the Middle East. The scene in the tea house with the takht ensemble is something that I could not have imagined. I thought it was interesting how the takht ensemble was the center of attention in the room. In America, normally music that is played in a tea house of coffee house would probably be background music.
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Hi Ryan. Good observations, and I'm glad you questioned how the director was showing musical transmission. Did you notice that in each scene, Rom children were imitating the adults? Especially in the Egypt scene, where the child with the rebaba was playing along to the music in the celebration. In the Istanbul scene, the Rom children were selling flowers and shining shoes, and they went to the teahouse and tried to play and dance along to the takht ensemble? It is implied that they will bring that music back to the adults of their group and the music will be absorbed into their music. You could watch it in Powell.
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