Ruska Roma
Encyclopedia
The Ruska Roma also known as Russian Gypsies , are a subgroup of Romani people, the biggest Romani group of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Initially were known as Xaladitka Roma (e.g. "Gipsyes-Soldiers"). Ruska Roma live mostly in Russia and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, but can also be found in Eastern and Central Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and the USA.

The group is descended from the Polska Roma who came into Russia in the end of the 17th century. The Ruska Romani language contains some German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 words and a small amount of Ukrainian and Russian grammar. Ruska Roma are Orthodox Christians.

Their traditional professions are horse trading
Horse trading
In the original sense, Horse trading is the buying and selling of horses, also called "Horse Dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the selling of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty...

, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, dancing and fortune-telling. Today, most Romani singers, actors, dancers and musicians in Russia are of the Ruska Roma. Their musical culture is considered to be the leading Romani culture in Russia, and is copied by other Roma.

The Ruska Roma traditional clothing is based on Russian and Kalderash
Kalderash
The Kalderash are a subgroup of the Romani people, from the Roma meta-group. They were traditionally smiths and metal workers and speak a number of Romani dialects grouped together under the term Kalderash Romani, a sub-group of Vlax Romani.-Etymology:The name Kalderash The Kalderash (also spelled...

 traditional clothing and is actively used by singers and dancers.

Modern Ruska Roma are one of the most educated Romani groups in Russia. They have many professions.

Ruska Roma in Russian history

At the very beginning of the 19th century there already existed Romani choruses consisting of Ruska Roma who were servants. They were considered to be so talented that their owners emancipated their Romani servants. Romani choruses of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg were very popular during all the 19th century. Russian noblemen sometimes married Romani chorus girls.

In the country, Ruska Roma were nomadic horse traders and singers. They traveled during the summer and stayed in cottages of Russian peasants during the winter. They paid for their lodging with money or with work by their horses. Ruska Roma were very popular among peasants who liked their music and dances and considered Roma to be beautiful.

In 1812, when Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 invaded Russia, the Romani diaspora of Moscow and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 gave large sums of money and good horses for the Russian army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

. Many young Romani men took part in the war as uhlan
Uhlan
Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies....

s.

In the end of the 19th century Rusko Rom Nickolai Shishkin created a Romani theater troupe. One of its plays was in the Romani language
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....

.

After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

, some Romani families left Russia. Some young Romani men took part in the civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

.
In the 1920s and '30s, Roma of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 produced a literary norm of the Romani language that was based on a dialect of Ruska Roma.
Romani literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 and press
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...

 appeared; most of the poets, writers and journalists were from the Ruska Roma.
In the 1930s the Roma of the U.S.S.R. were subjected to mass repressions. Romani press and literature were forbidden.

During World War II some of the Ruska Roma entered the army, by conscription and as volunteers. They took part in the war as soldiers, officers, infantrymen, tankmen, artillerymen, aviators, drivers, paramedics and doctors. Some teenagers, old men and adult men were also partisans. Romani actors, singers, musicians, dancers (mostly women) performed for soldiers in the front line and in hospitals. A huge number of Roma, including many of the Ruska Roma, died or were murdered in territories occupied by the enemy, in battles, and in the siege of Leningrad.

After World War II Ruska Roma's music became very popular. Romen Theatre
Romen Theatre
Romen Theatre is the oldest and the most famous of Romani theatres in the world. The theatre is a key object of Romani culture in Russia, and from the moment of its foundation in 1931, it has been a centre of attraction for Romani artists in Russia....

, Romani singers and ensembles prospered. All Roma of the U.S.S.R. began to perceive Ruska Roma's culture as the basic Romani culture. After the Decree of nomadic life interdiction (1956), the second wave of Ruska Romani settling happened.

In the 1980s, some representatives of artistic Ruska Romani families made a considerable contribution to "informal" music: jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 (Valentina Ponomaryova
Valentina Ponomaryova (singer)
Valentina Dmitriyevna Ponomaryova , often also spelled Ponomareva, is a Russian singer, performer of romances and a jazz vocalist.-Biography:...

), rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 (Valentina Ponomaryova
Valentina Ponomaryova (singer)
Valentina Dmitriyevna Ponomaryova , often also spelled Ponomareva, is a Russian singer, performer of romances and a jazz vocalist.-Biography:...

, Mikhail Zhemchuzhny Junior), Russian chanson (Alexei Dulkevich Junior).

In the 1990s, Ruska Roma's music lost its popularity and now have quite a small audience, but is still popular at Russian weddings and birthday celebrations.

Famous Ruska Roma

  • Alexei Dulkevich-senior, Alexei Dulkevich-junior, Mikhail Zhemchuzhny-junior, Oleg Ponomaryov — musiсians
  • Nickolai Shishkin, Ivan Rom-Lebedev, Nickolai Pankov — theatre personalities
  • Yul Brynner, Valentina Ponomaryova, Dmitry Buzylyov — theatre and cinema actors, singers
  • Dufunya Vishnevsky — film director
  • Mikhail Ilyinsky, Alexei Ilyinsky, Ivan Rom-Lebedev — writers
  • Stepanida Soldatova, Tatyana Demyanova, Varvara Panina, Alyosha Dimitrievich, Valentina Ponomaryova, Lyalya Shishkova, Vasily Vasilyev, Nickolai Vasilyev, Alyona Buzylyova, Ratmir Shishkov, Diana Savelyeva, Peter Yanyshov — singers
  • Natalya Pankova, Lyubov Pankova, Ilona Makhotina — scientists
  • Djura Makhotin — poet
  • Yan Reshetnikov — human rights activist, general of police

See also

  • Roma (Romani subgroup)
  • Kalderash
    Kalderash
    The Kalderash are a subgroup of the Romani people, from the Roma meta-group. They were traditionally smiths and metal workers and speak a number of Romani dialects grouped together under the term Kalderash Romani, a sub-group of Vlax Romani.-Etymology:The name Kalderash The Kalderash (also spelled...

  • Lovari
  • Servitka Roma
    Servitka Roma
    Servitka Roma is a subgroup of Roma. They formed as a group in Ukraine, where their ancestors had come from Serbia. Servitka Roma are part of the Roma in Ukraine and in Russia, they are well integrated. Most numerous group of Ukrainian Roma. Servitka Romani dialect belongs to Ukrainian Group of...


External links

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