[Cronos]

more Hungarian than Romani. To be frank, Gypsies have contributed practically nothing to Western culture except their own image as romantic vagabonds.

Not really -- as I said above, Western music before the Gypsies was similar to what you hear in the medieval movies -- twingy lutes. Real mazurka style music comes fro the Gypsies. The Magyar Hungarians, being Turkic/Mongoloid had a differnt, oriental music, similar to what you hear in the steppes of Mongolia or in China today

[Mamzelle]

I rather doubt it--but there is certainly no way to disprove it, either. I couldn't disprove that the czardas was Gypsy, just that a lot of Hunkies wouldn't like the idea.

The first thing that happens when a culture comes to America--everybody wants to try the food. No Gypsy food.

Music? From where I sit, and what I've heard, the music people tell me is Gypsy sounds more like what a Western ear might like to think is Gypsy. That is, the vagabond romance of it all, not an authentic sound. I doubt we have anything in our repetoire that is anything but pastiche.

As for poetry--there is none. What we know of Gypsy language is the little that the Gypsies could not prevent our learning.

No art, other than Artful Dodging.

Amazing, is it not? There is no culture like this one--an utter nothing.