We now know that the gypsies originated in the Punjab in northwestern India and fled from the region during the clashes between invading Arab and Mongolian warriors a thousand years ago. On their long odyssey, they traveled through, and settled in, the countries of the Middle East, including Persia and Egypt.

Indeed, they became so closely associated with Egypt that they eventually came to believe they were descendants of the Pharaohs, a legend to which many of their songs still refer. As a result, they were called "Egyptians," or "Gypcians" in English; in Old Spanish, "Gitano" was simply a way of saying "Egyptian." Without a written history, they had forgotten where they really came from.

They reached Spain in the early 15th century and quickly spread all over the country. Although they were not expelled along with the Moors and Jews during the 16th century, partly because they represented no threat to the political and religious supremacy of reunified, Christian Spain, and partly because it was simply too difficult to physically get hold of them all, they were eventually forced to give up their Romani language (now identified by linguists as a simplified version of Sanskrit), as well as their nomadic ways. 

Concert of Gypsy music
Guitarist Vivi Hernández
Tuesday, April 18, 7:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50
50 pesos