1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,760 The Romani Literature Club is a unique subject in Slovakia. 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,200 Though, I can say it is unique in whole Europe. 3 00:00:14,380 --> 00:00:18,820 For as much as we have had the honour to participate on an international project, 4 00:00:18,820 --> 00:00:24,900 where the attendants themselves appreciated that it´s unique in Slovakia. 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:31,320 The Club was founded in 2009, thanks to the initiative of the Regional Association of Romani Initiatives, 6 00:00:31,380 --> 00:00:34,060 what is a civic association that operates in Banska Bystrica. 7 00:00:34,170 --> 00:00:36,500 I was its member and I still am 8 00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:39,300 and because we took part in various realized projects, 9 00:00:39,330 --> 00:00:43,660 so beside the work, we´ve been meeting up with a people, with our friends 10 00:00:43,660 --> 00:00:50,920 and during the coffee debates we realized that every one of us, somehow, creates poetry or prose 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,180 and we have it hidden in a drawers. 12 00:00:53,180 --> 00:00:57,860 Some of them managed to publish some of their works in Romano nevo ľil newspapers, so I knew many of them. 13 00:00:58,210 --> 00:01:03,900 As we´ve been discussing, we´ve decided to make such an informal club, with this name. 14 00:01:04,140 --> 00:01:10,980 At the beginning there were fourteen of us, now, after the years we are twenty two. 15 00:01:11,930 --> 00:01:18,620 There would be a lot more, but unfortunately, as everything in Slovakia, this is also related to the funds. 16 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:25,160 We are 22, we come from all around the country, mostly from the middle Slovakia, of course 17 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,920 but basically from the east to the west. 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,260 We operate on principle of obtaining the financial resources through the projects 19 00:01:32,260 --> 00:01:34,980 in a Government Office - department of the national minorities. 20 00:01:35,220 --> 00:01:38,300 Thank God, we succeed every year, even though it´s not a lot of money, 21 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:43,840 at least it´s enough for publishing some collection every year, which might be dedicated 22 00:01:44,830 --> 00:01:47,360 to the children or to the seniors. 23 00:01:47,420 --> 00:01:51,360 Thematically, somehow, we always try to address various topics 24 00:01:51,390 --> 00:01:56,200 depends on what every member, the writer, feels. 25 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:01,020 It is very important to say, that none of us have studied 26 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,200 any school so we could be considered as a writer, in any way. 27 00:02:06,490 --> 00:02:08,670 But it is such 28 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,920 I don´t want to say amateur writing, because we invite some writers of repute 29 00:02:15,270 --> 00:02:18,300 to our meetings, who exactly talks about the 30 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:23,900 it is exactly as it used to be in Slovakia, in the times of Štúr, where it all began 31 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:26,780 to create somehow, the national awareness 32 00:02:26,780 --> 00:02:29,060 and the writers, the artists were in the centre. 33 00:02:29,060 --> 00:02:33,340 So we are always identified, also our group, 34 00:02:33,590 --> 00:02:36,000 as a people, who try to 35 00:02:36,170 --> 00:02:37,770 even through the Romani language, 36 00:02:37,770 --> 00:02:43,190 because it´s very important, that we write, well, the most of us write in Romani and also in Slovak language. 37 00:02:43,260 --> 00:02:46,740 The collections are bilingual most of all because 38 00:02:46,740 --> 00:02:51,630 we ship them to the community centres, to the civic associations, to the elementary schools 39 00:02:51,780 --> 00:02:55,580 and we attend the meetings, discussions, debates with a students. 40 00:02:55,850 --> 00:02:58,800 I try to show my colleagues, which I´m going to introduce in a while, 41 00:02:58,850 --> 00:03:04,000 as a positive models, every one of them is employed, they will talk about themselves and about what they do. 42 00:03:04,340 --> 00:03:09,680 And the last information, as I said, the age interface of the club 43 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,820 there are even 18,19, 20 years old among us, 44 00:03:14,020 --> 00:03:20,300 whose optics of perception of the world, of romanipen is completely different and then there are the seniors, 45 00:03:21,090 --> 00:03:25,080 who have really rich life experiences and for us, they are incredible 46 00:03:25,670 --> 00:03:28,280 motivation, respect, the fact we try 47 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,370 to blend the old Romani world with the present one 48 00:03:32,370 --> 00:03:36,820 and this is the most obvious that we are all in the one group and we manage to put it into the books. 49 00:03:36,820 --> 00:03:39,060 Now, I´m going to introduce my colleagues. 50 00:03:39,870 --> 00:03:44,420 I start from the left side, so, this is Ivanka Cicková, who is from Banská Bystrica. 51 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,920 Milan Berko, who is from Hrochoť. 52 00:03:47,980 --> 00:03:55,060 And auntie Zlatka Rusová, who lives far from here, in Kameňany village, county Revúca. 53 00:03:55,510 --> 00:03:59,700 I want to thank you for your time today and that you came from such a distance. 54 00:03:59,770 --> 00:04:03,940 Every single writer, no matter if he writes a poetry or the prose 55 00:04:04,230 --> 00:04:11,060 to me, a poetry is closer to my heart because somehow I can express more what I feel this way 56 00:04:11,340 --> 00:04:15,920 the poetry, I put it into some verses, but 57 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,760 it is not ordered exactly, I mean we won´t say: well, and now we´re going to write something for a children 58 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,520 or we´re going to write about the love, you can´t dictate like this to any writer. 59 00:04:24,570 --> 00:04:28,300 When he wakes up in the morning, what he feels 60 00:04:28,350 --> 00:04:30,720 in his own life, maybe injustice, maybe joy, 61 00:04:31,060 --> 00:04:33,220 or he just enjoy something in this moment. 62 00:04:33,220 --> 00:04:36,440 He was kicked my a muse, he picks up a pen or he opens a laptop and his writing begins. 63 00:04:36,550 --> 00:04:39,320 Well, I suppose that more of us write this way. 64 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:44,380 The truth is, we also use many works in our collections, the ones 65 00:04:44,460 --> 00:04:46,340 that already have been written in the past. 66 00:04:46,380 --> 00:04:49,800 It is happening, for example, Pavlínka Cicková, who is not here or 67 00:04:49,940 --> 00:04:53,360 the colleagues, who are here, they wrote something at the age of 16-17 years 68 00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:57,060 and it becomes more precious, because they make a flashback. 69 00:04:58,010 --> 00:05:02,020 How they´ve been feeling about something when they were 16, 17 years old and how they feel about it now. 70 00:05:02,060 --> 00:05:07,260 Myself, in my poetry, I try to write rather nationally. 71 00:05:07,890 --> 00:05:13,100 I always fancy to put into my poetry, when the others 72 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:16,260 read it, that they can see that being Roma 73 00:05:16,330 --> 00:05:18,260 doesn´t mean to be bad, but to be different. 74 00:05:18,290 --> 00:05:22,970 It is said that Roma people have the greater sense and feeling for music 75 00:05:22,970 --> 00:05:25,940 and I think the same apply to the writers. 76 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:29,660 Comparing the work that have been written about Roma, they are beautiful 77 00:05:29,890 --> 00:05:34,180 but if you take the work that was written by Roma into your hand, you can feel the Roma soul. 78 00:05:34,420 --> 00:05:41,700 It is very hard, in this times, in 21st century, to write about the fire and the itinerancy, known more or less only from the movies. 79 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,680 But we prefer to write about how the nomadic way of life, at least I feel it this way, 80 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:51,420 I try to use it to express metaphorically the ideas of multiculturalism, the ideas 81 00:05:51,420 --> 00:05:54,840 of what´s happening and where our nation is leading. 82 00:05:55,390 --> 00:05:57,660 As regards the writing, 83 00:05:57,660 --> 00:05:59,720 I write in a Romany language, of course. 84 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:05,120 I try to combine it straight with a Slovak language, but it is kind of my professional deformation, 85 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:10,700 that I try, with my poetry, to bring the Romani language to the non-Roma reader. 86 00:06:10,700 --> 00:06:17,240 He can´t talk Romani, but logically he can understand the word somehow, using the Slovak language, 87 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,380 and that´s some kind of a learning, too. 88 00:06:19,630 --> 00:06:23,380 The most of a writers write in Slovak language, about the Roma topic. 89 00:06:23,540 --> 00:06:28,060 There are eight, seven people, who directly write in Roma language. 90 00:06:28,110 --> 00:06:32,580 I am very thankful for one thing, since the club was founded, 91 00:06:32,730 --> 00:06:38,200 I get all works of all the members, as I have to read it, redact it and stuff , 92 00:06:38,330 --> 00:06:43,330 and in such a moment, when I´m translating it, I have them all naked in front of me. 93 00:06:43,330 --> 00:06:47,040 It is something beautiful, because you can see the person, 94 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,120 and it´s been a years, well, you can see how he feels, 95 00:06:51,210 --> 00:06:53,120 and I do not interfere their language, I want to say 96 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,960 even our language has been standardized, if it´s authentic 97 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:01,580 we respect absolutely the reality, it means, the Roma people from the village or the settlement 98 00:07:01,630 --> 00:07:05,480 where our friend, the writer, the member comes from, 99 00:07:05,610 --> 00:07:09,480 I want them to understand the language that is spoken in their village, that´s why we keep it. 100 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:15,220 And automatically, we put there also a note, saying that some of the works are in the original, 101 00:07:15,820 --> 00:07:17,860 well, in the authentic form. 102 00:07:17,890 --> 00:07:23,220 It would be sad and that´s why we do it, because as we know the language was standardized, 103 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:25,470 and 104 00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:29,940 for the purpose of an education, when it goes to the schools, so the pupils can learn 105 00:07:29,940 --> 00:07:33,520 or the students on universities, they see that the language really do 106 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:38,940 stands where it should be used as any other language. 107 00:07:39,330 --> 00:07:42,980 But there are exceptions in the artistic works, so I gladly use it. 108 00:07:42,980 --> 00:07:48,220 Well, it would be interesting, if they´d say their opinion on what I have said before, 109 00:07:48,750 --> 00:07:53,920 from their point of view; now, Zlatka, please, tell us about how you write. 110 00:07:54,110 --> 00:07:57,300 What is your motivation, you also write in Romani language. 111 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,200 Well, what is my motivation? 112 00:08:03,590 --> 00:08:06,780 First of all, I have to say that I 113 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,060 just don´t write about the modern age. 114 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,500 I write about the old times. 115 00:08:14,060 --> 00:08:15,500 And that´s why, 116 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,520 I was questioned many times 117 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:27,080 if I use a word Roma or Gypsy in my novels, tales and so on. 118 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:33,300 I have to use a Gypsy, because I do not write about the new age, 119 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:42,200 but I write about the old times, that passed and I write the old stories, which 120 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:47,570 I was personally told by the old Roma people. 121 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:55,800 When I go to the settlement, I find and I sit next to the old man and he starts to talk to me. 122 00:08:56,330 --> 00:08:58,420 That´s something different 123 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,740 than this modern age. 124 00:09:02,210 --> 00:09:08,960 And how did I get to using and working with the ancient Romanipen? 125 00:09:09,930 --> 00:09:16,620 Well, maybe it´s because of my age and maybe it´s because 126 00:09:17,060 --> 00:09:23,220 since my youth I was gathering some things, I always liked to write and I liked to read. 127 00:09:24,060 --> 00:09:30,990 And I was putting aside the old tales, that I´ve heard in the settlement, in my settlement. 128 00:09:31,730 --> 00:09:37,700 And there were the old Roma people, who were the musicians, 129 00:09:38,010 --> 00:09:43,860 who experienced the World War II., who were in the the concentration camps. 130 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:50,220 There were women, men, who survived monstrous suffering. 131 00:09:50,340 --> 00:09:56,900 And also there were, what I always say that we should write, 132 00:09:57,580 --> 00:10:00,480 not only about our dances, singing, 133 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,920 and I don´t know what else our people used to do, 134 00:10:05,470 --> 00:10:13,660 but we should add one more thing and the thing is, that in the every settlement there were a storytellers. 135 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:22,260 They were the old people and usually they were the ones, who experienced a lot. 136 00:10:22,340 --> 00:10:24,210 The hard times, the bad times. 137 00:10:24,500 --> 00:10:30,400 And they saw more of the world and after they´d come back to the settlement, 138 00:10:30,970 --> 00:10:33,220 they already knew what to talk about. 139 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,960 And I was registering and putting aside all this. 140 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,180 After a few debates, I´ve attended, I found out, that 141 00:10:43,820 --> 00:10:47,210 the kids and our youth, 142 00:10:48,510 --> 00:10:51,320 they have lack of information about the World War II. 143 00:10:51,710 --> 00:10:53,180 They know that it was, 144 00:10:53,420 --> 00:10:58,260 that there were Jews, who were suffering a lot, 145 00:10:58,990 --> 00:11:00,860 but only a few know, 146 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,260 that there were Roma people, too. 147 00:11:03,780 --> 00:11:04,940 And that, 148 00:11:05,570 --> 00:11:07,080 that moved me. 149 00:11:07,310 --> 00:11:11,900 But when I started to think about it, I realized, that 150 00:11:12,380 --> 00:11:17,020 if it´s in the school, if it´s I don´t know, 151 00:11:17,020 --> 00:11:20,600 on universities, on high school and so on, 152 00:11:21,530 --> 00:11:24,000 they are not taught about it in school. 153 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,920 Because only few people know about the Roma. 154 00:11:27,070 --> 00:11:32,140 Besides the writing in the club, you already do have the third, beautiful book. 155 00:11:32,250 --> 00:11:41,260 I always feel delighted, when I touch it by my hand as the very first one, because I pick it out of the printer, and it smells like newness. 156 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,830 And then we help to spread it further, to the schools. 157 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:49,740 I want to ask, you write a fairy-tales, but also the adults read it, 158 00:11:50,330 --> 00:11:53,560 what do you think, is the adult person yet 159 00:11:54,160 --> 00:12:00,420 and it doesn´t matter if it´s Roma or non-Roma person, able to comprehend the tale by its principles, or is it more 160 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:04,600 pleasant escape from the reality, because when the man is in the fairy-tale, everything seems different. 161 00:12:05,060 --> 00:12:09,860 Well, Maroško, you would be very surprised, because 162 00:12:10,180 --> 00:12:13,780 not only the kids read the fairy-tales, 163 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:15,980 but also the adults. 164 00:12:16,140 --> 00:12:18,180 Maybe because they are curious. 165 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,800 Romani woman wrote a fairy-tales, what should it be? 166 00:12:22,530 --> 00:12:23,610 Well, and 167 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,860 the interesting thing about it is, that 168 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,160 my Romani fairy-tales, really are a bit different. 169 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:37,800 But there is one thing that they have in common with the other tales, 170 00:12:38,190 --> 00:12:40,160 the Slovak ones, 171 00:12:40,250 --> 00:12:42,160 and that´s the happy end. 172 00:12:42,740 --> 00:12:45,720 As it should be in the fairy-tales. 173 00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:51,220 But the story is a little bit different, it´s about our dreams, 174 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:53,540 about our troubles, maybe, 175 00:12:53,540 --> 00:12:57,740 maybe the kids will find out in the tales and 176 00:12:58,050 --> 00:13:01,090 I think not only kids, but also the adults. 177 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:06,440 And Gadjo, when they read it, if we can say it this way, well Gadjos 178 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,460 they had stopped me and they said, that they are pretty, they are beautiful, 179 00:13:12,510 --> 00:13:15,840 but they are, Mrs. Rusová, a little bit different. 180 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:21,680 Exactly, when we met for the first time and we started getting to know each other, as a writers, 181 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:27,400 I remember today, I have introduced Zlatka as a successor of Elena Lacková. 182 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:29,540 People knew, who is Lacková, of course. 183 00:13:29,610 --> 00:13:34,100 This is what we are proud of and we present it every possible occasion. 184 00:13:34,180 --> 00:13:38,480 And I´m even happier in connection with 185 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:44,420 Mrs. Zlatka is that during the web browsing you accidentally find an article from Czech Republic, 186 00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:51,600 where they write about her and they mount her on the pedestal, well, I think that´s the satisfaction of our work and that we even exist. 187 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:56,020 The same could be said about Miňo, as well, even he is from completely different age category 188 00:13:56,050 --> 00:13:59,120 and he has absolutely different style of writing, try to tell us about it 189 00:13:59,170 --> 00:14:02,340 rather poetry, prose, what, why you write? 190 00:14:04,730 --> 00:14:08,220 To the poetry itself, 191 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:13,080 I got to it, somehow, when my teacher 192 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:17,160 at the elementary school said to me: Let´s write something. 193 00:14:17,300 --> 00:14:21,210 And thanks to her, little by little, I gained the experiences. 194 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:26,680 The follower of her and I proudly proclaim it and I always will 195 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:31,180 say it, that her follower became Mrs. 196 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,020 deceased Danielka Šilanová. 197 00:14:36,130 --> 00:14:39,040 I mean, Mrs. Šilanová, I was 198 00:14:39,090 --> 00:14:41,740 I always needed to be kicked to poetry. 199 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:48,900 If it was my teacher, Mrs. Vítková, or if it was Mrs. Šilanová, who probably saw a potential in me. 200 00:14:49,230 --> 00:14:57,060 But I needed to be kicked somehow, admonished, I always hated it. 201 00:14:57,490 --> 00:15:03,360 Now her follower is mister Balog, here, 202 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:11,100 who always calls me and he always gives me my time, to write somehow and edit, modify. 203 00:15:11,700 --> 00:15:14,400 I consider myself a poet, 204 00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:17,860 a minstrel, commercial as well. 205 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,000 And that´s why it looks how it looks, but 206 00:15:21,550 --> 00:15:26,770 in my poetry, I try to use, and maybe that makes me different, 207 00:15:27,770 --> 00:15:30,460 well, so, I try to use the equivocates. 208 00:15:30,670 --> 00:15:36,460 It means, the words like mask, love, these are a simple words. 209 00:15:36,460 --> 00:15:41,020 I like the ones, that I take the foreignism and I try to dress it up, the word. 210 00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:43,740 Simply, and then I turn the word into the one of double meaning. 211 00:15:44,090 --> 00:15:49,020 But after I was requested by you and I became 212 00:15:49,610 --> 00:15:52,520 the part of the club, what is a honour for me, 213 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:58,360 so I learned how to feel and write nationally. 214 00:15:58,980 --> 00:16:05,460 I have learned, because we, as a club, we belong together 215 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,920 and we motivate each other. I´ve never been writing the prose, 216 00:16:09,010 --> 00:16:12,340 well, but after reading the works of Mrs. Rusová, 217 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:18,090 I tried something as well, because we can see that 218 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,560 the wisdom that is in the books, 219 00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,130 it experienced a lot. 220 00:16:23,180 --> 00:16:30,620 But we can say, that someone of us experienced something similar, but he wants to write it a little bit different, from his own perspective. 221 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,720 For example, when I look at Ivanka, about the family, about the kids 222 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,620 and so on, so maybe I wouldn´t be able to feel it that deeply, as Iva. 223 00:16:40,620 --> 00:16:47,740 Miňo, you´ve said several times, that you write differently, you used the word different few times. 224 00:16:48,270 --> 00:16:54,840 Everyone of us, who belongs to this club, write differently, that´s why it is so valuable 225 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,620 that everyone finds some new point of view, 226 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:03,060 of perception of the poetry and prose and that´s why whole this fellowship. 227 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,880 I have a wish, that every one of us, will publish his own book one day. 228 00:17:07,940 --> 00:17:12,300 And we are heading towards it slowly, because already the fourth person is writing his stuff. 229 00:17:12,300 --> 00:17:18,940 But it is unique, and I compare it with some sport club, because we always manage to harmonize 230 00:17:18,940 --> 00:17:24,140 our works, so if somebody opens the book, he would find 231 00:17:24,290 --> 00:17:26,370 exactly what he´s looking for in the book. 232 00:17:26,730 --> 00:17:37,600 As I said before, that we all write differently, you, Ivka, you are also situated otherwise in your works. 233 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,780 When I translate your works, as well as Miňo have said, well, 234 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,300 I feel there the femininity ,a lot, 235 00:17:45,810 --> 00:17:48,960 as well as the national, Romani, of course, but you are 236 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,880 different, I use the same word as the other members. 237 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,700 Well, try to tell us, what do you write and why do you write. 238 00:17:56,130 --> 00:17:58,960 I got here thanks to you. 239 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,220 We were having a cup of coffee and we were talking about 240 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:07,580 what we have in common, and we get to know each other for ages, Maroš, since 1995. 241 00:18:08,060 --> 00:18:09,560 And that´s such a long time and 242 00:18:09,970 --> 00:18:13,550 so we said we will write and let´s try something 243 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,980 and as I was co-operating 244 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:20,000 with a Cultural Association of Roma in Slovakia ans 245 00:18:20,410 --> 00:18:23,820 MA Andrea Bučková was doing 246 00:18:23,890 --> 00:18:29,980 the workshop about the generic equality and I was meeting up with a women, who 247 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:35,500 weren´t just Romani, because the domestic violence relate to non-Roma women, too. 248 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,700 So this moved me, because hardly any woman say 249 00:18:40,860 --> 00:18:45,080 what bothers her to whoever friend on the street 250 00:18:45,150 --> 00:18:47,740 and I talk to her about it. 251 00:18:47,850 --> 00:18:53,460 We were talking about such a things and simply, I just couldn´t bear to hear it, my heart was broken. 252 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:58,360 So, literally, I went mad and I have started to write about it. 253 00:18:58,610 --> 00:19:02,240 The output of the project that was dealing 254 00:19:02,380 --> 00:19:07,980 with a generic equity was making of a postcards of a women, who were a part of it, 255 00:19:07,980 --> 00:19:11,500 and my poems, the very early poems 256 00:19:11,790 --> 00:19:13,960 were displayed at these postcards. 257 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:19,630 The postcards were the outputs together with my poems, what was presented in Bangkok. 258 00:19:20,010 --> 00:19:25,600 So, this was a success, but I can say that I was kicked to it by Baša. 259 00:19:26,580 --> 00:19:31,080 She kept on saying: Your talk is gifted, try it, don´t be afraid of it. 260 00:19:31,130 --> 00:19:33,500 She was such a starter to me. 261 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,540 And they call me a feminist, because 262 00:19:39,370 --> 00:19:44,040 and it´s not an insult to me, I... 263 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,200 Just a few men know, what or how the woman feels. 264 00:19:48,460 --> 00:19:51,660 And the good thing is, when a man takes the book into his hand and he says to himself 265 00:19:51,810 --> 00:19:59,760 Goodness, I do behave like this or my grandfather acted like this to my mother and this is what it´s all about. 266 00:20:00,420 --> 00:20:01,760 It´s all about this and 267 00:20:02,580 --> 00:20:06,500 when I started to write, I also discovered the fairy-tales, 268 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:11,920 novels, so again, I have to turn to Zlatka. 269 00:20:14,050 --> 00:20:20,570 And my great teacher was Danielka Šilanová, 270 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,560 as I was also as her pupil. 271 00:20:26,060 --> 00:20:27,880 She was the one, who led us 272 00:20:28,130 --> 00:20:32,060 not only to the journalism, but also to the writing. 273 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:37,740 And I can say, the great satisfaction for me was, when I was writing 274 00:20:38,350 --> 00:20:42,860 and I didn´t know about it at all, that my article for Romano Nevo Ľil newspaper 275 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,080 They open children´ hearts, 276 00:20:46,830 --> 00:20:49,260 she had sent it to the Syndicate of the journalists 277 00:20:49,310 --> 00:20:52,420 where I obtained the Syndicate of the journalists´s award. 278 00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:55,130 It was the third award, it was in 2002. 279 00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:01,200 And after all this, I said to myself, wow, it is all really worth it. 280 00:21:01,460 --> 00:21:05,040 You have mentioned Romano Nevo Ľil few times, some of our 281 00:21:05,620 --> 00:21:12,000 members really published their very first works in a cooperation with this Romani periodic. 282 00:21:12,020 --> 00:21:18,300 But anyway, the cooperation still exist, every year, when Romano Nevo Ľil 283 00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:25,410 is published, the readers can see the works of the collections of our club. 284 00:21:25,580 --> 00:21:29,610 As well as the other medias contact us 285 00:21:29,820 --> 00:21:35,260 and we try to present our works not only in printed form, 286 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:39,060 but of course, it´s 21st century, so you can get to read faster something on Facebook, 287 00:21:39,060 --> 00:21:46,120 that is the purpose, to make the people like and comment the works 288 00:21:46,210 --> 00:21:50,620 they see for the very first time and it makes me very happy, 289 00:21:50,670 --> 00:21:53,280 I remember one Romani woman from Orava wrote: 290 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,100 I am so ashamed I don´t know something like this exists in Slovakia. 291 00:21:57,310 --> 00:22:04,700 I felt ashamed in that moment, too, because it was a feedback, as Zlatka suggested, that 292 00:22:04,780 --> 00:22:10,880 the traditions, the Romani values regarding the music, the singing, the dance, 293 00:22:11,650 --> 00:22:16,540 are represented by the professional theatre Romathan, also the newspapers mentioned, 294 00:22:16,650 --> 00:22:22,120 also the Romani language, somehow lives in Slovakia. 295 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:29,500 And I return to what I´ve said at the beginning, that we are unique, because we have the bloggers, the journalists, 296 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:32,620 very skillful ones, here in Slovakia, pleasure to watch them, 297 00:22:32,620 --> 00:22:37,120 including Roman Čonka, and all the others, who deal with a journalism, 298 00:22:37,220 --> 00:22:43,340 but what is really missing here in Slovakia, is the work of the writers. 299 00:22:43,470 --> 00:22:50,780 It is sad, that they know much more people abroad, than here in Slovakia. 300 00:22:51,010 --> 00:22:53,180 I have already mentioned Dezider Banga, 301 00:22:53,390 --> 00:22:56,280 who was also in touch with us and he comes 302 00:22:57,250 --> 00:23:01,680 to show to the youth and also to the other people the beauty of our Romani language. 303 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:07,720 Except I have said that we write and we try to meet with the people, 304 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,900 as I say, when we meet up at our meetings 305 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:15,220 and I try to inform you that people get to know about us 306 00:23:15,220 --> 00:23:18,780 and also the organizations, institutions, that deal 307 00:23:18,850 --> 00:23:22,480 with some kind of a literature and with a kids, with a Romani youth, 308 00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:29,700 I always announce to you, what a satisfaction it is for our further existence, that the children themselves 309 00:23:29,700 --> 00:23:35,070 choose our works for a competitions like Hviezdoslavov Kubín and 310 00:23:35,410 --> 00:23:38,860 Šaliansky Maťko and others county competitions. 311 00:23:39,410 --> 00:23:42,820 I´ve attended twice the pricing in Bratislava, called 312 00:23:43,340 --> 00:23:49,260 Romano Kher, they made a competition artistic, as well as literary, and it was very satisfying to see 313 00:23:49,260 --> 00:23:55,460 the child reciting the work that was written by us and that´s now very common even at schools. 314 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,530 And I want to get just to the schools. 315 00:23:57,660 --> 00:24:03,920 Approximately two weeks ago, if I remember it well, we´ve attended one meeting in this exact combination and 316 00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:09,980 it is beautiful for me, I don´t know how about you, to see how the kids react to the Romani language 317 00:24:09,980 --> 00:24:12,200 but also the reaction of the pedagogues, as it is. 318 00:24:12,260 --> 00:24:15,780 Sometimes I´ve got a feeling as if they saw the positive model for the first time, 319 00:24:15,860 --> 00:24:18,920 I mean, Romani positive model, how do you feel about it? 320 00:24:19,780 --> 00:24:20,740 Zlatka. 321 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:27,700 Well, I would say that not every pedagogue is the same. 322 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,610 Because, there really are 323 00:24:32,340 --> 00:24:36,660 the teachers, who, for example, are at our settlement, 324 00:24:37,260 --> 00:24:41,280 where the Romani school is situated, purely Romani, 325 00:24:41,650 --> 00:24:49,460 and the teachers, they literally devote their time to the children. 326 00:24:49,460 --> 00:24:54,050 And when I come for a meeting or something like that 327 00:24:54,500 --> 00:25:00,260 they are not surprised anymore, it´s normal for them. 328 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:06,940 But when we go somewhere else, into the other school, some of them are surprised, 329 00:25:07,070 --> 00:25:11,340 but, I think, in a good way. 330 00:25:11,490 --> 00:25:16,240 They are surprised, that Romani people are not only dancing and singing, 331 00:25:16,330 --> 00:25:20,580 and I don´t know, something like that, only dances and singing, 332 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,690 but that there is something different, too. 333 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:28,300 When I start to talk about our group, that there are writers 334 00:25:28,900 --> 00:25:31,740 and I say, what kind of a people we have, the young ones, 335 00:25:31,980 --> 00:25:36,800 that I am, perhaps, the oldest one and the others are the youngsters, 336 00:25:36,850 --> 00:25:38,760 they are surprised. 337 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,740 I meant the same, in a good way about the teachers. 338 00:25:41,770 --> 00:25:48,380 That´s why I asked, because the work with a children is always a bit easier, if you use the literature, the music or the singing. 339 00:25:48,380 --> 00:25:52,500 But the communication with the adults, I feel it the same, every time we go there, 340 00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:55,810 that the interest will awake for the teachers and maybe they will grab one of 341 00:25:55,860 --> 00:26:00,410 our material, that we let there, well, as well as your books and they surely use it. 342 00:26:00,990 --> 00:26:07,210 Miňo, the last time you´ve been with us, you made it easy, because you tried to adapt right to 343 00:26:07,650 --> 00:26:11,320 the class, how old were the kids, 10-9? something like this 344 00:26:11,370 --> 00:26:14,760 and I know, one mister reacted on it, I mean a professor, 345 00:26:14,830 --> 00:26:19,420 that you got stuck in his mind, he wrote it on a social media, that 346 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,280 you really managed to adapt to the kids and to drag 347 00:26:23,540 --> 00:26:26,440 everyone into our theme, we´ve been talking about. 348 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:31,380 So, tell us, if it´s meaningful, or more precisely, 349 00:26:31,630 --> 00:26:35,120 why do you think it´s a good idea to go to the schools and talk to the kids. 350 00:26:37,540 --> 00:26:42,940 When you say, that I was so witty and so on, it´s because always, when I write, 351 00:26:42,990 --> 00:26:46,330 or whatever I do, 352 00:26:46,580 --> 00:26:49,900 I always try to adapt to the kids. 353 00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:56,770 Because all of us experienced the boring lectures about the writers, when we were kids, 354 00:26:56,930 --> 00:26:59,150 the mentoring and so on. 355 00:26:59,380 --> 00:27:04,860 And at the same time I am glad that we are such a well coordinated team, all of us, 356 00:27:04,860 --> 00:27:11,710 maybe because we know each other so well, our thoughts are linked, and as it wasn´t prepared at all 357 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,800 it´s much more precious, that the kids have reacted. 358 00:27:16,850 --> 00:27:23,200 That we took a teacher and so on, and we made her to shoot the tongue and so on, so we... 359 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:29,620 Simply, it was beautiful and I already know and I´m sure, the kids, when there will be some competition, 360 00:27:29,620 --> 00:27:33,860 they will simply choose these books, they will look for it, and this is what it´s all about. 361 00:27:35,010 --> 00:27:37,060 This is the goal of our club, actually. 362 00:27:37,060 --> 00:27:40,580 And not only this, Maroško, I would like to add something. 363 00:27:40,770 --> 00:27:46,800 Considering how the teachers react about us, 364 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:52,050 let´s say the sincere truth, they are Gadjos, said folksy. 365 00:27:52,820 --> 00:27:58,370 But even our Romani people do not know us. 366 00:27:59,130 --> 00:28:03,380 Considering, let´s consider the television, for example, the Romani Day. 367 00:28:03,820 --> 00:28:08,960 That´s awful, because the whole world knows us, just singing, 368 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,820 and even no dance at the end of it. 369 00:28:12,300 --> 00:28:17,980 Well, I am sad, while watching the Romani Day on television 370 00:28:18,450 --> 00:28:22,460 and I feel awkward and maybe I feel ashamed, too 371 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,510 that we know nothing else, but the singing, 372 00:28:27,250 --> 00:28:30,620 and little by little we forget about the dance, as well. 373 00:28:30,620 --> 00:28:32,350 I do thank you for what you´ve said, 374 00:28:32,350 --> 00:28:38,650 because the task of our club is really to show, that the language is alive, in the literary form. 375 00:28:38,890 --> 00:28:42,240 And that´s why I used the possibility 376 00:28:42,540 --> 00:28:46,280 to take part lately, at the conference dedicated to the Romani language, in Kremnica, 377 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,890 Where the private eight-years Romani-English Grammar school is established. 378 00:28:50,170 --> 00:28:53,920 We were talking about the serious problems, in respect of 379 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,660 the utilization of the language in the education, I mean at the schools 380 00:28:59,660 --> 00:29:04,860 and I´ve found the space, intentionally, for showing the participants of the conference, that 381 00:29:04,930 --> 00:29:09,640 the Romani, the Romani language exists in this form. 382 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,980 In respect of what´s written in Strategy 2020, 383 00:29:13,010 --> 00:29:18,620 and I don´t want to dabble in politics, but there is a clear emphasis, an accent, put on the Romani literature. 384 00:29:18,690 --> 00:29:22,800 So that´s why I´ve done it, so not only the debates with a students and teachers, 385 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:28,910 but the people, who are competent affect and to set the things for the next period 386 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:34,990 and we really want, I just have to agree, what we are here for and why we exist. 387 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:40,140 And a satisfaction for me, personally, would be, if after 30 years I would read or see in the television 388 00:29:40,140 --> 00:29:44,320 some famous writer, coming from the kids we meet in the schools today. 389 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,450 It would be very fine, because maybe we had showed him some little light, some motivation. 390 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:53,540 Ivka, you already have had this kind of space, you have a very good experience with a children and with a youth 391 00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:57,220 because your civic organization worked most of all with a girls. 392 00:29:57,260 --> 00:30:03,680 How do you feel about what we do, going to schools and showing some kind of a edification to the kids. 393 00:30:04,100 --> 00:30:10,920 Well, I can say, Maroško, it is a satisfaction for me, as for the everyone of us, when 394 00:30:10,980 --> 00:30:13,840 we were in Muráň, at the elementary school. 395 00:30:14,420 --> 00:30:19,440 I liked a lot the attitude of the teachers to the pupils, because 396 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,420 as I am a mother, a woman and I write about these things. 397 00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:30,100 I liked how the teacher showed her feelings to the pupil, that she liked him, 398 00:30:30,140 --> 00:30:35,290 the pupil bent to her, cuddled to her and not only the one. 399 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,660 She always caressed the kids, for me, it was 400 00:30:38,850 --> 00:30:40,410 it was so amazing to me. 401 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:46,590 One more thing was amazing for me, how the Romani children perfectly reacted. 402 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,650 When I´ve requested the little boy to read, I thought he would be ashamed and he was so happy. 403 00:30:52,030 --> 00:30:56,820 Lately, maybe two years ago, I was not so far from here at the elementary school 404 00:30:57,100 --> 00:31:00,580 I was invited to the class, to my daughter´s class. 405 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,600 And they were very surprised, saying: Maria, and your mother is a writer? 406 00:31:06,650 --> 00:31:12,920 And when non-Romani boy starts to read in Romani, that´s amazing. 407 00:31:13,090 --> 00:31:18,480 It was such a bomb, because I have said: You, Samko, pick one you want and try to read it 408 00:31:18,610 --> 00:31:21,660 and he started to read Romani like if he 409 00:31:21,770 --> 00:31:23,480 like if he speaks it all his life. 410 00:31:23,610 --> 00:31:26,860 Basically, absolutely none of the 411 00:31:26,860 --> 00:31:30,860 of the mispronunciation of our words, 412 00:31:30,860 --> 00:31:34,680 but simply, it was so beautiful and it wasn´t just a reading, it was a recitation. 413 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,900 This, this is for me a reason why should we go to the schools, 414 00:31:38,900 --> 00:31:43,640 and just to show that we are here, that we are here for them, 415 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:48,580 to let the non-Romani children to know our culture, just you have said, Zlatka, 416 00:31:48,580 --> 00:31:53,200 that it´s not only about the dancing, the singing, about the negative things, that our 417 00:31:53,340 --> 00:31:57,740 well, Romani, they drink, they do bad things, they kill, but we are also here, people, 418 00:31:57,870 --> 00:32:02,000 who write and who are bothered with these things 419 00:32:02,020 --> 00:32:03,890 and we just want them to disappear. 420 00:32:04,100 --> 00:32:09,890 But I like it, while walking down the street and he says to me: Auntie, 421 00:32:10,170 --> 00:32:12,000 auntie Cicková, is that you? 422 00:32:12,210 --> 00:32:14,000 I was reading your poem. 423 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,680 That´s it and I look, like where did you get to it... 424 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,980 because my daughter, of course, took all the books to school, I don´t have any at home. 425 00:32:20,590 --> 00:32:27,040 So, that´s the way how we advertise ourselves, but in a positive way. 426 00:32:27,180 --> 00:32:30,880 Sure, all our heading, 427 00:32:30,970 --> 00:32:37,460 few of us, we´ve met for the first time, as I´ve already said, because we knew each other from our working activities. 428 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:42,560 The truth is, the number of our members is increasing and there are people I didn´t know personally before. 429 00:32:42,670 --> 00:32:48,040 And another pleasant surprise for me is and maybe that´s why we are 430 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:51,820 in the same formation already seven years and that it wasn´t just a project for project 431 00:32:51,820 --> 00:32:55,800 and we published some book and we pretend to be a writers. 432 00:32:55,870 --> 00:33:02,970 The people who came to us and who spend some time with us, the new members leave with a feelings of coming to the family. 433 00:33:03,630 --> 00:33:05,260 And that´s what it´s all about. 434 00:33:05,260 --> 00:33:08,560 I have to admit, we didn´t have a chance to welcome a non-Roma among us. 435 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:14,780 I have an ambition, I still do communicate with a people, that it´s not a problem if you´re not Roma, 436 00:33:14,990 --> 00:33:18,200 you don´t have to write Romani or to write about the Roma. 437 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,840 I hope we will get to this stage, too, because 438 00:33:22,930 --> 00:33:28,480 I think, the Roma people in Slovakia don´t have any other option, in this country, also generally, 439 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:34,220 I can´t substitute my country, we know our history, that we came from India, even this is also doubt, 440 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:37,860 but what I want to say is, that 441 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,020 we are some prototype of a multicultural living. 442 00:33:41,690 --> 00:33:45,070 And we try to show this in our works, 443 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,350 that we want to live next to each other. 444 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:54,380 That´s why I´m saying how happy would I be, if some non-Roma people would join us, after some time. 445 00:33:54,380 --> 00:33:58,370 I suppose, it will come with the younger generation, because we do have the younger members, 446 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:04,900 who feel like a students, college students, it´s very pleasant to talk about it, how people consider them being a writers. 447 00:34:04,900 --> 00:34:11,620 We know, we are not a writers in real, but being fit in this position by the people 448 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:18,460 and by the public, that´s also some kind of a satisfaction and that we do it, because we like it. 449 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:26,880 I´ll set up the atmosphere like that, Mr. Balog have sent me a text message saying then and then is a holocaust, you have three days, make a poem. 450 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,970 So, Cicková picked up the hoover 451 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,800 and Cicková wrote a poem and I´ll tell you just a sequence, because 452 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:41,300 well, the holocaust touches us all, because the members of our families also experienced 453 00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:46,500 killing their parents or great-parents in front of their eyes, and that´s a very hard theme. 454 00:34:46,750 --> 00:34:50,080 So, just a sequence, a little bit, the beginning of it. 455 00:34:50,210 --> 00:34:56,990 We all are standing here, by the eternal flame and we remind of those, who had been killed in the war. 456 00:34:58,350 --> 00:35:07,130 It is a reminiscence, a memory on that we should really come to the eternal fire, which is burning on 457 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:13,000 the Slovak National Uprising monument in Banská Bystrica, so everyone should really 458 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:20,420 think of how many of our Romani people had to sacrifice their lives, 459 00:35:20,890 --> 00:35:24,480 so we can live our lives now and 460 00:35:24,730 --> 00:35:29,120 it touches me a lot, because it is not taught in schools. 461 00:35:29,630 --> 00:35:35,640 I confess, that your motivation about this is, because your dad, well, pardon, your father-in-law experienced it 462 00:35:35,690 --> 00:35:37,780 and that was such a motivation. 463 00:35:37,860 --> 00:35:43,460 As well as in your works, Zlatka, it is really very precious material 464 00:35:44,010 --> 00:35:46,000 for the next generation, because 465 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,800 I do remember myself, when my granddad was talking about these things to me, but unfortunately I didn´t record his words. 466 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:56,660 And you write about it, it means really it´s very important, such a memento, a raised finger, 467 00:35:56,690 --> 00:36:00,220 even in a relations to what these days is going on, what is the situation in Slovakia and that 468 00:36:00,220 --> 00:36:04,540 the right-wing politics go in a very unfortunate way. 469 00:36:04,610 --> 00:36:07,250 So we are, maybe, some kind of a feedback of 470 00:36:07,250 --> 00:36:11,360 or some kind of a thin wall, saying Watch out!, so these things wouldn´t happen. 471 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:13,600 We try to include this into our works. 472 00:36:13,890 --> 00:36:20,220 I am probably a little bit different and I wrote a work Nowadays´ Holocaust, if you remember. 473 00:36:20,380 --> 00:36:25,930 And I tried to say, that the genocide, which used to be here, is still happening every single day, after the revolution. 474 00:36:26,300 --> 00:36:27,480 But in a different way. 475 00:36:28,450 --> 00:36:31,530 They don´t place us to the walls, but they place us behind the wall 476 00:36:31,740 --> 00:36:33,470 and that´s even more dangerous. 477 00:36:33,730 --> 00:36:38,240 So that´s what I was trying to put into my works, but it´s exactly that 478 00:36:38,300 --> 00:36:42,620 we are different generations, different types, not everyone is...no one has the same DNA, 479 00:36:42,620 --> 00:36:48,270 so we perceive the holocaust differently and that´s why it is valuable, because we really manage 480 00:36:48,460 --> 00:36:52,690 to link up the old and the new perception of the things. 481 00:36:53,060 --> 00:36:54,620 So, 482 00:36:55,720 --> 00:37:00,900 maybe it would be interesting to make any other passage, any other work someday, dedicated only to this theme 483 00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:04,460 and maybe to present only a Romani holocaust at the school´s debates. 484 00:37:04,540 --> 00:37:09,330 I´ve seen many times, when you read these things, the kids are quiet, listening with their breath away. 485 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,500 So maybe that´s one of the possible routing of our club. 486 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,180 After the holocaust, when Mrs. Herová have come, 487 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,120 it was so touching. 488 00:37:19,140 --> 00:37:24,970 I´ll explain this, the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for Romani communities organizes various pious acts 489 00:37:25,150 --> 00:37:29,120 all around Slovakia, I guess four villages have been chosen lately, Čierny Balog and so. 490 00:37:29,180 --> 00:37:34,060 And during the memorial act, our poems also have been read. 491 00:37:34,190 --> 00:37:36,920 And it was Mrs. Herová, who was reading your poem. 492 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,900 But before I was reading it in Banská Bystrica, where it made her cry. 493 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,290 And it was not only her, but more people had the tears in their eyes and 494 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,600 and she came to me and it made me very happy, because 495 00:37:47,660 --> 00:37:51,060 I couldn´t go to Čierny Balog, where you´ve been performing 496 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:56,020 and she said it would be an honour for her to read my poem there. 497 00:37:56,380 --> 00:37:57,040 So. 498 00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,340 Well, I would like to say one more thing. 499 00:38:00,450 --> 00:38:04,060 And maybe I would be sorry, if I didn´t say that. 500 00:38:04,250 --> 00:38:08,340 Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that this new era, 501 00:38:08,700 --> 00:38:11,840 what really have shocked me, 502 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:13,840 or astounded me, 503 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,970 that this new era brings 504 00:38:18,860 --> 00:38:21,400 over and over again 505 00:38:22,290 --> 00:38:27,290 something anti-Romani and that hurts me. 506 00:38:27,930 --> 00:38:31,500 You know, maybe it was 507 00:38:31,730 --> 00:38:34,420 normal it the past times. 508 00:38:34,890 --> 00:38:39,160 But after the war it was changing somehow, 509 00:38:39,180 --> 00:38:42,030 even though it wasn´t utterly clear. 510 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:47,450 But we felt, we were getting up to the level, a little bit. 511 00:38:47,450 --> 00:38:49,060 But at this stage, 512 00:38:49,060 --> 00:38:49,920 even if someone says about the well-educated Roma, But at this stage, 513 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,720 even if someone says about the well-educated Roma, 514 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:58,660 or about the high level Romani family, 515 00:38:58,660 --> 00:39:03,170 that he or she has never felt, 516 00:39:03,340 --> 00:39:08,000 that I am Roma, I have never experienced that. 517 00:39:09,220 --> 00:39:11,280 But this era, 518 00:39:11,710 --> 00:39:16,650 even the well-educated and highly intelligent people 519 00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:22,300 put aside somewhere and it feels 520 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,660 I´m not saying that every one feels it, but is happens 521 00:39:26,850 --> 00:39:29,790 more often as it used to be before. 522 00:39:29,940 --> 00:39:35,560 Because the democracy brings us the parties, which 523 00:39:36,650 --> 00:39:43,480 literally give an opportunity for demonstration 524 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:46,010 of what the man feels. 525 00:39:46,180 --> 00:39:47,440 And that´s the mistake. 526 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:52,580 We certainly are in some sort of a political level, but that´s absolutely logical and normal, the fact we are sitting here, even that is the politics. 527 00:39:52,580 --> 00:39:56,480 Because four Romani people, sitting and talking about the Romanipen, that´s... 528 00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:58,280 I didn´t mean anything bad. 529 00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:02,080 But that´s exactly about the life, and it always brings me back to what was said, 530 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:07,920 everyone of us writes just about his own feelings, what we like or otherwise, what we don´t like at all. 531 00:40:08,020 --> 00:40:11,280 And we try to add it to our works. 532 00:40:11,310 --> 00:40:18,850 And pretending of not knowing what´s happening here and not putting it to our writing, that would be very, I can´t even say what... 533 00:40:20,340 --> 00:40:24,010 Maybe we would focus more on the children and the adolescents, 534 00:40:24,180 --> 00:40:28,840 what we´ve been committed to do by the Office of the Government, which supported us financially also this year. 535 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,080 For me, it was a little bit 536 00:40:31,550 --> 00:40:33,010 a little bit too 537 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,720 I don´t want to say directive, but on the other hand I understand them, 538 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,980 because they have a feedback from the schools and the community centres, that 539 00:40:41,980 --> 00:40:45,930 they don´t have enough of the materials for teaching the language. 540 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:50,100 We know about it, that the language isn´t just for reading some stuff in Romani language, 541 00:40:50,130 --> 00:40:54,380 but also for making the child understand the Slovak language via Romani translation 542 00:40:54,380 --> 00:40:59,130 and to deal with a school tasks better, our club tends to be helpful in this issue. 543 00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:05,580 Maybe I´ll reveal, what I wanted to tell you during our first meeting, that our next project will be situated a little bit differently 544 00:41:05,650 --> 00:41:06,970 Inasmuch, 545 00:41:07,580 --> 00:41:12,090 we talk about how many skillful children we meet and I have no doubts about this at all, 546 00:41:12,090 --> 00:41:19,000 that there is a lot of a potential in more than 1200 Romani settlements, to obtain the Pulitzer Prize, for example. 547 00:41:19,220 --> 00:41:21,570 But we don´t know them, because we have no conditions and possibilities for that, 548 00:41:21,570 --> 00:41:24,660 so we´ll set the project the way, that every writer will have 549 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,980 one child from the Romani settlement in the position of his tutor, mentor. 550 00:41:29,050 --> 00:41:38,040 When we´ll find the one, who is skillful for writing and creating something, we´ll train him as our next younger generation, 551 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:43,500 to show everyone, that even it´s a child from the socially disadvantaged environment, he deserves a chance, 552 00:41:43,650 --> 00:41:45,300 the one, we all had got, as well. 553 00:41:45,620 --> 00:41:49,820 - And simply to set up the focus and maybe it will change something. - And well... 554 00:41:50,010 --> 00:41:53,540 In my third book, that was published, 555 00:41:53,740 --> 00:41:55,810 I was putting there the boy, 556 00:41:56,030 --> 00:41:59,660 attending ninth class, Janko Milo 557 00:41:59,700 --> 00:42:02,720 and I put two of his tales into my book. 558 00:42:03,090 --> 00:42:06,600 Just because it is a boy, who is very talented 559 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,420 and I liked the way he writes. 560 00:42:10,620 --> 00:42:14,420 Even, he is a modern, he is a young man, I admitted it 561 00:42:14,510 --> 00:42:19,570 and I got it, that´s a normal thing, but I wanted 562 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,260 him to be in the book, to show, yes, 563 00:42:23,420 --> 00:42:27,680 there are young people, who can write beautifully. 564 00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:33,800 And that´s why two of his tales are in my book and I put him on the first page. 565 00:42:34,030 --> 00:42:36,740 I would like to add, that 566 00:42:37,470 --> 00:42:41,680 relating to what Mrs. Rusová and also Maroš have said, 567 00:42:41,950 --> 00:42:49,260 I would like to share my personal experience, how I was surprised, when I was working at the community centre in Hrochoť, 568 00:42:49,500 --> 00:42:56,660 and we´ve made the so-called literal word workshop or the creating, creative writing. 569 00:42:56,970 --> 00:43:03,970 And first of all, the teenagers were having fun and making jokes, 570 00:43:04,180 --> 00:43:06,590 but I was really surprised, 571 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:13,220 how they see this world, and they see it thought the music, of course. 572 00:43:13,370 --> 00:43:17,640 But it was an picturesque experience. 573 00:43:17,690 --> 00:43:21,820 And in respect of this, I will only marginally return to the Romani language. 574 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:27,020 My son has an autism, but he understands more in Romani than in Slovak language. 575 00:43:27,950 --> 00:43:31,980 The psychologist have told us, that our language is extraordinary, it is 576 00:43:32,140 --> 00:43:37,760 colourful, echoic and sound-balanced and that it´s different from all the others languages. 577 00:43:37,890 --> 00:43:42,220 So, she admired our language and even 578 00:43:42,430 --> 00:43:44,780 she wanted me to teach her few words, right, 579 00:43:44,780 --> 00:43:47,100 she needed to send a text message. 580 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:52,510 So I called my brother immediately and he translated it, because 581 00:43:52,740 --> 00:43:59,310 he was among the 15 people who were invited to the Charles University, when the language was codified, 582 00:43:59,540 --> 00:44:03,450 and he was there, too, so really... 583 00:44:03,710 --> 00:44:11,720 I´m happy for that, but what I´m sorry about is that non-Roma people realize more how our language is exceptional 584 00:44:11,850 --> 00:44:13,240 than Roma themselves. 585 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:18,580 I want to link up what Maroš have said, about doing a mentors 586 00:44:18,780 --> 00:44:25,290 to our future writers, the ones, who will be well-educated for writing. 587 00:44:25,330 --> 00:44:28,180 Well, we´ll make that route easier for them. 588 00:44:28,430 --> 00:44:31,600 It would be really great, to make it easier for them and 589 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,210 we should go more among our children, I suppose, 590 00:44:35,530 --> 00:44:36,420 well... 591 00:44:37,260 --> 00:44:41,720 Now the situation is, that they are ashamed of 592 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,670 being Roma, and so 593 00:44:44,820 --> 00:44:49,700 we are so attacked and the media point on us, so 594 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:51,400 let´s help them with it. 595 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:56,060 Let´s show them the road, that we are here for them, we didn´t have anybody. 596 00:44:56,090 --> 00:44:59,140 We just stuck together and we still work together. 597 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,520 But we could help, children, here you go, 598 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,300 like on the plate and you can work. - Exactly. 599 00:45:05,390 --> 00:45:10,600 And that´s exactly what we are talking about, what our club wants to do and where does it head. 600 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,170 Maybe we should show off that 601 00:45:13,170 --> 00:45:18,270 our works are not only being reciting on the competitions, but actually, we got to the point where 602 00:45:18,460 --> 00:45:24,450 we use our own potential for making, for example, a theatre performance. 603 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,920 We have already dramatized several pieces of our poetry. 604 00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:36,840 Lately there was one by Mrs. Evka Plešková, form Banská Bystrica, 605 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,460 a very enjoyable comedy, called: I want another man. 606 00:45:40,530 --> 00:45:44,480 And the beautiful thing about it is, that we, who belong to the club, 607 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:49,470 our parents, from the Senior Romani Theatre in Bystrica for example, they are the main characters, 608 00:45:49,970 --> 00:45:52,620 like as your dad, your mum and another people, 609 00:45:52,940 --> 00:45:57,320 who, really, play that play and that is the added value. 610 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:01,980 Simply, how the generational look is, well, my daughter wrote it and I play in it. 611 00:46:01,980 --> 00:46:09,020 So, it is very pleasant and also a feedback, because the senior Romani theatre doesn´t exist in Slovakia. 612 00:46:09,210 --> 00:46:12,720 And two years ago we started and 613 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,280 that´s why I´m talking about it, because we afforded it, as well as we publish the book, 614 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:20,740 we translate it to Romani language, Pauline, another of our members, who is not here, 615 00:46:20,940 --> 00:46:23,440 she makes an illustrations. 616 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:28,580 Another one of our writing members, very clever guy, 617 00:46:28,580 --> 00:46:33,080 he is in charge of a technical issues, the web page, the publicity, 618 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:38,680 also the typesetting of a book, and people, who know something about it know, it´s not easy at all. 619 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:43,940 I just want to say we are self-reliant and that´s why we do thing the way we do already seven years. 620 00:46:45,050 --> 00:46:51,480 As we mentioned we are already in the theatre as well, 621 00:46:51,530 --> 00:46:56,760 well, they got somehow to our works, but I also got an idea and you can say what you think about it, 622 00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:02,600 if some of our poems were set to music, if it would become a great hit? 623 00:47:02,650 --> 00:47:06,940 And there are a skillful musicians, who would be able to make a miracle out of these words. 624 00:47:06,970 --> 00:47:10,080 I personally, and everyone of us, we love Romani music. 625 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:15,380 I´ve been in Romathan Theatre for four years, so I really do tend to these things, but 626 00:47:15,470 --> 00:47:20,200 what now is producing in Romani music, also in the popular, the jazz, pop, 627 00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:25,000 sometimes I get my ears blocked, or whatever else, because 628 00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:27,920 back to our Romani language... 629 00:47:28,260 --> 00:47:34,040 It is hard to make a poetry in Romani language, because it must rhyme, it must have some metaphors, 630 00:47:34,100 --> 00:47:40,190 and even harder it is, if you have to connect it with a music, as we talk about the songs. 631 00:47:40,190 --> 00:47:45,760 What is your opinion about the music and music creations, regarding to the Romani music? 632 00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:49,180 Please, Zlatka, what do you thing about it? 633 00:47:49,530 --> 00:47:54,460 It might be hard for you, because it´s all about the rap, pop, but you surely have a grandchildren... 634 00:47:54,490 --> 00:48:01,020 Well, regarding the rap and the modern music, hip-hop and I don´t know what else, 635 00:48:01,100 --> 00:48:06,760 I won´t speak about it, because my age is just too high for that 636 00:48:06,900 --> 00:48:10,280 and I don´t want to criticize what I don´t know. 637 00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:15,500 But I would speak about our Roma people, 638 00:48:15,860 --> 00:48:17,880 who make the songs, 639 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:22,140 in the old Romani style, I mean. 640 00:48:22,890 --> 00:48:28,130 And sometimes I absolutely get shock, 641 00:48:28,610 --> 00:48:30,740 when I hear the lyrics. 642 00:48:31,170 --> 00:48:34,540 By reason of making it rhyme, 643 00:48:34,820 --> 00:48:39,090 they put there whatever word, even if it has no sense. 644 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:44,580 And I understand if they use idioms like 645 00:48:44,650 --> 00:48:48,460 my old mother, or sick mother, 646 00:48:48,620 --> 00:48:51,340 my old mother, or sick mother, 647 00:48:51,630 --> 00:48:54,050 or the diseases and I don´t know what. 648 00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,390 I really do understand, because Roma people they have a very hard life. 649 00:48:58,180 --> 00:49:03,880 They have a problems and it´s not the past, it´s also the present. 650 00:49:04,090 --> 00:49:07,390 But anyway, if I start with something like this, 651 00:49:07,530 --> 00:49:11,420 it should be good, it should be correct, 652 00:49:11,540 --> 00:49:13,800 and it should make sense. 653 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:16,240 That´s all from me. 654 00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:16,700 Miňo? 655 00:49:16,700 --> 00:49:22,780 If I can say my opinion, I will try to use, to be mild... 656 00:49:24,410 --> 00:49:32,100 The composers or the performers, artists, they do not realize, 657 00:49:32,650 --> 00:49:39,540 and now I will follow what Zlatka have said, that if the want their lyrics to rhyme, every text should have 658 00:49:40,380 --> 00:49:44,080 so-called metrical foot. 659 00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:48,970 Another thing is, even the music is nice, 660 00:49:49,230 --> 00:49:56,140 but if the lyrics is nailed, as one of my friends advised, as a macaroni, 661 00:49:56,170 --> 00:50:03,860 as some pasta, twisted, it simply doesn´t sounds good and the third thing is, and the artists forget about it is, 662 00:50:03,900 --> 00:50:06,660 that as we are trying to be some kind of an example, 663 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,980 they are also an idols, examples for the kids. 664 00:50:09,980 --> 00:50:17,380 Because the music gets easier to the ears, to the consciousness as the written words, for example. 665 00:50:17,530 --> 00:50:25,360 And that´s why we, at least I personally, but surely my colleagues too, why we wouldn´t hesitate to cooperate, if some 666 00:50:26,340 --> 00:50:30,560 of the artists asked for help with a lyrics, the consultations and so on. 667 00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:37,160 We don´t proclaim we are some professionals, but we certainly do have more knowledge, 668 00:50:37,660 --> 00:50:40,660 about the written words, about the lyrics, as they have. 669 00:50:40,660 --> 00:50:44,300 It is disgust, though, it is... 670 00:50:44,500 --> 00:50:46,480 The music can be super, 671 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:48,860 and for example I have a program 672 00:50:48,900 --> 00:50:53,520 that allows me to cut the lyrics off and to listen only the music, 673 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:57,360 but that also testifies about the progress of our culture. 674 00:50:57,500 --> 00:51:00,360 It means, that our culture, according to the singing 675 00:51:00,490 --> 00:51:04,380 and the dancing, as you have declared, Zlatka, 676 00:51:04,450 --> 00:51:08,220 well, it is as if it was disappearing. 677 00:51:08,220 --> 00:51:15,460 I just like the performers like, the Phuri Giľa and so on, that´s beautiful. 678 00:51:15,620 --> 00:51:19,400 The phrase that I can´t speak Romani very well, I understand, 679 00:51:19,450 --> 00:51:21,920 but if I can´t something, 680 00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:27,400 I´ll call, I´ll ask and so on, but these lyrics tat are produced, 681 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,220 even no-Roma can already understand them. 682 00:51:30,260 --> 00:51:39,620 I danced actively in the dance group Ternipen Banská Bystrica, since 1985 until 2008. 683 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,240 And I didn´t sing, but I dearly like to listen to the music, but 684 00:51:45,340 --> 00:51:49,800 I have to admit, I don´t speak Romani very good and I feel ashamed for that, 685 00:51:50,140 --> 00:51:52,320 so, for example the lyrics 686 00:51:52,540 --> 00:51:57,520 of our musicians, Romani, it gets to my ears, but if I say to people, 687 00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:01,600 or when I sing in front of Maroš, he looks at me like what you´ve just said? 688 00:52:02,180 --> 00:52:06,260 And basically even the meaning of the word isn´t as it should be 689 00:52:06,650 --> 00:52:13,540 and I absolutely don´t consider myself as a writer, I write just because I like it and I want to do it, 690 00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:19,400 but we have such a writer as Dezider Banga, for example, 691 00:52:19,730 --> 00:52:21,930 why don´t they ask him for an advise? 692 00:52:22,250 --> 00:52:27,560 Or with the other educated people, who speak and understand the language. 693 00:52:28,650 --> 00:52:30,100 I don´t understand it. 694 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:31,840 I don´t understand and 695 00:52:32,450 --> 00:52:36,900 it would be very good, let´s say this one thing, if for example Rytmus 696 00:52:36,940 --> 00:52:40,640 who is literally adored by the young people, 697 00:52:40,690 --> 00:52:43,860 because he makes good music, he makes modern music, 698 00:52:44,090 --> 00:52:50,340 but he also should do, because he doesn´t hide that he´s half Romani and I like it, 699 00:52:50,490 --> 00:52:52,060 because he could hide it. 700 00:52:52,380 --> 00:52:59,800 He never hides it and it would be good, if, for example he did something like that, something in the Romani language. 701 00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:06,900 But in the normal Romani language, not in the distortion one. 702 00:53:07,050 --> 00:53:13,700 For me, this is kind of...and I think, I am proud of our musicians, singers, 703 00:53:13,810 --> 00:53:15,890 this is also about our culture, 704 00:53:16,050 --> 00:53:22,040 but they should consult a little bit more with these people, so they won´t make a real crap, 705 00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:25,160 which is understood by no-Roma people as well. 706 00:53:25,570 --> 00:53:31,240 Just as you said, lately we have attended the conference, and I liked a lot, when 707 00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:36,900 the teacher, M.A. Tekeliová, said at the end of the conference: 708 00:53:36,900 --> 00:53:42,840 Do not dispraise my nation, please, do not dispraise my nation in this, by distortion of our Romani language. 709 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:47,700 That´s why I asked you about this issue, as regards the music, because 710 00:53:47,770 --> 00:53:52,020 we already got, maybe, some offer for cooperation with somebody. 711 00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:56,080 But I´ve got a great respect, well, the problem is, that 712 00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,080 the music lives on its own. 713 00:53:58,760 --> 00:54:05,380 In every small village, in every single settlement, the one, who can play the guitar or who has the drum, simply is the musician. 714 00:54:05,770 --> 00:54:08,040 And that´s good, because that´s life, 715 00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:12,660 but otherwise, we don´t have any institute for controlling this things. 716 00:54:12,810 --> 00:54:16,720 I am going to use an example from Czech Republic, where Gulo Čar worked 717 00:54:16,720 --> 00:54:23,220 with another prominent Czech bands and they made beautiful video-clips, so that´s an example of how to deal with the language. 718 00:54:23,220 --> 00:54:28,800 But here, in Slovakia also Vlado Sendrej do something, I saw few of the rap bands, who asked him to cooperate. 719 00:54:28,860 --> 00:54:32,300 I like it a lot, if the Romani language appears there. 720 00:54:33,170 --> 00:54:37,880 Regarding Rytmus, his lyrics are surely about what´s in now. 721 00:54:38,340 --> 00:54:45,840 I don´t prefer his texts, the curses and stuff, but what I like about it all is the fact, that he changes the Roma people, whether he wants it or not. 722 00:54:45,930 --> 00:54:49,440 The non-Roma people started to use the vocabulary typical for Roma people, 723 00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:54,300 and that has got an educational dimension and he even...the fella nails it and he even doesn´t realize it. 724 00:54:54,300 --> 00:55:02,900 So, if someone really contacts us with this matter, no problem, I just say it´s a little bit more difficult to set it to the music. 725 00:55:02,900 --> 00:55:11,840 But I also hope and I believe, that the typical folklore, what is for example Marisha from Detva doing, the Romani one, it must be kept. 726 00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:14,460 But the truth is, it is a 21st century 727 00:55:14,580 --> 00:55:20,440 and you can´t force the kids to listen to halgato, they dislike it as opera and so on, 728 00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:25,400 well, the music really testifies about what life brings and what´s necessary, so 729 00:55:25,720 --> 00:55:28,380 that was my remark. 730 00:55:28,420 --> 00:55:33,020 And at the end, maybe we should 731 00:55:34,250 --> 00:55:41,520 I ask you, Zlatka, to read something from your works and 732 00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:43,940 also the colleagues though. 733 00:55:45,690 --> 00:55:48,540 Well, first of all, I would like 734 00:55:48,740 --> 00:55:51,460 to say what is it all about. 735 00:55:51,620 --> 00:55:56,400 It is about the Romani king, how we had to run away 736 00:55:56,570 --> 00:55:59,900 from our homeland and 737 00:56:00,340 --> 00:56:03,140 his daughter run away, too 738 00:56:03,860 --> 00:56:06,700 and she loved her nation so much, 739 00:56:06,940 --> 00:56:10,120 that she separated herself from her nation, 740 00:56:10,380 --> 00:56:13,740 because she couldn´t bear their suffering 741 00:56:14,010 --> 00:56:15,810 and their misery on the way, 742 00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:18,930 after they got to the whole world. 743 00:56:19,580 --> 00:56:23,120 She is dying and speaking out: 744 00:56:24,980 --> 00:56:30,250 What is going to happen to me? I can´t move further with my Romani people. 745 00:56:30,660 --> 00:56:35,520 I´m dying of hunger. It is very bad. 746 00:56:36,090 --> 00:56:39,000 The little moon couldn´t have looked more 747 00:56:39,050 --> 00:56:43,160 on her suffering and difficulties. 748 00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:46,450 She said: "I´ve got on my heart, that 749 00:56:46,570 --> 00:56:51,570 I won´t see my Romani people anymore. Watch over them, 750 00:56:52,860 --> 00:56:54,200 hear me." 751 00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:57,460 She speaks to the moon. 752 00:56:57,930 --> 00:57:02,020 The moon looked at her sadly down from the skies. 753 00:57:02,290 --> 00:57:05,450 "You sacrifices yourself for your people, 754 00:57:05,810 --> 00:57:08,060 you are dying for them. 755 00:57:08,420 --> 00:57:11,090 I´ll help you, if you want. 756 00:57:11,330 --> 00:57:13,880 I´ll take you to me, up to the skies, 757 00:57:14,100 --> 00:57:18,820 and you will shine on your Romani people, as a star. 758 00:57:19,700 --> 00:57:23,890 And you will know everything, what will happen to them. 759 00:57:24,140 --> 00:57:26,090 Do you want it?" "I do!" 760 00:57:26,370 --> 00:57:29,760 The king´s daughter agreed with 761 00:57:29,970 --> 00:57:32,140 everything that the moon had said. 762 00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:34,140 And so it happened. 763 00:57:34,290 --> 00:57:36,840 The moon took her 764 00:57:37,170 --> 00:57:41,460 to him, to the sky, where she glows, she shines 765 00:57:41,650 --> 00:57:46,210 up to this day, on us, Romani people and she watches us, how we live. 766 00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:51,680 Maybe that´s why Romani people love the sky 767 00:57:51,970 --> 00:57:55,380 full of stars, they love the moon. 768 00:57:56,130 --> 00:57:58,720 This star doesn´t have a name. 769 00:57:58,960 --> 00:58:03,570 But more likely it had one. 770 00:58:03,770 --> 00:58:08,130 But people who lived in that times, they didn´t talk about her, 771 00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:11,020 as well as they didn´t speak about the 772 00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:15,890 Romani king and so they forgot about the girl, too. 773 00:58:16,170 --> 00:58:20,820 Maybe it happened because the Romani people have stayed 774 00:58:20,970 --> 00:58:23,250 in our world. 775 00:58:23,980 --> 00:58:26,740 Thank you for reading in Romani language, 776 00:58:27,210 --> 00:58:31,480 the old Romani tale. We talk about the "irinas", meaning to write a book, 777 00:58:31,820 --> 00:58:35,530 somebody may use more Slovak-like word "pisinas". 778 00:58:35,890 --> 00:58:38,620 The original Romani word is "lekhaviben". 779 00:58:39,010 --> 00:58:43,280 I wish, our Romani writing, nascent in our club 780 00:58:43,410 --> 00:58:46,450 will fulfill its target, which we´ve been talking about. 781 00:58:46,620 --> 00:58:49,210 I wish we all may be happy and healthy, 782 00:58:49,620 --> 00:58:52,100 so we could do it, it´s not a job, 783 00:58:52,200 --> 00:58:54,530 it is our Romani life. 784 00:58:54,930 --> 00:59:00,370 Romani writer, Romani poet 785 00:59:01,930 --> 00:59:10,450 wants to show in his works, what the old Romani life looked like, 786 00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:13,220 what´s happening in the present, 787 00:59:13,500 --> 00:59:19,680 and what we would like to achieve for Romani people in the future. 788 00:59:19,980 --> 00:59:23,010 - Thank you very much, my friends. - Amen to that. 789 00:59:26,460 --> 00:59:28,140 Stop. OK.