Borderland of sounds Audiosphere of Bergitka Roma world

Abstract

Studies on the Carpathian / Mountain Roma (Bergitka Roma) in the context of audiosphere exploration build innovative contexts whose main aim is to discover the past and present space of group functioning, its heritage, culture, as well as interpersonal relations with outsiders. The novelty of sound research of Bergitka Roma community concerns the lack of previous explorations. The sounds of the Roma towns on the Polish-Slovak border were recorded mainly through songs in the context of collecting materials for ethnographic and folklore purpose, where a special role was attached to text and music than sounds themselves. Sound studies open a completely new approach to the current recognition of Roma soundscape, which in many aspects remain unknown. Sound studies among the Carpathian Roma bring important cognitive benefits for many scientific disciplines due to their interdisciplinary character and open new paths for further exploration. In this paper, I will focus on field recording gathered during research in borderland with Slovakia. I will present first results connected with soundscape of Roma world. I will draw attention to borderland aspects of audiosphere such as cultural melting pot, history and tradition of region, sacred and profane, outsiders and community members. The key issue of this work is also to show that Roma audiosphere is a unique element of their world which protect tradition and own identity.