What do we mean when we say "Roma (gypsy) music"? What do the musical forms emerging from diverse Roma communities have in common, and what separates them? In this episode, Joe Williams seeks answers to these questions, speaking to expert musicologists and luminary musicians to try and understand how and why Roma music varies across regions, ethnicities and cultures. This program features interviews with Slovak musicologist Jana Belišová, Hungarian violinist Kálmán Balogh, Serbian singer and composer Dragan Ristić and Turkish clarinetist Ramazan Sesler, and also includes several musical tracks.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

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Joe Williams hosts a panel of authors from countries belonging to the former Yugoslavia who lived through the dissolution of the country. They discuss how they have sought to make sense of their experiences with the conflict by recreating them in their work, and they share insights on the capacity, and limitations, of literature for processing trauma and constructing healing, transformational narratives for the region. Featuring regional literary lights Ivana Bodrožić from Croatia (author of The Hotel Tito; program coordinator of the Zagreb Book Festival), Slovenian author Goran Vojnović (Southern Scum Go Home; Yugoslavia, My Fatherland) and Bosnian poet and author Faruk Šehić (Quiet Flows the Una, awarded the EU Prize for Literature).

You can also enjoy an excerpt from Yugoslavia, My Fatherland in Trafika Europe 5: Slovenian Interlude, and a full-length conversation with Goran Vojnović and translator Olivia Hellewell on his latest novel in English, The Fig Tree, as the 31 October 2021 episode of The Middle Ground on Trafika Europe Radio (52-minute audio). A generous excerpt from Faruk Šehić’s Quiet Flows the Una appears in Trafika Europe 7.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

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In this episode, host Joe Williams explores new voices participating in Ireland's grand literary heritage – migrants to the country from all over, using literature to negotiate and make sense of their relationship with their new homeland. Joe talks to publishers and authors to understand how Ireland has changed in recent years and how writers born outside of Ireland are responding to the need for literature capable of documenting and engaging with the new Irish context and the experiences of those who exist within it.

Includes Pat Boran, Rafael Mendes, Mahito Henderson, Gonchigkhand Byambaa, and Neo Florence Gilson

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Join host Joe Williams as he takes a deep dive into the Basque country’s rich oral traditions, specifically the little-known art of Bertsolaritza, in which performers improvise poetry within prescribed frameworks of meter, cadence, and melody. Joe explores differences in style and content among various regions of the Basque country. Bertsolaritza is emblematic of Basque cultural identity, and young generations of performers are working to ensure the form remains relevant while guarding its legacy. With Bertsolaritza performers and researchers Joxerra Garcia Garmendia, Maialen Lujanbio, and Miren Artetxe Sarasola.

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In this new series, The Joe Show, host Joe Williams takes documentary-style deep dives into European literary communities. Join us in this premiere episode as Joe discovers how fado has evolved from an anonymous folk tradition into a highly literary, musical, and often political form. Joe travels between the two bastions of Portuguese fado, the cities of Coimbra and Lisbon, to speak on location with performers, authors and experts on fado's distinct regional variations. Guests include fado singer João Farinha; poet, lyricist, and editor Maria do Rosário Pedreira; fado singer Hélder Moutinho, and performers Lina & Raül Refree.

You can enjoy a brief video teaser for this episode on our Facebook page

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

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Join us for another deep-dive audio documentary with host Joe Williams! Here Joe explores rebetiko, a musical form which emerged from Greek's urban working classes and refugee populations in the early 20th century and reflected the difficult social realities these communities faced. Joe speaks to musicians from the current crop of rebetiko players to understand the form's origins, cultural significance and relevance to the contemporary Greek context – with guest performers Despina Psatha, Andria Antoniou, Manolis Taouxis, and Vangelis Petriniotis

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In this episode, Clayton McKee speaks with Isabelle Wéry about her novel, Marilyn Deboned, awardee of the 2013 EU Prize for Literature. They discuss Isabelle’s theater career and how it intersects with fiction writing. They also discuss perceptions of gender, identity, and sexuality in experiencing and making sense of our world. 

Please like, comment, and share this podcast to help us find a larger audience. If you're financially able, you can contribute to our Patreon, our GoFundMe, or make a one-time donation by emailing trafikaeurope@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!  

Support the show: https://patreon.com/TrafikaEurope

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Clayton McKee speaks with German-French author Anne Weber and translator Neil Blackadder about the novel Fatherland. Anne discusses her relationship to both French and German languages and the exploration of the past in her writing. Neil discusses his translation work of Anne’s novel as well as his career more generally. You can read an excerpt of Fatherland in TE23: Double Feature.

Please like, comment, and share this podcast to help us find a larger audience. If you're financially able, you can contribute to our Patreon, our GoFundMe, or make a one-time donation by emailing trafikaeurope@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!  

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/trafikaeurope

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.