So I went to see this documentary about Gypsy/Roma music last night. To my complete delight, it featured at least two musical artists featured on the amazing Borat soundtrack! The movie itself was okay, but if you like Roma music, I highly recommend it (or at least the soundtrack).

After seeing Borat, I was reminded of Long Way Round, The muti-part documentary in which Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman ride motorcycles around the world. There’s a long section of that series in which the cyclists pass through Kazakhstan, which seems to have much in common with Mongolia. The inhabitants appear ethnically Asian, and the whole “feel” of the place was not Slavic or eastern European, as depicted in Borat. Obviously that film is a crude joke, especially the “Kazakh” sequences. But I couldn’t place the precise reference, until now. Gypsy Caravan shows many Gypsy settlements, including one in Romania. Bingo! From the donkey-pulled cart of tuba-bearings youths, to the 13-year old bride, this is clearly Borat’s inspiration. A quick Google search revealed that Borat was filmed in Glod, a Romanian village (roughly 2000 miles from central Kazakhstan). Not to sound holier-than-though, but exploiting these poor people was a horrendous, inhuman act. Villagers were paid about $6 each- the film made $54 million. I wasn’t going to go this way with the post, but it’s infuriating to me. Ahh well, enjoy the music.