Romany Music to be Played This Weekend at St. Paul Church

This Sunday, the Portsmouth Arts Guild (PAG) welcomes The Bohemian Quartet, which will perform a concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2679 East Main Road, at 3 p.m.

Started by Stan Renard, a classically-trained violinist from the south of France, the Bohemian Quartet has been performing "a vast and unique repertoire revolving around traditional gypsy or Romany music, as well as traditional Eastern-European folk music" since their beginnings in 2005. 

The group—which includes a violin, a viola, a cello, and a double bass—will entertain spectators with their music, while also providing interesting facts about the music's past, tradition, and cultural importance. 

It's no surprise that this type of music is a fading art, as many of the great masters who played and carried on its traditions are gone. Founding member of the Bohemian Quartet, Renard, grew up immersed in this music and feels passionately about it.  

"I was trained as a classical violin player and grew up around it," he said. "I listened to this music the same way people here listen to jazz. This kind of music is part of me."

Connecting gypsy music to the way many people in the United States revere jazz is perhaps the best way to illustrate how important and culturally rich this music is to people who were raised around it.

Understandably, Renard formed the quartet out of both his love for the music and to help preserve and perpetuate its past for future generations. 

The name of their group is borrowed from the original "Bohemian Quartet," which played from 1891 to 1934.  Renard also found the name quite interesting, and felt it was quite suitable for their classical string quartet.

Renard describes Romany (or gypsy) music as celebratory music "with complex rhythms unusual to our ear that has traditionally been played during weddings and parties." 

In an interesting tidbit of information, Renard adds that the Romany people also played a lot of their music in a circus setting, as old European circuses typically had an orchestra playing in the back; more often than not, the orchestra was Romany.

Renard's group, The Bohemian Quartet, puts their own interpretation on this traditional music, and looks forward to sharing it during their concert hosted by the Portsmouth Arts Guild this Sunday. 

"Gypsy music is a bit like jazz, in a sense, because everyone plays it how they want to play it," Renard said. "For instance, there are a couple Russian tunes in our program. They are traditional Russian folk songs that both the gypsy people and Russian people play."

Tickets for the show are still available and can be purchased by contacting J.P Fernandes at (401) 253-6682. Admission is $15.