Romane romňija

About the women’s ensemble Romane romňija (Romani Women)

As I said, my entire family is gifted musically. Every time we celebrated something – birthdays, name days, Christmas, Easter – the guys performed and had a good time in the living room, the children played and had a good time in their little room, and only we women were without any music. That’s how it was even during my 55th birthday. I said to the girls: “This is a big shame that we are sitting here without music. Each of us knows how to play at least two instruments, so get them out!” My sister Květa plays accordion, my granddaughter Olinka the bass guitar (she also can play double bass and drums), my niece Monča the violin, my daughter Lidka keyboards and saxophone, my other daughter Erika sings and my granddaughter Erička too. The band was born. Our first performance was in Vienna, at an international conference, and we immediately got an offer to perform at an international festival. We then toured all of Austria and Germany and in Italy we were on TV. Five-year-old little David toured with us, to make a little diverse. He danced and sang wonderfully.

Starting in 1999 we performed concerts for at least five years with a “birthing bag” with us, because my daughter Lidka and then my granddaughter Olinka were pregnant. What if they’d gone into labor during a concert, or on the road?

Those were beautiful times.