Radoslav Banga is 25, Roma and proud of it. And this month, Banga hopes to launch into the European spotlight as the Czech Republic’s official contestant at the Eurovision Song Contest.
"Can you imagine this?” said the thin, restless, energetic Banga, who wears his white hip-hop hat with a broad smile. “A Roma who represents the Czech Republic, a country where racism is so strong. That's huge!"
The Czech Republic has been plagued recently by rising extremism and attacks against its gypsy minority.
Banga was chosen for the annual songfest that captivates much of the continent with his group Gipsy.cz, despite loud protests from homegrown neo-Nazis.
"Aven Romale," or "Go Roma," is the title of the song he wrote specially for the event. The contest takes place in Moscow this year and the winner will be named on May 16.
And with a passion for provocation and parody, Banga incarnates a kitsch "Supergipsy" in the music video that goes with it, clad in a red overcoat and inspired by one of his own heroes: Queen's lead singer the late Freddie Mercury.
Radoslav Banga a.k.a. Gipsy, shooting Do You Wanna video for Eurovision Song Contest 2009
His Eurovision entry, belted out in broken English, a bit of Roma and some Czech, sums up Banga's ethos: "If you keep that energy / Gipsy sounds like symphony."
He calls the gipsy-rap tune played at a breakneck tempo a "mishmash" of genres and refuses all labels except that of a "musician."
Everything is politics
"For me, there are only two styles of music: good and bad," he said, saying he draws inspiration from Roma folklore, pop, traditional Indian music, rap and hip-hop.
Banga's first CD, Romano Hip-Hop, won a golden disc award for 10,000 copies sold.
And his second, Reprezent, caused a minor scandal last year with a song dedicated to then-Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, a Christian Democrat famous for his anti-Roma rhetoric.
Its chorus about a melon ("million" in slang) referred to corruption suspicions surrounding the politician at the time.
"This song is one of the things I'm the proudest of in my life," said Banga, who long shunned politics in his music but then changed his mind because "everything is politics, you don't have a choice."
Though Eurovision rules permit no lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature, Banga's song alludes to the racism against the Czech Republic's 300,000 Roma community.
"They used to call me gipsy, hello there / It means no problem to me, I don't care / 'Til I've got a microphone making you act / I love to be that gipsy rat," he sings.
His music video calls the "Supergipsy's" home the "Chicory Alpha Planet," deliberately using the term "chicory" – a Czech pejorative for Roma.
Policemen clash with anti-Roma demonstrators in Janov
Even the name of his group "Gipsy.cz" is a political statement, using the word "gipsy" which in Czech is seen as racist and insulting.
Banga blasts the neo-Nazi rallies that have become increasingly frequent in the former communist country and criticises what he calls the inaction of local politicians.
"When 20 people chant 'heil' in the street, it's funny, when it's a thousand, it's less funny,” he said. “But when they are surrounded by normal people, it all becomes really frightening, one no longer feels like living in this country.”
Banga was also angered by a Czech court decision against the dissolution of an extreme right party that had declared "zero tolerance" vis-a-vis the Roma, as well as by a petrol bomb attack last month on a Roma family's hours that left a two-year-old girl struggling for her life.
"If people don't do something, it will end badly,” said Banga. “The Roma will get violent in the end, it's inevitable."
Though he is "proud to be a Roma," Banga was also critical of his people, saying Roma should strive for a better education, jobs and a future outside their rundown ghettos.
"When I was small, my parents always told me that everything is impossible because we are poor and Roma," said Banga, who lived on the street for several years. "Taking part in the Eurovision contest will mean to climb on stage before millions of TV viewers and say, 'Look, here I am, I am a Roma, I have succeeded, everything is possible.”
The Czech entry for the 2009 Eurovision song contest Radoslav Banga, a 25-year-old Roma singer, rehearses in Moscow on 11 May 2009.
Banga's selection by the public service Czech Television was not well received by all. He received threats and insulting notes along with the congratulatory messages. The local press remains sceptical.
"The reasons why Czech TV decided to choose the band remains unclear," wrote the DNES daily. "Some speculate that it is the economic crisis, some say it is the lack of bands interested in representing the country."
Banga only laughs at this.
Sophie Pons/AFP/Expatica
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In a country with rising extremism and attacks against its gypsy minority, Radoslav Banga uses his music to fight prejudice and promote the Roma cause.
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