‘Gypsy Passion’ Covers Wide Territory

The stereotypes of Gypsy music never quite surfaced in “Gypsy Passion” at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday. Instead, the program, which showcased the Rajasthani ensemble Musafir, Czech singer Vera Bila and the Spanish group Alma de Flamenco, offered an audience of more than 10,000 a far more fascinating presentation--a colorful survey of the far-reaching culture of the Roma (Gypsy) people, stretching from India to Spain.

At first hearing, Musafir resembled a combination of Indian classical music and Pakistani qawwali. But the rhythms were more fundamental than the former, and the vocals roared with a cumulative passion that seemed less spiritual and more visceral than the Sufi-based qawwali. And the arrival of colorfully garbed dancers and a fire-eater provided a compelling glimpse of Gypsy culture in Rajasthan, the northern Indian province considered the original homeland of the Romas.

Bila’s performance was far less gripping. Described by some as a Gypsy Ella Fitzgerald, she sang with a similarly sweet-sounding voice and imaginative phrasing. But her pitch, especially in vocal passages with her backup singers, was often questionable. And her physically static manner, combined with the unfamiliar language, severely minimized the impact of her songs.

Exactly the opposite was the case with Alma de Flamenco, a band of musicians and dancers from Jerez de la Frontera, whose performance was a crowd-pleasing whirlwind of nonstop movement, melody and rhythm. Dancer Joaquin Grilo was particularly effective, especially in the climactic finale, his elegant movements and remarkable footwork operating as integral elements in the ensemble’s musical caldron of rapid-fire guitar lines and complex hand-clapping.