![]() “Yesterday a famous Hungarian film star and his entourage came in, and they were sweethearts. Ironically, Gizi says the very fact that she’s Romani puts the music pub at a disadvantage. This is Hungarian music, but Gypsies made it world music, because it is world-famous.” “She always told me that Aunt Gizi - that’s me - teaches the young people of Budapest what good music is. (The ruling Fidesz party is considered by many to be less than sympathetic to the country’s Roma.) “The reporter who took this picture of me, she’s a journalist in a Fidesz newspaper,” she says. Gizi holds up another photo from her collection. If there is one area where Hungarian Roma - albeit a small number of them - are held in high esteem by mainstream society, it is music. Gyulane ‘Aunt Gizi’ Farkas holds up a book in which an article about her has been published at Giero Pub, Budapest, May 12, 2022. ![]() Many people have tried to put me out of business.” “It’s really hard to keep the business running because there are big fish around me. “We just try to make ends meet because here in Hungary there is a lot of racism against Gypsies, it’s not good here,” she says. Everything that’s old, everything that’s vintage, I love it.” This was originally going to be an antique shop, because I loved, and I still love, antiquities. “I’ve had a variety shop, a boutique shop, a vegetable stand. She moved to Budapest from her birthplace of Balassagyarmat, near the Slovakian border, with her family when she was 14 so her father Giero could play music there. Gizi has been minding the store for 32 years, and has spent most of her life as an entrepreneur. “But maybe I inherited the business sense.” “My father was Jewish, but I’m not,” she says, pausing for a moment. Gizi herself seems to approach her roots from the Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law. Pianist Bela Feher plays at Giero Pub, Budapest, May 16, 2022. Half-Jewish, half-Romani, Giero followed in his own father’s footsteps and made a name for himself playing the double bass. The pub is named for Gizi’s father, Giero, and an old black-and-white portrait of him in his younger days hangs prominently over the bar. She got to know a handsome double-bass player and married him, and that’s how we got the Gypsy double-bass tradition in our family.” On a quiet night, Gizi, a compact woman in her late 60s, might be enticed into sharing some of her life story, as she recently did for The Times of Israel with the aid of a skillful interpreter. During slow moments (of which there are more than a few), she settles back into a corner table outfitted with many of the comforts of home. Inside, Gyulane Farkas - known by all as “Aunt Gizi” - shuffles between tightly-packed tables dropping off shots of palinka, a strong Hungarian schnapps, and draft beers. But the unassuming venue known as Giero Pub holds one of Budapest’s best-kept open secrets: some of the finest Romani musicians the capital has to offer. BUDAPEST - Without the strains of lively Gypsy music floating up to Paulay Ede Street, the dark, brick-walled basement tavern would be easy to miss.
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