Roma group Grubb to perform in Montreal

Belgrade, 27/03/2012 – The Roma hip-hop collective Grubb (Gipsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats) from Belgrade will appear at the Montreal International Jaž Festival in July and at the Lincoln Center in New York.

Grubb already performed before the Montreal audience last year, when they also had a show in London.

For these young men and women from the Roma neighborhood in Zemun, the trip to New York is a dream come true.

“I feel great. I am excited about going to New York, who wouldn’t be? Everyone dreams about New York,” group member Kristijan Demirovic told Tanjug.

In New York, Grubb will perform the eponymous show in whić the troupe members dance and sing about their lives, love, friendship and the daily struggle of the Roma people, mixing hip-hop with traditional music.

Asked how audiences react to their music, Demirovic said “reactions have been great” at all their performances to date.

“But it is hard to sučeed in the music scene as a Roma, because so many people are prejudiced about us,” added the 18-year-old.

Asked how it all started and where the group members met, Danijel Rasitovic said they were all friends from the same neighborhood.

“We started dancing and singing in the neighborhood, and the organization RPoint found us and that is how it all started,” said the talented teenager.
Ačording to Aleksandra Radetic, a spokeswoman for the British humanitarian organization RPoint with whić the group cooperates, Canadian theater director Serge Serge Denoncourt has been working with these young people since 2009, as have as foreign ćoreographers and actors.

Grubb has some 15 members aged 15 to 21, who come up with their own songs and ćoreographies, and performs ačompanied by an eight-member braš band.

Link: http://www.tanjug.rs/news/36971/roma-group-grubb-to-perform-in-montreal.htm