Did he have some distant Romani ancestry? Maybe, there’s no solid evidence but I can neither confirm or deny. But, was he Romani? No, nor did he claim to be. I know Elvis’ worldwide impact makes a lot of people want to claim him but there is also no shortage of actual Romani musicians with a worldwide impact that were actually in the culture and advocated for us, like the first American Romani rock and roll star was Jerry Mason, and if we wanna talk king of “gypsy music” Camarón de la Isla certainly had worldwide impact, focusing on Elvis who most likely was not even of any Romani descent takes the light away from actual Romani artists whose culture and lived experience informed their work. I would say Elvis was an honorary Rom but he did not do anything to associate with Romani people or culture, unlike other big American stars like Yul Brynner who also probably was not of Romani descent although he actually claimed to be and did a lot for Romani people and our recognition worldwide, he I would say is honorary Rom, but Elvis is an American from the south through and through.
He got famous taking music and dance moves from African Americans…. In a time when black people faced immense hurdles to do the same… I would not claim him
Thank you for distinguishing between an "Honorary" member of a culture VS being ethnically related. My family has had involvement w/ Cherokee & Blackfeet tribes over the years & we all grew up thinking we were Native American. Turns out that... Nope!! We're descended from Irish & German immigrants w/ dark hair & ruddy skin who were placed on the census as Native American or Melungeons - variously to deprive them of property rights or to get them back [fraudulently or not, doesn't matter to me, no one should be stripped of a home because of their skin colour]. But despite finding out we had no discernible genetics, we were accepted nonetheless. And we still respect the culture, even tho the situation w/ appropriation is... Complicated, to say the least. It's a nuanced history, much like the situation w/ Yul where he has no ethnic connection beyond what the people have granted him.
@@organicmagic8822 which in turn popularised "black" music opening some doors for black artists to get opportunities. It's not always bad. And the sharing of culture through music is a good thing.
@@idrisa7909 I hear that, the reality is there are bad and good people in every ethnic group etc. I'm not necessarily saying I would "claim" him I'm just making the point that we don't have the right to gatekeep a person's identity.
Thanks for clarifying this about Elvis Presley, Florian. The information you gave about his parents' descent does prove that he wasn't a Romani. And I do agree with you that if we belong to a particular culture, we need to live it & love it!
@@bridgetking4553 interesting point, I think by nature we are people who travel through the world and into other cultures adopting other cultures traditions, food, music etc. there is a huge variety within the romani people, I myself am Romani and Irish traveller, a descendant of the musical and performance tradition. Florian has an American accent, was most likely schooled in America, had absorbed American media and cultural practices yet still identifies as Romani which is good and beautiful however we need to make sure that we don't gatekeep our culture and also realise we are by nature people of the world.
@@TadhgcDoran personally, it was a secret for us, not a pride. We wear the jewelry and the black haired family don’t dye. But other than that, hush hush. They wear Indian clothes now more than anything.
THIS. and you can still honor your ancestral culture and heritage of course, though with the added knowledge of knowing to a degree you are still to be respectful as you are invited into the culture. you can do this by learning about history AND current events, the issues they go through, their cuisine, music, theres a lot you can do for your heritage without being fully a part of it due to generations passing.
I was thinking more about someone who people were scrutinizing because while he spoke and lived as Sami, they didn’t think he had the right facial features. That’s just weird.
"Just because someone has ancestors from an ethnicity from the 1700s, doesn't mean that they themselves are part of that ethnicity" A good lesson for all the white Americans claiming to be descendents of Native Peoples.
thank you for this. tired of people claiming to be apart of my culture when they’re like 1/16th and never lived the experience of the culture. it’s lived. thank you again for a great video julian! you’ve taught me so much about romani people!
I'm happy to say I have a full lived experience of both sides of my ethnicity. I grew up my first decade and a half of life in Tunisia, living in a community of fellow Alfandali (a very, very small minority group in the maghreb of white-appearing arabs descended from the germanic settlers called the Vandals in the middle ages), and spent from the age of 15-22 living in mexico on my mothers' side, fully embracing their culture and language too
I can see how someone looking for a connection with someone they admire could come to that conclusion, but you make an excellent point about the difference between heritage and culture
Elvis wasn’t gypsy, but he did hang out with them!!! Specifically some distant family of mine. He’d visit their trailer/caravan and have dinner with them. He’d entertain them. It was lovely. In fact, my step great grandmother was friends with him as children. 😭❤️
@@MakaylaWilliams-y3c I’m not a reconnector like the rest of yall. ❤️ There’s a lot of race fakers in this community, I’m not doubting that you’re one of them. I shouldn’t have to prove myself to strangers on the internet. But yk what? I grew up speaking the language, eating the food, all that. In fact, im being pushed to marry within a year. But tu? Giness kaj rom san haj naj. Kiro papo sas 2% rom, akana musaj kurdjos rom. “Ohhh parni/parno gadjo sim, BUT LEMME PRETEND AND POINT FINGERS TO BE SPECIAL BECAUSE I WANT TO BE A MINORITY.” Gulan ando skula. Me chi gulem. YOU KNOW WHY???? Because I’m a gypsy. Authentic gypsies rarely get the opportunity or approval to go to school or get a job. Now if you’re from the tema? Ok, the watered down ones will probably go to school, but not finish it. you probably didn’t even understand what I said in “your” language lmfao. I don’t even know why I’m going off anymore. BUT honestly now I wanna hear what you have to say. Katar aves? Che vitsa San? Hm? Spill the tea. I wanna know what kind of “Romani” person you are if you really are one
I'm only half Romani, but even then, you can't really be Romani if you don't practice the culture. Yes, you might have it in your blood, but that doesn't mean it's yours.
u say "only" to refer to half of u, but half is a lot!! even if it wasnt a lot, its still there (im saying that outside of what u just stated btw, i mean that someone still has romani ancestry even if they r "only half", i dont want to contradict what ure saying abt romani culture)
@@melowlw8638 well… sure, you can be mixed. But the thing about our culture is that you aren’t actually one of us unless you’ve grown up in it. You can take someone who’s half, but didn’t grow up within the culture and they don’t really count as rom. Take someone who’s white and raise them in the culture and they’re rom. Like say you adopt a kid or something. Now yes, they’re white, but this person can be considered one of us if they practice our culture. That’s not to say any random person can identify as rom, whether they’re partially by blood or not lol. (Reconnectors aren’t really welcome by us who’ve been raised in it) It’s a little complicated. There can be a little bit of exceptions and variations from group to group, but as for my people, the American gypsies, we don’t count you unless you know the language, food, ways, tradition. I’m speaking mainly for us, but like I’ve said, it’s atleast fairly similar for other vitse/groups :))
@@LashiMashi07 oh thats interesting, i think ive heard of that before actually, thanks for reminding me!! dont be sorry abt explaining, its good to know ✨✨ ill keep it in mind
Elvis is native though. We claim him, and he acknowledged it. It’s slightly controversial though, and people in the community are not a monolith, and there are differing opinions within the Cherokee community
I heard Elvis having Melungeon blood but I really doubt he was of recent Romani ancestry. He’s from the Southern US/Appalacia and this would be highly unlikely
Thank you for clarifying this. I do remember at some point wondering if he was Roma after seeing him in a movie in which his character was Roma but looking back it was a bit is stereotypical role. But I don't think he was Rom but he was definitely natuve American and European ancestry wise.
He was not Romani. They mixed with other people. I and Elvis Presley both belong to what you call MELUNGEONS. That being said some traditions are still within certain families.
There's probably some of us out there with Romani ancestry buried very deep in our roots, but it would be inaccurate to claim being Roma lol. Loved taking a DNA test as a Melungeon and seeing the melting pot of everything.
It was super surprising when I found out through genealogy research I was likely descended from Roma deported from France to Louisiana in the 1700's, but it doesn't change a single thing about how I view myself or my "culture". I would never claim to be Romani, but I did feel sadness that my family lost out on culture and traditions we could have kept because some of our ancestors assimilated into Creole culture for fear of stigma.
Help! My grandpa was Romani. He came from the war in Hungary 1956. my dad didn’t get to learn any traditions because my grandpa died very young. And my grandmother isn’t Roma. I really do like Romani culture and I have always felt different and got discriminated for looking (Asian). But I do feel weird about claiming to be Roma. Even if I took a dna test and it even said I was from a Romani group in Hungary and that I am even Indian. How do I learn? And will Romani people accept me?
glad you are addressing this. However, ancestors are ancestors regardless if you knew them or not if you have those roots. One of the only ways he would possibly have had Romani roots is having his dna tested to see if he had Indian. Its great that your "opinion" is that ethnicity is a "lived" experience however dna is dna and ancestors are ancestors regardless of how far back your dna goes a 10o years or so.
You're being needlessly obtuse. For example I have distant Romani ancestors. I'm not ROM, any more than I'm French Spanish German or Indigenous. I'm so far removed from that time in my family history that I've never engaged with any of those cultures except in small ways. I'm a Southern American, maybee a Creole or a Texan, if I have any culture to speak of at all. See the difference? If you listened to what Florian was saying this explanation wouldn't have been necessary.
Too geeked off edibles and spent half of today scared that if I violated romani cultural hygiene practices (i am not romani) that you would come out of my computer and whoop my ass.
It's unfortunate that people who where in slaved not allowed to speak their language or teach it to their children without being ridiculed have lost their culture and are not allowed to be part of a people you share blood with
There were definitely Romani people in the USA since the colonial times. Elvis may have had Romani roots from way back then, but it would've been mininal, and personally if he had like a 4th or 5th great grandparent who was Romani, then it would be silly for him to identify as that
This is what I say about my native/indigenous ancestry. My grandmother had darker skin and black hair she got from her native ancestry. However, she didn't have any customs/ cultural influence and didn't pass anything down to her kids or grandkids. So yes, I have native ancestry, but I am not native/ indigenous and do not and should try to participate or join those spaces.
I agree on must live a culture but I am interested in your knowledge re: ancestry & descendants to help with a genealogy issue. Have you ever heard of the Melungeon people ? Some folks say Elvis was connected to them. They are a group that is anglo mixed with another ethnicity who were persecuted, ended up living up in the hills / mountains away from mainstream. There are ideas of mixture with African, Portugese, Native American & now that I have learned some history from your channel I wonder if Rom could be involved with them - regardless of Elvis. There are probably people who already know & I am just clueless but I don't know. I know some DNA testing has been done but there is conflict over it .
This might get lost in the comments but does anyone know if there's some tradition in Roma culture that involves a musical cart with some sort of altar?
I think that maybe you're incorrect about saying just because you have ancestors of a certain ethnicity you aren't necessarily that ethnicity... Would you say that about Nigerian people? Or Indian people? It's very possible that Elvis was of Romani descent as a Romani person myself I don't think it's right of me to gate keep our culture or ethnicity.
if someone was 99.6% English and 0.4% Nigerian with ancestors from the 1700s and had absolutely no semblance of Nigerian culture or tradition left in their life, are they Nigerian? ofc not, let’s be serious for a second
@@florida.florian I hear you, I guess maybe that wasn't clear by the words in your video pral! You understand where I am coming from in general with my comment, I hope.
I understand what you are saying but I think it’s especially harmful for genuinely mixed people to count people who had 1 ancestor out of 1000 as mixed
As an Indian, let me ask you this. Since Romani are descended from Rajasthani Tribes, would you consider yourself Rajasthani? No ,right? Although ancestry and race is part of ethnicity, culture is important too. If you don't follow your ancestral culture, you can consider yourself to be of XYZ descent though. That's why us Indians consider our cultures to be subsets of a larger Indian ethnic culture, because we have sino tibetan, austroasiatic and Dardic racial groups who are interrelated to mainland Indian ethnicities.
Does that mean if somebody named Elvis, he might have from Romani background because their parents were obsessed with the assumption that Elvis Presley was Romani?
I've always heard he could be Melungeon, but there's really no evidence regarding any of his racial ancestry. The Melungeon thing would make a lot of sense-more sense imo than him being black or native like a lot of people like to say.
You don't, like, need a reason to claim someone Dolly Parton is not gay. She's still one of us and the gay community will fight for her till the ends of the world
my romani father can sing EXACTLY like elvis, they grew up on him and admire him so im excited to see this video. as much as elvis is problematic, his voice will always lead me to my father because in my heart (my father is waayyy better haha)
He was my 6th cousin iv seen his dna test from his adopted daughter he ranges from 3 to 6 % Eastern European Roma robert Lee Smith was also a lee. the smith were Kovacs id show u my family tree if I knew how to contact you lol you should see my south African stainbanks they all share his features and my cousin oddras dad was his 7th cousin and looked just like him i got presleys smiths mansells Kovacs Horvaths stioca and radalascu didn't know the presleys were presslers ill look through my tree
What? He died before ancestry dna tests were even invented, especially ones that say “Eastern European Roma” which was the latest update in 2023 for Ancestry DNA, there’s no reports of him or any of his close family taking dna tests or identifying as Romani
I know the story he had a little bit of romachild traveler blood in him but this guy that makes these videos don’t know the history what it was like, even in America in the early century white people was racist even against other white people so they had to hide roots in order to make it in life before Elvis got famous when they heard them on the radio. They thought he was half black the way he would sing. And people said too bad he ain’t never gonna make a life. Those that lived that era know what I’m talking about
He was melungeon, which is what we Latinos is. It's the Reason why my family has some black ancestry and look very European with black- colored straigjt hair that turns to wavy light brown, the opposite, or black-colored facial hair that turn a mix of brown, coral red, champagne blonde, and straw pieces blonde. Those are things that occur in every member of my Latinamerican family, cause we're too mixed, Hispanicsized, and unaffiliated to be Native-American or Black-Latinamerican or Black USA-Canadian like you.
