The Zingaresca Ensemble will make their Vancouver debut, “Passion, Soul, and Fire!” on Sept. 20 at Granville Island’s Waterfront Theatre. The ensemble features Juillard-trained baritone Anton Belov and two masters of the seven-string guitar Vadim Kolpakov as well as Oleg Timofeyev—all playing music “in the Gypsy style.” 

“You can expect a lot of energy, a lot of lyricism, a lot of danceable rhythms and a lot of virtuosity, particularly from the guitar players,” says Belov. “You can expect absolutely phenomenon levels of mastery of this instrument.”

Respect for traditions

Timofeyev first met Kolpakov more than 20 years ago. At the time, Timofeyev, who is also a musicologist, was studying the Russian seven string guitar with an interest in “music from libraries,” such as old, written repertoires from the ninetieth century. As a scholar, he has been instrumental in reviving the seven-string guitar. 

“I always knew that amongst the Russian Romani musicians the same guitar was popular as an oral tradition,” the musicologist shares. “In Moscow, somebody told me, ‘How about you go and listen to a house concert with Vadim and his uncle, the legendary Alexander Kolpakov?’”

Despite his hesitation to step into an oral culture, Timofeyev found the experience life changing. He soon started collaborating with the Kolpakovs. In 2018, the musicologist also began working with Belov, after finding the singer on YouTube. 

“I’ve always wanted to accompany singers with the seven-string guitar, but when singers are foreign [to the Russian language], they don’t quite articulate the same way,” Timofeyev shares. “It was exciting to find someone just like me, from Moscow for whom Russian is his native language.” 

Timofeyev then bridged these two projects in the Zingaresca Ensemble; the trio have been performing together since 2021. Timofeyev and Belov have both spent years studying the Gypsy musical tradition; Vadim was born into this culture.  

“It’s interesting because we all come from very different cultural, ethnic and musical backgrounds,” Belov shares. “What is fascinating is that the Romani tradition has tremendous amount of vocal virtuosity that is associated with the singing—it is the respect for fantastic voices.” 

A distinct style 

Zingaresca is the Italian word for “in a Gypsy style.” While their music comes from different traditions, including Romani Gypsy, Jewish and Ukrainian—the trio always performs in this distinct style.  

“The Gypsy music was created in different countries with combinations of local traditional music,” Vadim explains. “The Russian Gypsy music is also connected to and mixed with the Russian vocal tradition.” 

He adds that Spain’s famous flamenco music is another example of this style. That tradition resulted from Romani people’s combination of Jewish, Arabic and local Spanish music with their own Gypsy music. According to Vadim, France’s Gypsy swing or jazz is another example, combining the Romani style with jazz from the 20th century. 

“Sometimes the songs were partially translated into Romani language, and sometimes, in some songs, they skipped through long narrative lines and replaced it with nonsensical syllables,” Timofeyev shares of the Russian Romani tradition. “The reason for that is because they wanted to bring more rhythmic vitality.”

Improvisation is a core part of this music—one that will be shown on stage at Granville Island. The programming will include both new and old music from the ensemble, including Gypsy romances. The trio will also be joined by special guest performers. 

“We’ve given 50-60 concerts together by now, and it’s very rare that the audience is not on their feet,” Belov shares. “Usually, we get massive standing ovations, and they want more.”

He adds that the audience does not need to understand the language. They just need to “listen carefully,” allowing the music to “waft” over them. 

“If the audience cry or dance, then this is what Gypsy music is about,” Vadim adds. “The most important is this emotion that we bring to audiences.” 

For more information on the Zingaresca Ensemble, see https://www.zingaresca.info/.