In a small, dust-settled village near the Carpathian foothills, the air in 2019 carried a specific kind of tension. It was the year of the "Great Gathering," a wedding that promised to unite two rival families through music rather than blood.
stood at the edge of the wooden dance floor, his clarinet case feeling like a lead weight. Beside him, his oldest friend gripped an accordion that looked more like a scarred battle shield than an instrument.
The deep, rhythmic bellows provided the heartbeat the village had forgotten it had. As the tempo accelerated, the "Hora" took hold. It started with the elders, their boots striking the dry earth until a cloud of gold dust rose around their ankles. The music became a frantic, beautiful conversation: the clarinet spiraling into dizzying heights of joy, while the accordion stayed grounded, pumping out the relentless, driving soul of the Romani spirit.
Interested in learning more about the work of the Institute for Family Studies? Please feel free to contact us by using your preferred method detailed below.
P.O. Box 1502
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 260-1048
For media inquiries, contact Chris Bullivant (chris@ifstudies.org).
We encourage members of the media interested in learning more about the people and projects behind the work of the Institute for Family Studies to get started by perusing our "Media Kit" materials.
$75,000 by December 31
Your Support!
Before you go, consider subscribing to our weekly emails so we can keep you updated with latest insights, articles, and reports.
Before you go, consider subscribing to IFS so we can keep you updated with news, articles, and reports.
We’ll keep you up to date with the latest from our research and articles.
