Romipen

Gypsy Ensemble

Formed in April 2008 specially for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month the members of Romipen are people who love slovak and gypsy folklore. With experiences drawn from many years of performing folklore art with many different ensembles Romipen perform original melodies and dances from Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian Romany villages, reworked into professional arrangements.

The ensemble consists of two parts: a Gypsy band of Marek Konček (Cigánska kapela Mareka Končeka) and solo dancers Vlado Michalko & Linda Luptáková.

Marek's Gypsy band came into existence in the year 2000, when group of young Roma and Non-Roma musician decided to continue the tradition of Gypsy and Slovak culture and prepared a program based on the authentic folklore of those nations. Later their program grew to include other regions of Europe such as Hungaria and Romania.

Today the band plays a broad range of styles. And as each member is professionally trained, they also play classical pieces by composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Strauss.

The Players

Marek Konček (primáš – leading violin)
Anton Koňa (cimbal – cymbalom)
Roman Konček (bráčha – viola player)
Tomáš Kramás (kontrabas – contrabass)

The Dancers

Vladimír Michalko is a very skilled dancer who also choreographs many famous slovak ensembles as Lúčnica (Bratislava), SĽUK (Bratislava), Železiar (Košice), Ondráš (Brno) and in many "new-age" projects, where young people try to combine traditional dance with a contemporary one. Vladimír is student at University of permorming art in Bratislava.

Linda Luptáková finished her studies at the University of performing art in Bratislava as a teacher of folklore dance. Today she works with the famous slovak ensembles such as Lúčnica (Bratislava) and SĽUK (Bratislava), where she acts not only as teacher but also as dancer. Linda is regular guest in workshops not only in Slovakia but in many countries abroad, where she teaches Slovak and Romanian Romany dances.

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