Sinti

Sinti is the name nomadic people of north-western Europe prefer to call themselves by, who were referred to by the local population as Zigeuner in German, Gypsies in English or Zingari in Italian. They frequently used to live in poor social and economic conditions on the edge of town. Only some of them still travel regularly. They are a group of the Roma, whose origin has been traced to India based on language and genetics.

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The Sinti migrated from Sind, or from the banks of the Sindhu River in India to the court of Persia where tribe-members sought work as musicians. From Persia, they migrated throughout Europe and North Africa.

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The Sinti settled in Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages, eventually splitting into two groups: Eftavagarja (meaning "the Seven Caravans") and Estraxarja (meaning "from Austria"). These two groups then expanded, the first into France, merging with the local Romany groups (Manouches), the second into Italy and Eastern Europe, mainly Croatia, Hungary, Transylvania, Czech and Slovakia, eventually adopting various regional names.

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Sinti have produced a great number of excellent musicians, e.g. the legendary Django Reinhardt. The Sinti H?ns'che Weis produced a record in Germany in the 1970s in which he sang about the Gypsy holocaust in his own language. This caused a furore among his people who didn't want the language to be made known to the "Gadje". Many younger Germans heard about this part of their history through the record. Titi Winterstein and several members of the Reinhard clan are still playing traditional and modern "Gypsy Jazz" all over Europe.

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Sinti dialect is called "Romanes" and is fully Romany by lexicon, only grammar differs, being quite influenced by German.

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