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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 or gypsies in English. 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 related to the Roma, who live predominantly in eastern Europe and whose origin was traced to India.
The Sinti are thought to have 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. Sinti music absorbed the tradition of the many countries they passed through over the centuries.
Sinti have produced a great number of excellent musicians, e.g. the legendary Django Reinhardt. The Sinti Häns'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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