“Have you ever been to American wedding?/Where is the vodka?!” screams Eugene Hutz of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello.

In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, Hutz discusses the inspiration behind the song “American Wedding.” Commenting on the U.S. weddings he’s been to, Hutz expresses his surprise that “you would even call that a celebration.”

Raised in Kiev, Hutz and family fled to Vermont after his father had been repeatedly busted for political rebellion (several times for listening to the BBC). In his first years in America, Hutz performed with various metal/hardcore bands before starting his own group with the intentions of getting back to his Gypsy roots. It wasn’t easy. Hutz wanted to avoid gimmick and the “exploitation of stereotype;” he wanted to make music that sincerely embodied the Gypsy spirit. When asked about Gypsy psychology, Hutz says only that it’s impossible to describe, because Gypsies wouldn’t give enough of  a damn to talk about it. Carefully, he adds that in his native language there is a word for today, but tomorrow and yesterday are the same word.

Gypsy music, says Hutz, was the original Rock and Roll: “It’s a scientific fact.”

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