Cigan iz a tsia? What? . . . I don't get it but I'll keep dancing.

Okay, so Shantel has been something of the rage lately in the world of Balkan Influences--especially in the club scene in Berlin.

In his latest disco hit, he mixes some Balkan signature sounds and melodies to create, admittedly, a rather catchy track that makes you want to dance. With over 1.7 million views on YouTube, obviously Shantel is receiving some sort of following or fanbase. Listen to what the woman says in his latest hit:

Shantel DISKO PARTIZANI


She's saying:

Cigan iz a tsia which can be loosely translated to Cigan - ization or Roma- ization

Which English could be translated as: Nigger - ization (for roma, not black people)

Phonetically: si gan iz a tsia (the ts is said together)

This could be interpreted as anything from being racist (a rather harsh interpretation) to blatantly ignorant of cultural tensions (possible). Or possibly he's wanting to cleverly use Ciganization like Globalization to talk about the spread of Romani culture. Frankly, I just don't know. Its just a strange word usage to use as a refrain to a song.

Cigan or Roma | Nigger or Nigga | Reappropriation

I'm not about to start this debate but in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries Roma are commonly called Roma or Cigani. After some international conferences a couple of decades ago, some Romani decided that they preferred the name of Roma as compared to Cigani because of its discriminatory past. Cigan can be used rather offensively in the Balkans if used in the proper context, much akin to using the term nigger for blacks. Now, there is a national debate within the Romani and Bulgarian communities as to what the proper term is to describe Roma. By and large, the intellectuals, politicians (except the racists ones) and cultural leaders use the word Roma to describe Romani people with the occasional spattering of Cigani for jokes or culturally insensitive comments. In a lot of ways, this is similar to the debate between nigger, niga and black in America. Black or African-American is generally accepted term, such as Roma in the Balkans, while nigga is reserved for those in the ethnic circle while usage of nigger is forbidden. Most Roma use Cigani as a way of self-claiming the derogatory word to own it while most Romani are sensitive to other non-Roma saying the word (very similar to the usage of nigger and nigga in America). The smart people in the world call this Reappropration. Regardless, its weird for Shantel to be using Cigan in his songs because of the potential for being offensive and also possibly the lack of cultural understanding. Imagine for a moment some white American rapping over Latin hip-hop with occasional potentially racist comments in Spanish. Its just goofy.

So let us recap:

• He's German
• His parents are from Bukovina, which is part Romanian and Ukrainian
  
• He's white, really.
• He dropped the equivalent of the N-Bomb in his hip-hop disco hit
• He's rapping/rhyming in English
• He's throwing in Bulgarian/Slavic derogatory words in as seasoning.
• Its goofy.
  
• And I don't get it, but I can dance to it.