For more Django check out the excellent Integral Django Reinhardt collection.

More Django film clips are available on these videos:

Django Reinhardt Swing Guitar DVD, Stephane Grappelli  A Life in the Jazz Century DVD, and the Django Legacy VHS.

The video archive is dedicated to Mary Honcoop. She generously shared her large collection of Gypsy videos with nearly anyone who asked. The video archive aims to continue her generosity now that she is gone. The Video Archive is devoted surviving video of Django Reinhardt and other masters of the Gypsy jazz genre. If you enjoy these videos consider making a donation.

To view this video you need Windows Media Player software. Download for free here: Windows Media Player

The film “Die Ballade von Schnuckenack Reinhardt (“The ballad of Schnuckenack Reinhardt”) documents the love story of the internationally renowned musical multi-talent and jazz violinist Schnuckenack Reinhardt. He was born and grew up in Mainz as the child of a Sinti family of musicians where he learned to play the violin at the age of three. From the age of twelve, he appeared in concerts with the band of this father. He received his musical education at the Conservatory of Mainz. In the course of the racist policy of persecution of the Sinti and Roma in the National Socialist era, the Reinhardt family was arrested in 1938 and deported to Poland shortly thereafter. There, the Reinhardts eked out a living by disguising themselves as German-Hungarian musicians, always evading discovery. Five times Schnuckenack Reinhardt was nearly shot by the SS. He tells about his fear that was omnipresent throughout those years, from the youngest brother who was murdered in Auschwitz, and from the prayers of his mother to the Black Madonna of Tschenstochau. Before her image he played an Ave Maria to thank her.

Music, he said, saved his life. The violin was his weapon with which he “played himself free”. The film accompanies Schnuckenack Reinhardt on a journey with his sons to places that marked him and his music for life. By taking his sons to the places of persecution in Germany and Poland and to the places where he pursued his musical career after 1945 he wants to pass on the family’s history to them. The last stop on this itinerary was Samois-sur-Seine, near Paris, the burial place of his great example and relative, the Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Schnuckenack Reinhardt impresses not only by the wide spectrum of his musical skills. He narrates with wit and wisdom, with pain and yet with unbroken joie de vivre. The authenticity of his personality makes the film a unique eyewitness account of the history and culture of German Sinti in the 20th century, of which still far too little is known.

For more Schnuckenack Reinhardt see CDs: Musik Deutscher Zigeuner – Entire 8 Disc Set

The video archive is dedicated to Mary Honcoop. She generously shared her large collection of Gypsy videos with nearly anyone who asked. The video archive aims to continue her generosity now that she is gone.

The Video Archive is devoted surviving video of Django Reinhardt and other masters of the Gypsy jazz genre. If you enjoy these videos consider making a donation.

To view this video you need Windows Media Player software. Download for free here: Windows Media Player

For more Samson Schmitt see his CDs: Rendez-vous, The Django Reinhardt NY Festival: Swing Gitan, and Djieske.

Samson also appears on the Bireli Lagrene DVD.

The video archive is dedicated to Mary Honcoop. She generously shared her large collection of Gypsy videos with nearly anyone who asked. The video archive aims to continue her generosity now that she is gone.

Bireli Lagrene is one of the most accomplished jazz guitarists active today. His career, which started around the age of 10, has included performances with some of the world’s top musicians. He has shared the stage with fusion guitarist Larry Coryell, fretless bass pioneer Jaco Pastorius, and accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano. Biréli is a master of numerous styles including bebop, fusion, and swing. He is also a multi instrumentalist with phenomenal skill on guitar (electric and acoustic), electric bass, and drums.

However, Bireli’s musical roots lie in the music of Django Reinhardt. Like most Sinti children, he was immersed in Django’s music from a very young age. While growing up in the Gypsy camps of the Alsace region of Eastern France, he developed incredible technical and improvisational skill. His talent was quickly recognized, resulting in performances across Europe as a young as age 10.

To learn more about Bireli’s music see his new book: Guitar Project

For more Bireli Lagrene video see his excellent DVDs: Live in Paris, Live a Vienne, Super Guitar Trio and the documentary The Django Legacy.

Also check out Bireli Largene’s CDs: Move, Gypsy Project, Gypsy Project and Freinds, Routes to Django and Bireli Swing ’81 2 CDs, Live at Carnegie Hall – A Tribute to Django Reinhardt 2 CDs, New York Tango, Special Guests, Blue Eyes, Live in Marciac, My Favorite Django, Gipsy Feeling, Zum Trotz, Jimmy, Biréli & Angelo, Broadway Blues and Teresa 2 CDs, Live in Italy and Honestly 2 CDs.

The video archive is dedicated to Mary Honcoop. She generously shared her large collection of Gypsy videos with nearly anyone who asked. The video archive aims to continue her generosity now that she is gone.

The Video Archive is devoted surviving video of Django Reinhardt and other masters of the Gypsy jazz genre. If you enjoy these videos consider making a donation.

To view this video you need Windows Media Player software. Download for free here: Windows Media Player

For more Angelo Debarre check out his CDs:

Entre Ciel Et Terre, Live at Djangofest Northwest, Entre Amis, Angelo is Back in Town, Caprice, Gypsy Guitars, Memoires, Come Into My Swing, Portrait of Angelo Debarre, and Impromptu.

For more Angelo Debarre video out these DVDs:

Live at Djangofest Northwest and Live Jazz a Vienne

The video archive is dedicated to Mary Honcoop. She generously shared her large collection of Gypsy videos with nearly anyone who asked. The video archive aims to continue her generosity now that she is gone.

The Video Archive is devoted surviving video of Django Reinhardt and other masters of the Gypsy jazz genre. If you enjoy these videos consider making a donation.

To view this video you need Windows Media Player software. Download for free here: Windows Media Player