Listening for Cultural Clues in Jazz Manouche

Django Reinhardt was a virtuoso guitarist and composer of Manouche (Gypsy) origin who lived between 1910 and 1953, achieving stardom in the 1930s. Being mostly associated with the jazz of his time, one may argue that his Gypsy origin was embedded into his music. After Django’s death, his music has been reappropriated by the Manouches and gradually became a community practice as well as a musical genre, nowadays known as Gypsy jazz or jazz Manouche. In this paper, we explore the existence and relevance of cultural markers associated with this musical genre, and attempt to relate musical and cultural features present in Manouche communities. The present work is based on questionnaires and interviews with both Manouche and Gadjé (non-Gypsy) musicians, includes listening tests proposed to musicians and instrument makers and accounts personal experiences of one of the authors (L.B.) as a Gadjo guitar apprentice. Our results confirm the importance of some cultural features for sound recognition that include the role of the music pedagogy within the Manouche community as well as the relevance of the guitar accompaniment.