It’s back! 21 years after its initial release, Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Balkan Romani-Gypsy Musicians by Garth Cartwright is out now, updated and bigger than ever. Here Garth says in his own words about how Princes Amongst Men came to be and what's it about
Do you know that Garth Cartwright was the first western journalist to interview Bulgarian superstar Azis? That encounter with the fabulous Balkan trailblazer is in the book. That turned out to be quite a coup as Azis seldom gives interviews these days.
Even though I had provided minor contributions and updates for other books and publications previously, Princes Amongst Men was the first book that I fully worked on as a sensitivity and authenticity reader for the Balkans.
Thank you Garth for approaching me then! It was 2004 and I was ‘working’ in a mind-numblingly boring re-insurance job in Sydney, Australia, spending most of the time looking out the windows of the 44-th floor at the planes taking off from Kingsford-Smith Airport and wishing that one of them would be wisking me back to London (one did a few months later). Garth would send me a chapter to read and I’d use my idle work time (which was most of the time) to go through and make notes where necessary. Reading about his travels would cast my mind back to my own extensive travels in the Balkans the year before when I was based in my father’s village in eastern Macedonia. Let’s just say, in Princes Amongst Men, you’re not being told of a journey; you are on the journey with Garth.
This collaboration with Garth opened the door for me to many new opportunites. It was through Garth that I was able to meet one of my heroes – multi-instrumentalist, translator and writer Kim Burton, and it was a day after the Brexit referendum when Garth introduced me to award-winning writer Kapka Kassabova.
Garth and I have had plenty more travels and experiences since then in London, the Balkans and further afield. Some of them, such as two Sofi Marinova concerts – one in London in 2005 and another in Sofia in 2018 – and meeting Djambo Agushev (heart of gold!) in his hometown of Strumica last year, are featured in the book. Here’s to more travels and experiences, Garth!
Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Balkan Romani-Gypsy Musicians is out now and available to purchase from all good local bookshops.
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