Dužda (Dežo) Desiderius

is guitarist, singer, and composer, one of the most significant gipsy personalities in cultural world. Dežo has started to play guitar when he was four years old. His best teacher and inspiration was always his father, one of the most famous gipsy musicians. In the 90ties he was one of the cofounders of the group Kale who were the accompaniment of singer Věra Bílá. He received the Golden Record for 10 000 sold CDs. In 1997, Dežo started to cooperate closely with Ida Kelarová with who he founded the group Romano rat (Gipsy Blood) and the international choir Apsora (Small Tears). He still cooperates with Ida Kelarová today. Dežo is famous music composer with extensive work and his songs are sung all around the world. Regarding to voice art he focuses on gipsy polyphony and vocal harmonies. He is passing his talent and artistic experiences along – he organizes guitar lesson workshops mainly focused on gipsy harmonic practices which is gipsy music famous for. Together with Ida Kelarová he is head of the civic association called Miret which is focusing on supporting artistically talented gipsy youth. Thanks to his openness and cordiality Dežo is known not only as an excellent musician but also as popular teacher who presents the gipsy culture on professional level.