Just to put 'Guest' in the picture, I do have experience of Travellers; some thirty five years of recording them, mainly Irish, in the Greater London area. Our collection of several hundred tapes is housed at the British Library in London with full public access, and to date we have released a cassette and a double CD of songs and stories, along with contributing tracks to Topic's 'Voice of The People' series.
If I have learned anything in the time I have been working with Travellers, it is that separating them into 'real Gypsies' and 'others' is divisive and has done much to make sure that Travellers continue to live in the appalling conditions that that do (without decent stopping places, running water, sanitation and access to education).
Describing Travellers as Romanies or real Gypsies is nowadays largely a romantic conceit. Intermarriage, urbanisation and settlement has largely put paid to such distinctions. The traditions have all but disappeared along with the language, the old way of life, the horse-drawn caravans and the traditional Travellers trades such as tinsmithing and horse-dealing.
I do think it important for Travellers not to loose touch with their roots and traditions, and for those outside the community to know and understand their way of life; that is one of the reasons why we embarked on recording a lifestyle we believed (rightly) was rapidly disappearing back in the early seventies.
However, it is also important to recognise that the old ways have largely disappeared and unless something is not done very quickly there will not be a Traveller on the road in ten years time. If this is not to be the case it will take the combined efforts of all Travellers, not just the 'real' Gypsies to prevent this from becoming a reality
Jim Carroll