Muzikanten voor het Leven plot
A gypsy without music is not really a gypsy. In this personal search for the last Sinti and Roma, filmmaker Bob Entrop follows three gypsy bands. He travels with the Basilys to Prague, where they receive a warm welcome as a Dutch jazz band. The young Paulus Schäfer and his Gipsyband experience a high point during a joint performance with the world famous Rosenberg Trio. And with Roger, a Swiss musician/composer who settled in the Netherlands, he visits his in-laws in Germany, where he sings a moving duet with his demented father-in-law. For all three, Django Reinhardt is the unsurpassed maestro. The film darts from interview to interview, and from performance to performance. Nostalgia and a sense of reality alternate in the candid conversations.