“I learned that behind such a [song] text there can be a philosophy of life, the history of a people, a whole universe. I began to understand why the song stuck with me the first time I heard it in the movie. There is a great expressiveness to this style and sometimes content is conveyed through melody and singing style without a required understanding of the lyrics; I have experienced this more than once. But it is mainly due to Ruža's individual way of singing.”

„My own research on Roma music began because I was attracted by the music, but more so by the secrecy that seemed to be part of the identity of that people. What first inspired me was a film broadcast on Austrian public television about Roma in Austria Ihr werdet uns nie verstehen / You Will Never Understand US (Breit and Schwarzenberger 1988). […] This film explained a lot about the Roma in Austria, about their view of life, their living conditions, and their history. A social and cultural dichotomy was emphasized, with the Roma on one side versus gaže on the other. There was a beautiful song at the end of the film which touched me deeply although I did not know anything about the music, its language, or meaning. The film conveyed the following message to me and new thoughts started working in my mind: there is a people, living in my country, severely discriminated against, somehow mysterious, telling me ‘I would never understand them.’ Here was a fascinating music not at all known in public at that time, and I learned that the singer of the moving song lived in Vienna, only a short distance from my house. Unfamiliar as I was with the final song and its lyrics, the quality of direct expression, the fascinating melody, and the way it was sung still overwhelmed me.“