WHEN he was 13 years old, Eugene Hutz and his family were evacuated from their home in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The 1986 catastrophe proved to be a life-altering event for the young Ukrainian, who moved into the countryside to find refuge and instead discovered a completely new way of life.
Hutz discovered his family were related to gypsies, something that was kept under wraps.
“Because of the discrimination towards gypsies, a lot of gypsies – including my family – were hiding their identities and when the whole city of Kiev was subject to evacuation, there was really nowhere else to go besides stay with your relatives in the countryside,” Hutz said.
“So we stayed about 1000km away with our very distant relatives who I had never met or seen.
“When I arrived, I realised it was a gypsy village and I was very surprised and they were very amused that I was kept in the dark.
“They were always laughing about how white I was in my upbringing, considering we all come from that gypsy heritage.”
Over the year he spent in that gypsy village, Hutz said his identity changed completely.
“It was the equivalent of if you were a white kid who went to a real hip-hop party in the ’70s and turned out you were related to Grandmaster Flash, you would be like, ‘what the hell?’ ” he said.
“So it completely changed my vision and when I came back to Kiev, I got into punk rock and art and I was just never the same.
“The main things I learned was that they were completely not in synch with what society was doing, they had no predetermined ideas about what education should be; it was like nature and the street was their education.”
This experience led Hutz to permanently adopt the gypsy lifestyle, which resulted in him forming the world’s foremost gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello, who will make their Australian live debut at the West Coast Blues ‘n’ Roots Festival at Fremantle Park on March 28.
“Everything the public knows about gypsy culture is a lie – from the beginning to the end, top to bottom,” he said.
“That said, I would have to go on a lecture to adjust their vision and I am not going to do that because I think what we do on stage with our music and with the rest of our charity work is already doing that stuff… so that is already a good crack at the perception of old stereotypes.”
“I was really proud and surprised when Gogol Bordello started getting off the ground and there would be activists and gypsy leaders coming out saying how much they appreciate the support and our efforts to bring a positive light to the gypsy culture.
“To them, it had a significance that I wasn’t aware of.”