Alone in front of her laptop, Gilda-Nancy Horvath composed and recorded her first angry rap, “Trushula” – the anthem of an artist railing against the racism suffered by her Roma people in her native Austria and beyond.
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Eight years later, her quest has gained fresh relevance with the resurgence of the European far-right – several of whose figureheads she assails in that early track, pounding out her rhyming verses to the rhythm of keyboards and drums.
With the Nazi-rooted Freedom Party (FPOe) topping the polls for the first time in Austria’s national elections last weekend, the activist told reporters she is set on “denouncing the lies of the far-right”.
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Besides wanting to “settle scores” with racists targeting her community, Horvath raps in Romani – under her stage name Nancy Black – to keep the language alive and to “stop the suffering”.
Across Europe, Roma – estimated to number 14 million – face poverty and discrimination at school and work, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
Horvath is descended from the Lovara, a group of Roma who worked as horse-dealers under the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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In Austria, Roma officially account for 30,000 of the country’s nine million people, but this is thought to be an underestimate since many do not declare themselves for fear of discrimination.