KESAJ TCHAVE means «Children’s Fairy»

Kesaj is a gypsy fairy who preaches that to receive love, you first have to be able to give it to others. It is on this wonderful principle of brotherhood that in the year 2000, the story of a group came to life – a group combining Gypsy music, dance and song and made up entirely of young Rom children living in camps on the fringes of society in Eastern Slovakia.
Ivan Akimov, a professional musician, and Helena Akimova, a street worker, use music as a dynamic springboard for the development and integration of young Roms. These young people, bursting with joy, energy and talent, seize this opportunity to cross a bridge to another kind of life, and in doing so, have created an exceptional artistic work and won over audience after audience in Europe.

In 2004, an initial meeting in Slovakia enabled YEPCE to begin to build up communications tools with which to promote the group and thus envisage new concert tours on French soil. Photo and video reports of the first meetings on-site in Slovakia are available on the following sites: (YEPCE website: http://yepce.fr/kesaj, myspace: http://myspace.com/kesajtchave)
New volunteers, attracted by the initiative of supporting this group of Gypsy dance and song, soon joined the association YEPCE. This increase in numbers has enabled the association to increase its support of the group Kesaj Tchavé.
Each member helps out in different ways: making costumes for the group, designing new promotional tools, organising supporting concerts, helping out at jumble sales, translating documents (press reports, etc.), and more.
The productive work and commitment of its volunteers has enabled YEPCE to successfully organise and coordinate the entire Brittany tour of Kesaj Tchavé – not just once, but twice – in 2006 and 2008:

YEPCE invites Kesaj tchave - Rennes - France 3 TV


Kesaj TCHAVE/YEPCE - Rennes TV

The members of the association are also involved in organising international concert tours and festivals for the group (tours in Denmark and Italy in 2009, Sziget festival in Hungary in 2008, Akaname festival in Slovakia since 2007, to mention but a few) and they play an active role in supporting and accompanying the group whenever possible (Poland 2007, festivals in France since 2007).

YEPCE Video (Sebastien Fraboulet) Kesaj Sokolow 2007 (Poland)


Kesaj Summer Tour 2006 - France - YEPCE Video (Sebastien Fraboulet)

Each time the group goes on tour, it meets a wide variety of audiences throughout Europe, thus enabling it to gain recognition and build up a network with a diverse range of partners: artists, associative bodies, etc.