I still remember our first visit to the Lunik 9 settlement in Kosice, Slovakia.

By that time, nearly eight years ago, the neighborhood was already known as one of the largest Roma slums in Central Europe. It seemed out of place – an ugly holdout of poverty in a beautiful, developing city.

But what captured me that day was not the squalid living conditions. I was prepared to see piles of trash and children without shoes. These are the kinds of conditions Roma live in all across Europe.

No, what captured my attention that day and on every visit since was the music, flowing from every door and window.

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