Since its creation in 1991, AMIC – Action Musique Interculturelle Catalane [Catalan Intercultural Music Action] – has mainly devoted its activity to the Gypsy and Manouche communities settled in the Pyrénées Orientales and especially in Perpignan.

A research fieldwork, as well as a social action based on aid mechanisms existing in France at that moment, has allowed us to reveal the true story of these communities. The first evidences of their presence in this region go back to 1550 and we’ve been working a lot to document the history of these communities particularly unknown. On the other hand, together with National Music Conservatoire of Region, our association has carried out an important movement to favour the musical talented people of these communities. After several CDs and hundreds of concerts, musicians from Perpignan now exist and they take part in the reflection work undertaken about their community history.

This fieldwork gets us in touch with Gypsy and Manouche networks and families living in France and travelling through European countries. This brings us a lot of information and connections which allow us to feed the database of the project “The Romani/Gypsy Presence in European Music”.