The word Gypsy is still widely used in music, cinema, and everyday speech, but you’ll often see the community describe itself as Roma. Whatever label appears in interviews and playbills, the women below share a dazzling blend of stage presence, musicality, and unmistakable charisma. Rather than ranking faces alone, this list celebrates talent and the cultural sparkle each artist adds to Romani heritage.
11. Lyalya Chernaya
A fierce stage name (“Black Lily”) for a powerhouse performer. Born Nadezhda Kiselyova in 1909, Chernaya grew up around her mother’s Gypsy choir and danced onto Moscow’s Romen Theatre stage at just thirteen. Over five decades she shaped the theatre’s look and stamped her fiery footwork on Soviet cinema, securing the title Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Her angular features, proud carriage, and expressive eyes still leap from vintage film reels.
10. Diana Savelieva
Listeners call her the “new Valentina Ponomaryova.” Savelieva, born in 1979 into a celebrated Romani family, switches effortlessly from jazz phrasing to age-old romances and even starred as Esmeralda in Russia’s Notre-Dame de Paris. Awards from Romansiada to the Gypsy Arts Festival line her résumé, but fans mostly talk about the warmth in her smile and the crystalline clarity of her high notes.
9. Rada Rai
Magadan’s frozen port does not sound like the most likely cradle for a chanson diva, but Elena Gribkova, stage name Rada Rai, made her Romani father’s lullabies into radio hits. Her debut album in 2008, You Are My Soul, stormed up Russian charts, and she went on to win the 2016 prize of Chanson of the Year. Almond-shaped big eyes, waist-length hair, and a velvet contralto make her concert videos mesmerizing.
8. Maria Shashkova
Real name Cleopatra, forever nicknamed Maria, this Moscow dancer blends Turkish hip drops with Romani spins. Born in 1980 to folk-musician parents, she racks up international belly-dance trophies and teaches in her own studio. Online clips of her “Shik Shak Shok” solo (nine-plus million views) show why audiences fall for her magnetic grin and whirl of multicolored skirts.
7. Mariska Veres
The vocals of Shocking Blue’s “Venus” originated in The Hague but were imbued with Romani spirit. With a Hungarian-Roma violin-playing dad and high-cheekboned loveliness, Veres hit 1960s television screens like an exotic lightning bolt—kohl-lined eyes, raven-black mane, and a three-octave voice that glided from rock snarl to lullaby. She was the lead until her passing in 2006, and fans were still chanting “Yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah!” long after the amps went dark.
6. Raya Udovikova (Raya Bielenberg)
Born on the Soviet steppes in 1935, Raya danced her way to Norway, married journalist Tore-Jarl Bielenberg, and became a champion for Roma rights. Critics recall her 1967 Norwegian-TV performance: swirling scarlet dress, tambourine aloft, vocals full of longing. Offstage she founded cultural festivals and mentored young artists, proving beauty glows brightest when paired with activism.
5. Leonciya Erdenko
Daughter of iconic singers Nikolay and Rozaliya Erdenko, Leonciya learned harmony from home, played in her family band Djang, and was soon topping world-music festivals. Born in 1972, she combines classical piano studies with Roma throat slides, her expressive fingers punctuating every trill. On stage, she wears embroidered velvet dresses and a half-smile guaranteeing an encore.
4. Rada Matvienko
Kazakhstan’s pop scene gained extra sparkle in 1991 when Rada was born into a Russian-Romani family. A semifinalist in the global Avon Voices contest and champion Latin-dance competitor, she juggles television hosting with flamenco-jazz gigs. Bright costumes, mermaid-length curls, and eyes that flash in rhythm make her a photographer’s dream.
3. Soledad Miranda
Cinema’s perpetual dark star. The Sevillian Romani actress shot more than 30 movies before a fatal 1970 car accident took her life at 27. Director Jesús Franco employed her as entrancing heroines in She Killed in Ecstasy and Vampyros Lesbos, and viewers couldn’t turn away from her alabaster complexion, jet-black hair, and glint of wickedness behind bat-like lashes. Her cult status increases by the day.
2. Rita Hayworth
Born Margarita Cansino in 1918 Brooklyn, the future “Love Goddess” danced in her father Eduardo’s flamenco troupe—he hailed from a Romani village near Seville—before Hollywood restyled her as Rita Hayworth. Technicolor close-ups of Gilda reveal luminous brown eyes and a smile half coy, half unstoppable. Years later she spoke candidly about the discipline behind that glamour, adding depth to the legend.
1. Lyalya (Olga) Jemchuzhnaya
Bearing a family name that translates to “pearl,” Olga Jemchuzhnaya glimmers throughout Russian theatre, cinema, and songbooks. Born in 1969, she entered the Romen Theatre at age sixteen, became an Honored Artist of Russia, and starred in TV dramas such as Karmelita. Her dominant soprano voice, vivid narrative, and stately presence on stage position her at the heights of modern Romani art—and, for countless admirers, the very embodiment of timeless Gypsy beauty.
