This project revises my doctoral thesis into a book manuscript on Romani musical life in twentieth-century Romania. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, the book examines how Romani professional musicians (lăutari) acted not only as custodians of musical tradition but also as agents of resistance against communist-era policies of assimilation and erasure. I trace how lăutari used performance to foster Romani counterpublics and generate counter-narratives of history and belonging that often remained inaudible within dominant cultural frameworks.