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A Festival of
Gypsy and Hungarian Folk Music
The music that inspired Bartók
Authentic village music from Hungary and Transylvania
Click for Tour
Itinerary (updated: Mar- 3 - 05AM EST
ÖKRÖS FOLK MUSIC ENSEMBLE
from Budapest, with
KÁLMÁN BALOGH
cimbalom virtuoso
ALADÁR CSÍSZÁR
one of the last great
gypsy fiddler from Transylvania, &
ÁGNES HERCZKU
folk singer
" …
Hungarian string players who have remembered the ethnic research of
Bartók and Kodály in their revivals of peasant tunes… rough,
joyous energy… Mr. Balogh played some impressive cimbalom solos,
scampering through melodic variations or showering the music with
arpeggios, the set was a showcase for the violinists, who drew sighs
from the slower melodies and accelerated into breakneck turns and
trills and curlicues…remarkable virtuosity."
The
New York Times
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Gypsy Roots
Bob Doran
Musicians all around the world are returning to the roots, searching for
authentic sources. While an American bluegrass picker might pore over records
by an old banjo player, in Hungary the roots go back much further and run much
deeper.
The Ökrös Ensemble, leaders in the Hungarian folk revival movement, are
touring the United States performing traditional Gypsy music from
Transylvania. Monday, Jan. 29, the group visits Arcata's Veterans Hall for a
show presented by Jacaronda Associates and the Humboldt Folklife Society.
The string ensemble is led by violinist, Csaba Ökrös, one of the leaders of
the folk revival. Joining Ökrös for the tour is Kálmán Balogh, master of
the Gypsy cimbalom, a version of the hammer dulcimer that resembles a small
piano with no keys.
In the band's Gypsy folk tunes, double bass and viola set the rhythm. The
cimbalom propels the melody from one dance tune to another with the violins on
top sketching jazzy filigrees.
Balogh comes from a long line of Gypsy musicians. He began playing when he was
very young, learning from his uncle.
"He showed me first a Romanian dance melody in B minor," he said.
"I was learning very fast and he told my parents I must study, so I went
to school to study cimbalom classical way. In school I started to study easy
classical pieces, like from Bach, from Mozart, from Haydn. Any music that is
possible to play on piano or violin or guitar, we would play on cimbalom.
"Then when I was twelve I started to play folk music in the dance
orchestra in Miskolc. This was the original authentic folk music from the
village, from Romania and Hungary.
"Perhaps you've heard about the dance house movement in Hungary? It was a
very powerful movement all over Europe. Everywhere they started to rediscover
and study this Hungarian dance house music: the authentic folk music from the
village."
According to Balogh the village music is very different from what most people
think of as Gypsy music. "The romantic Gypsy music was popular before
that, nobody knew about the folk music from the village. The town music which
became very popular in the beginning of this century, that was the romantic
style of salon music - you know, the kind of violin crying, sentimental music.
"The village music is more rustic, really it came out of folk music. We
found that in the village one can still find the sources for the authentic
Gypsy music."
Ökrös' other guests on the tour include the Romani fiddler, Csiszar Aladár,
from the Szekelyfold region of Hungary. According to Kalman Magyar who
organized the tour, "Aladár is the last person practicing this kind of
playing from the region - he learned it from the masters. He was part of
something called "The Last Hour Project" which recorded all the
surviving musicians. It was put together by the director of Ökrös, he
discovered this guy.
"This is the last hour when we can find this music in Hungary. This is
it. There's no more after this because people in the village do not want this
kind of music, not the young ones. There's no market for it so it will die
out.
"People like Ökrös are the ones who will carry forth this traditional
music. And Aladár is one of the guys who will pass the torch, musically
speaking, to the new generation like Ökrös who are young musicians, a
revival band. They didn't all grow up in the village you know. The only way
you will hear a guy this play is with these young musicians because his
musician colleagues are not alive any more."
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