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Written in fRoots issue 266/267, 2005
 

JÁNOS ZERKULA
Zerkula János Es…
FolkEurópa FECD 010 (2004)

ÜSZTÜRÜ
Az Öregeké
FolkEurópa FECD 014 (2004)

MAGYARPALATKAI BANDA
Esküvö Mezökeszüben
FolkEurópa FECD 011 (2003)

CSÍK ZENEKAR
Be Sok Esö, Be Sok Sár…
Fonó FA-217-2 (2004)

MOHÁCSY ALBERT & NAGY ZSOLT
Tizenkét Banda – Erdélyország
FolkEurópa FECD 012 (2004)

TÜKRÖS ZENEKAR ÉS VENDÉGEI
Vigan Legyünk
FolkEurópa FECD 008 (2003)

ÁGI SZALÓKI
Téli-nyári Laboda
FolkEurópa FECD 013 (2004)

János Zerkula is a well-known Hungarian traditional fiddler, now in his seventies, from Gyimes in Romania. Zerkula János doesn’t feature the usual Gyimes Csángó music line-up heard on his other recordings, driven by the percussive ‘pick-thunk’ of gardony, in which he’s the only one playing a melodic instrument. Here there’s no gardony and he has other melodic and harmonic lines to interact with; he’s joined by violins and bowed bass, plus on three tracks Kálmán Balogh’s cimbalom. They don’t all play on every track; sometimes it’s his fiddle with accompanying second violin, or just his fiddle and voice; his singing is as characterful and passionate as his fiddling.

      The band Üsztürü are also Hungarians from Romania, but they’re one of the young revival, dance-house bands, and they met in 1992 at university in the Romanian Transylvanian town of Kolozsvár (Cluj). On Az Öregeké, playing two violins, viola and double bass, like Zerkula they’re joined by the universal but always brilliant guest cimbalom of Kálmán Balogh. They play, hot and tight and with impeccable pitching and command of the subtleties of rhythm and phrasing, material from the villages of Transylvania and Hungary, much of it learnt, as is the way with many of the young players, by spending time in the villages with the surviving old masters.

      Two of those they learned from are the Gypsy fiddler Kodoba brothers Márton and Béla from Magyarpalatka, who lead the band on Esküvö Mezökeszüben. Accompanied by their usual band of two kontras and double bass, they’re recorded playing the dance forms szökös, csárdás, magyar and korcsos, plus a brief lullaby, at a wedding in Mezökeszü in October 1984, since when both brothers and both kontra players have passed away.
      This CD is the first in a FolkEurópa series of collections by musicologist Antal ‘Puma’ Fekete. He recorded with a hand-held microphone, sometimes moving it closer to fiddler, viola player or bassist in the band to pick out what each is doing; an unusual approach but an interesting opportunity for the listener to work out what’s going on in this music. There are vocal interjections from band and wedding participants, and a couple of songs from local female singers when the band takes a break; these bands would often have to play throughout the several days of a wedding, and if the music stopped there was a risk of a sag in the celebrations. It’s not impeccable playing, but this isn’t music for the concert-hall; keeping things going was their job, and it’s players such as these who are the inspiration for today’s younger players who perhaps do play in concert halls as well as dance-houses.

      The Csík Band, like Üsztürü, is a revival band. Led by fiddler and singer János Csík, it was formed in 1988 in the Hungarian flatland town of Kecskemét, where it organises dance-house events, inviting other artists to play and providing an opportunity for soloists and dancers. Be Sok Esö, Be Sok Sár (“So much rain, so much mud”) is a recording of their fifteenth anniversary concert in the town’s Chamber Theatre.
      The line-up is two fiddles, viola, cimbalom or accordion, sax or furulya, double bass, with vocals from Csík, fellow fiddler and sometimes tambura player Attila Szabó, and the excellent Marianna Majorosi, and for this special event they’re joined in some numbers by six former band members. Like most of today’s revival bands, their playing is top-class, with real traditional feel and high skill, and the live recording, including in places the slap and thump of some flashy dancing, captures the lively sociability of the dance-house.

      Tizenkét Banda - Erdélyország is a sort of dance-house musicians’ convention. Albert Mohácsy and Zsolt Nagy, both of the band Méta, celebrate their decade and a half of musical friendship by inviting favourite fiddling friends to play a favourite Transylvanian number each with them.
      So taking the lead fiddle – prímás – we get Csaba Ökrös, István Papp, Attila Szabó of Csík, Balázs Vizeli (Téka), László Porteleki (Muzsikás), Sándor Csoóri (Muzsikás), Otto Römer (Morotva), István Pál (Galga), Csaba Blaskó (Galga), Attila Halmos (Tükrös), Gergely Koncz (Tükrös), Tamás Gombai (Fonó) and Levente Major (Üsztürü), joined by musicians from their various bands on kontra, vocals, cimbalom, accordion, tarogato, plus on all tracks Nagy on kontra and viola and Mohácsy on cello and double bass. It’s mostly instrumental, but there are fine vocal contributions from Méta’s Ferenc Németh and – it seems that in Hungarian roots bands, as often though decliningly so elsewhere, women virtually only ever figure as singers – Erika Demeter, Ágnes Herczku of Fonó and Marianna Majorosi of Bekecs and Csík.

      The band Tükrös plus László Papp, Kálmán Bálogh and other leading players of a fairly full array of traditional instruments appear on Vigan Legyünk, an album of traditional songs made for, and partly sung by, children; other vocals are by Tükrös singer Éva Korpás, and László Papp tells a story. The possibility of learning traditional music and instruments is fairly generally on offer in Hungarian schools, and this CD is apparently selling well there. It’s easy, interesting and non-namby-pamby for Hungarian-speaking primary-age children to join in with and - its music and playing the real, edgy thing, without twee or condescension – it’s musically varied and non-childish for adults to listen to too, and the closing track is one for all generations to dance around the living room or dance-house to.

      Téli-nyári Laboda is another children’s album in a similar sort of style, though with more spoken word perhaps for slightly younger children, and using guitar among a smaller range of instruments; a set of songs, stories, rhymes, singing games and tunes, featuring children and ex Besh o droM, ex-Makám and sometimes Ökrös singer and Transylvanian song researcher Ági Szalóki.

      www.folkeuropa.com, www.fono.hu


© 2005 Andrew Cronshaw
 


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