Old and new sounds from Hungary
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Oct. 7, 1999) -- The folk music of Hungary and Transylvania has long attracted outsiders and practitioners of other styles, including composers Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. In our century, Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly used traditional village music as the source material for new art music, along the way amassing archives of hundreds of melodies that existed only in the hands of traditional players.

Soviet-era governments suppressed ethnic and folk arts and music, viewing them as reactionary expressions of national pride and consciousness that would undermine the universalist world-view of Communist ideology. In spite of this repression, a group of musicians and ethnomusicologists undertook to revive traditional folk music in Hungary in the 1970s, a movement called tanchaz, or "dance house."

A quarter-century later, the Okros Folk Music Ensemble has developed a rich repertoire of traditional Hungarian, Transylvanian and Gypsy village music, which they bring to Chapin Hall at Williams College in Williamstown on Oct. 7 at 8. Also appearing is Kalman Balogh and the Gypsy Cimbalom Band, who builds upon the rich tradition of Gypsy music in the style of such Gypsy greats as Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, mixing Gypsy melodies with contemporary influences from swing, jazz and other genres.

In conjunction with this traveling festival of Gypsy and Hungarian folk music, Rounder Records has just released two new wonderful new CDs. Okros's "Transylvanian Village Music" features performances by guest artists including the 78-year-old fiddler Sandor "Neti" Fodor and young vocalist Agi Szaloki, both of whom will join Okros for tonight's performance. Balogh's "Gypsy Jazz" includes a kaleidoscope of jazzy tunes from the Gypsy and related traditions, including Balkan music and a klezmer medley.

The violin-heavy Hungarian tradition dates back to the introduction of the instrument in Europe about 300 years ago, said Okros musical director Laszlo Kelemen in a recent phone interview. A classically-trained musician, Kelemen began gathering old melodies from village musicians in the 1970s, sometimes at great personal jeopardy. On one trip to Moldavia, part of Romania, he was arrested by local police and held for three days before being released. "They didn't say why; they just kept asking us why we were there," said Kelemen. "They thought maybe we were fomenting a local revolt. It was funny."

The Hungarian folk revival has led to a widespread grassroots movement, with hundreds of amateur bands playing old-style village dance music. There are only a small handful of professional concert bands, and Okros is one of the best. Okros's newest project focuses on Transylvanian village music, much of it learned directly from "Neti," regarded as the last great violinist from his region. Kelemen, who plays viola in the group, said what particularly draws him to the music of Transylvania is that it combines the traditions of the many different nationalities who lived together for a long time, including Gypsies, Hungarians and Romanians.

Like Kelemen, Kalman Balogh is a classically-trained musician, but his experience goes beyond traditional folk to encompass jazz, rock and symphony performances. Balogh's versatility on the cimbalom, a variant of the Jewish tsimbl, all forms of hammered dulcimer, has made him a valuable guest on klezmer albums by the Joel Rubin Jewish Music Ensemble and Muzsikas, and he has also performed with Swedish and Dutch groups.

The scion of a dynasty of Hungarian Gypsy musicians, Balogh virtually reinvents the cimbalom, employing it variously as a traditional chordal instrument but also as a lead instrument, with piano-, guitar- and horn-like melodic lines. For hundreds of years itinerant bands of Jews and Gypsies traveled throughout Europe entertaining local populations with repertoires of indigenous folk tunes. As a result, there was substantial cross-pollination of styles and melodies, and Balogh's "Gypsy Jazz" is very much a reflection and continuation of this ancient tradition.

Trumpeter Ferenc Kovacs, who boasts credits playing ragtime and jazz, brings a particularly modern feel to the music on "Gypsy Jazz," which at times seems to be brimming with the pulse and vitality of bluegrass and rockabilly music.

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[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Oct. 7, 1999. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1999. All rights reserved.]