Hungary: The Last Passage

This recording is a witness to the last passage of a rich musical heritage that fascinated figures such as Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály: the last masters and the first disciples are reunited, who will be the reference for subsequent generations in a completely different social context.

Numerous styles of dance and song – often accompanied by the recorder, bagpipes, reed, hurdy-gurdy, zither, tambura lute, violin, cymbalum, gardon viol (with struck strings) or spoons – form the basis of traditional Hungarian music: songs of the old style linked to weddings, traditional quests, winter and summer solstice bonfires…; and the new style nourished by contributions from Serbian, Swabian and Slovakian neighbouring cultures...; as for the Gypsies, dance and a cappella songs play a predominant role, in a style that is often spectacular and whose vocabulary, sometimes very bold, is that of everyday life, mixed with the most delicate poetry.

Recorded in Hungary, 1982

Contents:
1. Melodies from Somogy
2. The Lost Sheep
3. Songs from Rimóc
4. Madárka, madárka...
5. Melodies from Sándorfalva
6. Transdanubian Melodies
7. Melodies on the Hurdy-Gurdy from the Great Plain
8. Shepherd Songs
9. Csárdás from the Palóc country
10. Csárdás from Szatmár
11. Héjsza, Csángó Dance from Gyimes
12. Csángó Songs and Dances from Gyimes
13. Csángó Tunes from Gyimes
14. Csárdás from Mezőség
15. Maros mellet
16. Engem Anyám ugy szeretet
17. Dances from Lőrincréve
18. Gypsy Stick Dance
19. Cigánytánc (Gypsy Dance)
20. Gypsy Dances and Songs Suite