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Szászcsávás Band

'Transylvanian Folk Music'

"Szászcsávás is a small village located in the Kis-Kukullo River valley of Transylvania, in Romania. The majority of the village's 900 inhabitants are Hungarians, with 20% Gypsies. This CD presents selections from the traditional repertoire of this village's Gypsy musicians. Szászcsávás holds a unique place in Hungarian music history. Whereas Hungarian folk singing is always in unison, this is perhaps the only village where polyphonic singing is found. It is a folklorized form of the polyphonic religious singing style which was introduced by protestant theologians at the end of the eighteenth century, upon returning from university in western Europe. According to the researchers, the Szászcsávás' choral tradition can he traced back to the Basel school, on the basis of the number of parts and elements of composition. An active five part chorus stsubmitl  exists in the village today.  Every Hungarian sings; the parts are passed down through the family, from father to son. In addition to performances by the chorus, the people of the  village sing in parts during church services, at weddings, at halls and other gatherings. At such celebrations, older popular Hungarian art songs generally dominate, but other popular folksy-songs (known in Hungarian as nota), traditional folk songs and the traditional songs which accompany dancing are also sung in parts. Traditionally in Transylvania, the Gypsies - and before WW II also the Jews - played the instrumental music at weddings and other celebrations. For many generations the Gypsy musicians from Szászcsává have been famous throughout the region. Though they are not members of the choir, they know the songs and the style of singing. The people of Szászcsávás are a more musically demanding audience than the average, who don't tolerate weak musicians. The Gypsies live on a street on the edge of what is by Transylvanian  standards a fairly well off village. They make their living by doing seasonal agricultural work and making bricks."

USD 16.99

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Szászcsávás Band

'Transylvanian Folk Music'