AHF PRESENTS: July 12, 2008 - The Gázsa Folk Music Band and Táncház

05/12//2008 - The Gázsa Hungarian Folk Ensemble... was formed in 1992 by some of the best folk musicians in Hungary who have spent years studying and learning authentic village music from famous masters of folk music, who, in most cases, lived in remote rural areas.  The band takes its name from the leader’s nick-name, István Papp.  He was born and raised in Transylvania and has played with many ‘giants’ of Hungarian folk music. A graduate of the Conservatory of Music, Kolozsvár (Cluj), Gázsa was influential in starting and providing music for the first Táncház (community folkdance event) in Kolozsvár while he was a student.  This was a significant step, since this folk-revival movement offered the basic impulse to hundreds of young musicians to learn and preserve authentic folk music of the Carpathian Basin.

The Carpathian Mountains surround an area of Central Europe, ‘home’ to many ethnic groups, each possessing wonderful folklore, especially in the areas of folk music and dance.  Hungarians represent the majority in this geographic region, but Romanians, Slovaks, Serbians, Croatians, Ukrainians, Gypsies and others have also preserved their wonderful folk treasures.  They live together in many villages; their unique ethnic culture may be witnessed even today.  Although the performers in the Gázsa Ensemble are all Hungarians, they have explored the beauty and depth of all traditional cultures in the Carpathian Basin in great detail.  In their performance, they show the music and dance of a variety of ethnic groups and offer a memorable cross-section of the colorful ethnic music and dances of all people living in Central Europe.

The Gázsa Hungarian Folk Ensemble has accompanied the famous Budapest Ensemble for a decade.  Together, they have performed in many countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, to critical acclaim.  In their 2000 North American tour, the ensemble was praised by The New York Times as “admirable” and “compelling”; the New York Newsday noted “superb musicians… lively, seductive music”; The Boston Globe praised their music to be “pulsating”; and in the Chicago Sun Times, the groups fiddlers were called “irresistible” and the musicians “superb.”

On this tour, the Ensemble will consist of five musicians and two dancers.  The musicians include two violin players, a violist, a bassist, and a cimbalom (Hungarian hammered dulcimer).  A professional dancing couple from Transylvania, wearing gorgeous folk costumes of several geographic areas, will enhance the appreciation of the wonderful music. 

The Csipke Ensemble, Inc., is a 501c3 non for profit organization who is dedicated in preserving and promoting Hungarian folk culture and increasing the awareness of the wonderful cultural resources of Hungary to the North American public.

FOR INFORMATION AND BOOKINGS:
Jozsef Salamon, President, Csipke Ensemble, Inc.
Tel: 734-783-1012/734-323-6823 ~ email: sala@csipke.org

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