The American/Canadian tour of Magos will take place in April to May 2012, throughout North America.  Check back here soon for dates as they are solidified!

Magos is one of Hungary’s brightest and upcoming bands in the Hungarian folk music scene. They are a part of the generation of folk musicians who may be the last links to the line of great masters of folk music who lived and preserved folk music for centuries, in the remotest villages of Hungary and Transylvania. Now it is their generation who are called to keep the authentic folk music alive and pass the heritage to future musicians. The musical philosophy of Magos is to learn and present Hungarian folk music in its archaic form and share it with future generations.

The band was selected by a distinguished group of judges over five months of competition involving some of Hungary’s top folk musicians, culminating in an internationally televised final round last year in Budapest, as part of the FOLKBEATS talent search competition. Out of almost 100 competing groups, they won the best folk music band award. The winning prize – a North American tour.

Magos’s repertoire is rooted in authentic Hungarian music, also known as “Táncház music,” from the Carpathian basin, including Hungary, Transylvania and parts of Slovakia. Where possible, the group’s performance will conclude with Hungarian folkdance teaching and a glimpse into the “Táncház music” phenomenon, through which the audience experiences the wonderful Hungarian culture not ONLY by listening, but also by participating – the way it should be.

The group’s members are:

Csaba Soós – violin

Márton Kovács – violin

Ágnes Enyedi – vocal

Tamás Enyedi – cimbalom

Márton Fekete – brácsa

Dávid Horváth – bass

The legendary dancers from the Gyimes valley region of the Carpathian Mountains, Ferenc Sára and Zsuzsanna Varga, will be teaching dances from their hometown’s region.  They will be joined by the members of the Zerkula Band from Gyimes, named after Zerkula Janos, the great (now deceased) blind fiddler from the Gyimes region.

All day, you can learn the dances and music from Gyimes.  At night, the Gyanta Band and other musicians from North America will be joining in for the famous, legendary Montreal-style all-night tanchazes.  On Saturday, February 25, America’s first-ever “Gyimes Ball” will happen – you will be surprised for sure.  Contemporaneously with the adult teaching sessions, there will sessions geared towards children.

The location of this weekend workshop is serene – Centre Notre Dame de Fatima features nice lodging, good food, a great atmosphere, and winter activities (of course!).  And a great downhill sledding hill and ice skating.

Gyimes is a fascinating place.  It is geographically isolated deep within the Carpathian mountains, and its proud Hungarian population have preserved its music and dances through many periods, from the middle ages (circle/line dances), baroque -renaissance periods (turning dances), and 19th century (verbunk-men’s dances).  It is basically a tour through the history of the last several centuries.  The music is unique as well, featuring the violin or flute/recorder on melody, with a percussive instrument known as the “uto-gardon” (percussive cello) serving as the accompaniment.

The workshop is hosted by Montreal’s Bokreta Hungarian Dance Ensemble.  Visit their website to register quickly, as space could well fill in fast, and keep a look-out for them on their Facebook page.

See you there!

Gazsa Band will be the musicians!  Dance teachers will be Csaba Taba (best name in folkdance) and Erika Fejer.

Material will be Sarkozi and Ordongosfuzesi, with of course America’s best tanchazes every night!

Camp dates are July 7 to 14, 2012, in Sauk Valley Camp in Brooklyn, Michigan, as usual.

Great band, great dancers, and fortified by North American musicians and dancers, spearheaded by Gyanta and tanchazes coordinated by yours truly.

You’ll won’t want to miss this one!  Kids are particularly welcome at this camp!!!

Stay tuned at www.csipke.org as the material will eventually be updated and registration will be available.  For now, check out the camp’s Facebook page.  And spread the word to your friends!!!

We owe a debt of gratitude, as always, to the Csipke Dance Camp for putting all of this together for us every year!  And they consistently knock it out of the park!!!

• “P.1: The Táncház method for teaching folk music and dance is an effective way to maintain, transmit and hence safeguard intangible cultural heritage and involves a wide range of organizations and communities across places and generations;

• P.2: The flexibility of the Táncház method has made it possible for it to operate at the national, regional and international levels, albeit until now largely within Europe, Japan and the United States; it also has the potential of promoting North-South cooperation because its framework is readily adaptable;

• P.3: The method encourages creativity and revitalization in a model of transmission and innovation that is both flexible and participatory; supported with research and documentation, it aims to raise awareness and ensure the viability of traditional values of dance and music in modern society;

• P.4: The programme employs effective methods of transmission and diffusion to keep traditions alive among the young within Hungary and beyond; its effectiveness and viability have been assessed by quantitative indicators;

• P.5: Táncház involves people of all generations and backgrounds from rural community members to urban youth as well as researchers and mediators, and anyone who recognizes Táncház as places of practice of intangible cultural heritage and is committed to the transmission of the element;

• P.6: The transmission method used by the programme is flexible and has the advantage of being readily adaptable to diverse lifestyles and for different publics….”

The movie stars and is directed and co-produced by Endre Hules, with cinematography by Oscar-award winning Hungarian cinematographer Zsigmond Vilmos.  But that’s not all – because this movie is steeped in Hungarian music and dance, you will see (and hear) musicians and dancers that have traveled widely throughout North America in the past – it’s like seeing old friends again.

Choreography, for example, is by Zoltan Zsurafaszki.  The dancers are primarily from the Honved Tancszinhaz (lots of them formerly from the Budapest Dance Ensemble), including well-traveled luminaries such as Florian Hajdu, Tamas Szappanos, Iren Deffend, Eva Gomori, Attila Tompa, Gabor Valach, and Andras Gelencser. The dancing is just beautiful.  And I was surprised to see the two female leads – not folkdancers themselves – do a fantastic job with the tanchaz material.

The original music is primarily by world/folk musician Ferenc Kiss, who also coordinated the authentic folk music selections on the soundtrack, including the music of our very own Eletfa Hungarian Folk Ensemble of New York/New Jersey.  I found the soundtrack to be very creative (mostly in the “world music” idiom with tasteful instrumentation) and highly complementary of what was going on on-screen.  Cameos by folk musicians, if you look carefully, include appearances by Gazsa (Istvan Papp), Peter Arendas, and others.

But don’t be fooled, this is not just a music/dance film.  It’s much more.  It’s a professionally-done and beautifully shot and acted tale any non-folky fan would enjoy.  The IMDB summary:  ”There were two brothers – two dancers – in Communist Hungary. One defected, the other stuck it out. One gave his soul to commerce, the other to the Party. After twenty years, they meet again. And the dance begins.”  The movie has a lot to say about Hungary, America, and a bit about history and hopefully the future.  (I just saw this movie for the first time last week as part of the European Union Film Festival in Toronto, it was well received by the large audience.)

You can see 2 trailers and read more about the movie here, and stay tuned on news regarding where it’s playing in the future here.

The group combines elements of folk music with pop, jazz, classical, rock – and they collaborate with some of Hungary’s top artists.  They have become wildly successful in Hungary with their approach, though they have taken a fair bit of heat from those that believe Csik’s genre-mixing approach turns its back on the purity of Hungarian village music.  Yet it is generally widely accepted that the Csik Band makes excellent music and their success is musically well-deserved.

Well, the new CD – called Lelekkepek (“Soul Pictures” could be the best translation) – has arrived!  I don’t see it available on iTunes just yet, but I anticipate that happening at some point in the future.

I’ll give a review once I get my hands on a copy too.

Events planned for 2012 include return appearances in Chicago, Toledo, and, of course, the Csipke Hungarian Dance Camp in Detroit.  We’ve also been invited to the Itt-Ott gathering of Hungarians in Ohio, and some of us will be participating in playing Tanchazes at the 2012 Winter Weekend Workshop in Montreal, and may be returning to western Canada later in the year.

Check the Events page for more details.

Read more about Gyanta here.

About the Band

The Életfa Hungarian Folk Band is from the New Jersey/New York area. The Ensemble treats its audiences to a high-energy, entertaining tour of Hungarys folk music, song and dance culture, guided throughout by engaging narrative and demonstrations. The groups members specialize in and present the authentic, archaic folklore from the villages of present-day Hungary, Transylvania, Romania, Slovakia and beyond, delivered in a style suitable for Western audiences. The members of Életfa are all driven by their love and respect for Hungarian folk music and dance, the importance in preserving Hungarian dance, music and culture in North America, and the dedication to performing and spreading the joy of music, song and dance.

Since its formation in 1987, Életfa has performed at venues such as Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, Epcot Center, Library of Congress, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Empire State Building, Clearwater Revival Festival, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Liberty State Park, Manhattans Town Hall, World Trade Center, Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference, Washington Press Club, American Museum of Natural History (Manhattan), and several New York clubs, including Satalla, Tonic, CB Gallery, and the Knitting Factory. Their concert performances are augmented by various band members dancing proficiency or guest dancers, demonstrating the beauty and energy of Hungarian folkdance.

Életfa played at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic in a “Behind the Music” program featuring the music of Brahms, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin. Életfa has also performed as part of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s community-oriented program.

The band has appeared in cities throughout North America, including Austin, New Orleans, Sarasota, Toronto, San Francisco, Columbus, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Montreal, Houston, Washington, D.C., Miami, Boston, Calgary and Cleveland.

Életfa has performed several times at the Hungarian Consulate in New York and the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and has played at the Governors Mansions in New York (for Governor Pataki) and New Jersey (for Governor McGreevey).

The group has appeared with several well-known Hungarian artists, including Kálmán Balogh, János Csik, András Berecz, Dénes Hruz, Zsuráfszky Zoltán, and Ferenc Tobak. Életfa has accompanied top dance groups of the United States and Canada and has played for audiences at countless festivals, camps, workshops, and solo performances. The ensemble has played live on WFMU (91.1 FM) in New Jersey and has received considerable airplay on U.S. and Hungarian radio, including on WNYC (93.9 FM).

Életfas music was featured in a music video produced by Link TV, created by Steven Harper. The music video won an award at the NYU Film Festival and was featured at WOMEX 2005 during Link TVs presentation called Best Video Finds of 2005.

Életfa has been the house band for established Hungarian communities throughout the United States and Canada, such as New Brunswick and Passaic in New Jersey, Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, and even Livingston Parish (Árpádhon) in Louisiana. The band also hosts regular Táncházes [folk dance gatherings] in the New York metropolitan area.