Search - Anonymous, Vittorio Monti, Grigoras Dinicu :: Csárdás: Hungarian Gypsy Music

Exhilarating, Energetic Traditional Hungarian & Gypsy Music

Erika Borsos | Gulf Coast of FL, USA | 05/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Santa Ferenc is a well respected virtuoso gypsy violinist & composer, who was born in Kaposvar, Hungary. The music on this CD is beautiful and is known to most Hungarians. It is played by a master violinist and his gypsy band with perfection ... This is the music one would hear played by a strolling "primas" (first violinist) and his band as they wander from table to table, serenading the patrons at a fancy restaurant. Whoever wrote anonymous, is perhaps refering to the fact the music is traditional and therefore no one knows the composers or origin of the music. (Please be aware that "Santa" is pronounced, "Shanta" with the first 'a' sounding like the American 'aah' and the second 'a' sounding like the vowel in 'up'.) Rest assured, this is among the finest violin music available anywhere & at an unbelievable price ...



This CD is a worthy addition to anyone's collection of traditional Hungarian music. It is filled with fancy violin embellishments which takes years & years to master, cimbalom improvisations (similar to hammered dulcimer), and the tarogato, a Hungarian wind instrument, which resembles a clarinet in appearance but has the mellow tones like a shawm oboe. The word, "csardas" refers to the Hungarian dance composed of fast and slow rhythms, that is often played at break-neck speed, creating exhilaration and excitement in dancers and listeners alike. ('cs' is pronounced like the American 'ch', the first 'a' is pronounced more like 'aah' and the second 'a', is pronounced like 'on', the accent is always the first syllable, & clipped, which gives the Hungarian language its musical quality in speech). The music is exciting, energetic, exhilarating and covers a wide range of styles and regions. Anyone interested in traditional music from Eastern Europe would love it. Erika Borsos (erikab93)"

Gets me craving some goulash!

Vorthog | Ontario, Canada | 07/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was searching for a CD of some Hungarian music like what I had experienced live in my local Hungarian community. And most representative of that is naturally Hungarians' favourite, the Gypsy music.But doing a search for gypsy music here on Amazon, I found myself dauntingly confronted with a vast variety of styles and competing claims to "authenticity". After plowing through clips from literally dozens of CDs, I came to this one with low expectations for such a modestly priced collection as this. But one listen and I said "Eureka, I've finally found it! This is IT!!"I'm no expert on gypsy music, so some purists may dismiss this as not being "authentic" enough, but all I know is that THIS is the music that the Hungarians I know listen to and love. I preferred this CD over Sandor Deki Lakatos because it doesn't seem so overly polished, and the recording itself seems to best capture the ambience of the Hungarian music I have experienced at my local Hungarian hall. And the other reviews here also seem to indicate that this particular CD has struck a chord of deep fondness and familiarity with people from within the Hungarian community.So although you might not expect much for this price, I'd say that actually this is a real bargain and a great place to start your appreciation of this rich musical heritage.And to all my Hungarian friends out there, I say a huge "köszönöm" for sharing your fabulous culture with me. I love it!"

Good Hungarian Music, Even Though It Falls Slightly Short

Alex Udvary | chicago, il United States | 04/01/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Being Hungarian myself, the son of a musician (my father plays the cimbalom) and a musician myself, I'd be lying if I said this CD by Santa Ferenc is great. Good? Yes. And well worth the price, but I've heard better Hungarian gypsy violinist in my time. If you really want to hear great Hungarian music try to find LPs by the lengendary Babai Bela, Lakatos Sandor, Berki Laszlo, and Banyak Kalman. Santa Ferenc has some good arrangements but lacks the feeling and depth of these other musicians. Although it probably isn't fair to him to compare him to others and is best if we judge his music purely on its own merits.



If you are familiar with Hungarian music you'll probably recognize many of the songs on the CD. They consist mainly of standard Hungarian and some Romanian gypsy songs. Track three which is titled on here merely as "Hungarian Songs" starts off with a song called "Gloomy Sunday" a song once deemed a suicide theme. We then have "Whistling Hora" a Romanian tune which has a nice arrangement and allows for some good solos. One of my favorite tracks on the album is "Doina and Hora" which is Romania but I believe the piece is really titled "Giabaralele" at least it sounds awfully close to it. It is a cimbalom solo, which unfortunately the album doesn't give credit to the other members in Santa's band. Whomever is on the cimbalom is quite good. He also has a good solo on another Romanian piece "The Lark" or as it is known in Romanian "Ciocirlia".



I've read some people have complained about the "sound" of the album, claiming it is not authentic Hungarian music. I honestly have no clue what they are talking about. I can honestly say, without exaggeration, I have listen to this music every day of my life since as far back as I can remember and this CD sounds pretty much like what you'd expect a Hungarian gypsy album to sound like.



Again, while it's not fair to compare Santa Ferenc (whom for the sake of complete honesty I should admit knows my father) to other Hungarian musicians, I still feel Santa merely plays the songs and doesn't add much emotion to them, the CD is still one most fans of Hungarian music should enjoy. *** 1\2 out of *****



Bottom-line: While not a great CD and not a great musician Santa Ferenc does have some good arrangements and good musicians backing him up plus a nice collection of famous Hungarian and Romanian songs. While he doesn't compare to other great musicians, for the price it is well worth it and doesn't need to compare."