Vocal- and/or instrumental music? Remarks to performance style of village- and town gypsy musicians

Tari, Lujza (2012) Vocal- and/or instrumental music? Remarks to performance style of village- and town gypsy musicians. In: Musical Traditions. Discovery, Inquiry, Iinterpretation, and Application. XXVI European Seminar in Ethnomusicology. HAS Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest, pp. 217-236. ISBN 978-615-5167-01-0

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Abstract

Many have researched when the gypsy musicians have taken over the place of the original Hungarian musicians in Hungary, but their role is even less clear in the villages, among the peasantry. The process started in different periods, depending on the different areas, but generally it started together with modern folk music researching, which means the 1890’s in Hungary. Until- and during the 20th century, the Hungarian folk musical heritage remained most intact in three major parts: 1. peripheral areas of the language territory 2. non-industrialized territories 3. minorities not barred in their national consciousness. Using gypsy musicians in villages was one of the first signs of the changes in the musical culture of the peasantry. The participation of gypsy musicians in the musiclife of the peasantry was recorded in the earliest period of ethnographical researches (a gypsy solist was first recorded in 1896, the first gypsy band in 1898). However, change of style and performance has already occured in several phases. In the 20th century, changes relate more and more to leaving behind folklore habits, more than in any historical time before. Habits fading away also mean changes in function most of the time. The early researches show that on the eve of the 20th century, most of the gypsy musicians were not making a living out of playing music. By the time the transition went through, Europe got to know the new Hungarian music (played not absolutely but mostly by gypsies) as city music, used the melodies in the compositions of J. Brahms, Liszt Ferenc, P. Sarasate and many others. The promotion of Hungarian music in Western Europe was lead by the invitation of the „exotic” gypsy musicians late in the 18th century, when they made appearances in the Habsburg dynasty’s festivities and other events in Vienna. The first gypsy band was on stage in Paris in 1829 and was followed by numerous tours which brought great fame and recognition in Europe, than after 1849 and 1867 over the World. The goal of the presentation is to discuss the motivs of very fast popularity of the popular songs and instrumental music, highlights the relation of vocal and instrumental popular music in 19 century with the process of the spread of gypsy musicians in the village life, underlined them with historical and living folk musical examples.

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