88.1 KDHX Saint Louis

a show of Hungarian music, including recordings from the 2022 Táncház festival. We start music from mid-Hungary, jest west of the Danube river

the bagpipe (duda) survived into the 20th century in Hungary, both in the east and in the west, but not in Transylvania. One area, heard here, is in the great plains.

Hungarian music from southeast Transylvania (now in Romania)

Croatian minority music from Szentendre, just north of Budapest

music from the Gyimesi Csángó people living in the valleys of the eastern Carpathians in Romania. The furulya is accompanied by an útp gardon, a small cello-like instrument whose strings are hit with a stick while the off-beats are plucked from a small string that laps against the neck of the instrument.

"house hymns" were accopanied by the citera in some places, mostly by Protestants. This one is melody only, sounding very much like an American Shape-Note hymn

another folk-hymn

our second hour begins with music from Somogy county, part of the Dunantúl area just west of the Danube river in central Hungary

love songs, followed by dance tunes. The band here is imitating the way a bagpipe would have played them up until recently

The next segment of music is of music from the extreme northeast of Hungary. Although adjacent to the Ukrainian border and near the Romanian border the music here seems to have no influences from those areas. The area is home to large numbers of Roma, many of whom are Orthodox-Rite Catholics

This is a bit rough, because it is of a Roma band from the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania, recorded in situ

The oldest member of the band learned some tunes from his father, that were played at Jewish wedding before WWII. This tune was very popular among jewish communities all over Eastern Europe, and even made it to New York where it has been widely recorded. After they play that, the band introduces itself.