San Diego Union Tribune
Who made you God?
Earthly musical musings

By George Varga
2:00 a.m. April 9, 2009
A Rom master musician imports world sounds to Balboa Park
Kalman Balogh, who makes an extremely rare San Diego appearance Saturday at the Balboa Park Recital Hall (sdmagyar.org/gypsy), is perhaps the world's greatest cimbalom player. A dazzling musician and a fearless innovator, his masterful playing inspires both jaw-dropping astonishment and delight.
That's the good news. The bad news is that, unless you're from Hungary or are familiar with Hungarian music, you probably wouldn't know a cimbalom if it fell on your head (which may be a blessing, since this 152-string instrument weighs close to 150 pounds).
But you don't need to know a thing about Hungarian music or the cimbalom to be captivated by Balogh's remarkable playing. Like Béla Fleck on the banjo or Chris Thile on the mandolin, Balogh has dramatically expanded the range of his 4-½-octave chromatic instrument, which is a cross between a harp, a hammered dulcimer and a keyboardless piano.
Classically trained and steeped in the traditional music of his Hungarian homeland, Balogh also has the improvisational skill of a jazz master who infuses every note he plays with meaning and joy. (Two of his band members count such jazz greats as Archie Shepp, Sam Rivers and David Murray among their past collaborators.)
Witness, for example, “Love Song & Dance,” the stunning opening cut on the 2007 album “Live in Germany,” by the Kalman Balogh Gypsy Cimbalom Band (available from traditionalcrossroads.com). Eight minutes long, it is actually a medley of several songs that grow increasingly more accelerated.
Yet, no matter how dizzying the tempo, Balogh articulates every note with absolute precision and clarity, even when he sounds like two musicians playing at once. Elsewhere on the album, he and his band expertly explore swing (“Hungarian Medley & Jazz”), classical (Brahms' “Fifth Hungarian Dance,” delivered at an even more breakneck pace than usual) and a Bulgarian Gypsy rave-up (“Horo II”) that also showcases violinist Frankie Lato.
By my count, Balogh has only performed here twice before, in 1994 and again in 2001. That makes his Saturday concert with his brassy, five-man band a must-see event. (Be sure to arrive early to hear internationally celebrated San Diego klezmer greats Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz.)