Review of OKROS show in Austin, Texas
Gypsy Roots
Bob Doran
Musicians all around the world are returning to the roots, searching for authentic sources. While an American bluegrass picker might pore over records by an old banjo player, in Hungary the roots go back much further and run much deeper.

The Ökrös Ensemble, leaders in the Hungarian folk revival movement, are touring the United States performing traditional Gypsy music from Transylvania. Monday, Jan. 29, the group visits Arcata's Veterans Hall for a show presented by Jacaronda Associates and the Humboldt Folklife Society.

The string ensemble is led by violinist, Csaba Ökrös, one of the leaders of the folk revival. Joining Ökrös for the tour is Kálmán Balogh, master of the Gypsy cimbalom, a version of the hammer dulcimer that resembles a small piano with no keys.

In the band's Gypsy folk tunes, double bass and viola set the rhythm. The cimbalom propels the melody from one dance tune to another with the violins on top sketching jazzy filigrees.

Balogh comes from a long line of Gypsy musicians. He began playing when he was very young, learning from his uncle.

"He showed me first a Romanian dance melody in B minor," he said. "I was learning very fast and he told my parents I must study, so I went to school to study cimbalom classical way. In school I started to study easy classical pieces, like from Bach, from Mozart, from Haydn. Any music that is possible to play on piano or violin or guitar, we would play on cimbalom.

"Then when I was twelve I started to play folk music in the dance orchestra in Miskolc. This was the original authentic folk music from the village, from Romania and Hungary.

"Perhaps you've heard about the dance house movement in Hungary? It was a very powerful movement all over Europe. Everywhere they started to rediscover and study this Hungarian dance house music: the authentic folk music from the village."

According to Balogh the village music is very different from what most people think of as Gypsy music. "The romantic Gypsy music was popular before that, nobody knew about the folk music from the village. The town music which became very popular in the beginning of this century, that was the romantic style of salon music – you know, the kind of violin crying, sentimental music.

"The village music is more rustic, really it came out of folk music. We found that in the village one can still find the sources for the authentic Gypsy music."

Ökrös' other guests on the tour include the Romani fiddler, Csiszar Aladár, from the Szekelyfold region of Hungary. According to Kalman Magyar who organized the tour, "Aladár is the last person practicing this kind of playing from the region – he learned it from the masters. He was part of something called "The Last Hour Project" which recorded all the surviving musicians. It was put together by the director of Ökrös, he discovered this guy.

"This is the last hour when we can find this music in Hungary. This is it. There's no more after this because people in the village do not want this kind of music, not the young ones. There's no market for it so it will die out.

"People like Ökrös are the ones who will carry forth this traditional music. And Aladár is one of the guys who will pass the torch, musically speaking, to the new generation like Ökrös who are young musicians, a revival band. They didn't all grow up in the village you know. The only way you will hear a guy this play is with these young musicians because his musician colleagues are not alive any more."