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Preserving a Hungarian tradition
The sound behind `The English Patient,' Muzsikas and Marta Sebestyen have been put into the spotlight by the film's success -- but there is much more to them than that
By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Feb 28, 2003, Page 17
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Muzsikas with Marta Sebestyen, center.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DADA
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Juliette Binoche gets on a truck and leaves Africa behind her -- a place full of memories. The song Love, Love fades in. It teeters on the brink of sentimentality -- but the little bit of piano followed by the voice of Marta Sebestyen fits the mood perfectly. It is cinema magic.
The scene is from The English Patient, and the effectiveness of the score has made many music fans fall in love with Hungarian music group Muzsikas and Marta Sebestyen, pushing this Oscar-winning group to the top of world music rankings.
But Muzsikas and Marta Sebestyen have done much more than contribute to the soundtrack of The English Patient. They are one of the most original Eastern European music groups currently performing, spending one-third of the year on tour around the world.
Muzsikas means village musicians in Hungarian. The rise of Muzsikas coincided with the "folk music new wave" that swept Budapest in the 1970s. "We, who grew up in family homes where love of the folk ballad, folk dance and folk music was present daily, were the first to set out to master instrumental folk," Muzsikas declares in its album notes.
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Gypsy dancing is an integral part of Muzsikas performances.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DADA
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The members of the Muzsikas ensemble play and sing in the style of old Hungarian folk bands in which the solo violin and the song typically were accompanied by the three-string viola and contrabass. There are usually other instruments added in their performances, such as mandolin, flute, gardon and koboz, which enrich the sound.
But muzsikas is never simply about instrumental music. It has always been about mixing instruments, voice and dance. In fact, many of the group's members started from a dance background. In the 1970s, amid the folk movement, two dancers, Peter Eri and Sandor Csoori, quit the Bartok Dance Group and invited Mihaly Sipos (violinist) and Daniel Hamar (bassist) to join them in their own group. The four were joined by Marta Sebestyen in the early 1980s.
What exactly is the music of Muzsikas? It can be described as arrangements of Hungarian folk music played in the style of a village musician -- playful and lively. There is a festive spirit to the music, ranging from comical scherzos of a drinking party to the sentimental ballads of Marta Sebestyen. It is the best way of bringing Hungarian rural life to the stage.
Taiwan's audiences experienced the group's charisma five years ago when it released its eighth album, Morning Star.
The most important feature of the group is that it has preserved the ancient style of Hungarian village music. Also the group has never stopped exploring the roots of Hugarian culture. In the 1993 album The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania, they brought to listeners enchanting and previously unknown music that had been lost in the Holocaust. And in the latest album, The Bartok Album, the group pays homage to great Hungarian composer and musician Bela Bartok, whose music reflects the cultural interaction of Slovaks, Gypsies, Romanians, Serbians and Jews living in Hungary. Much of the music for this week's concert will come from this album.
What: Muzsikas with Marta Sebestyen
When and Where:
Tomorrow 7:30pm at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei;
Sunday 7:30pm at the Chihteh Hall of the Kaohsiung City Cultural Center
Tickets: NT$300 to NT$1,500 at Era Ticketing outlets
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