From café to stage to museum: The transformation of the Gypsy music industry in 20th-century Hungary (original) (raw)
Related papers
twentieth-century music, 2007
In the Hungarian folk revival, Hungarian Roma (Gypsies) serve as both privileged informants and exotic Others. The musicians of the revival known as the táncház (dance-house) movement rely heavily on rural Rom musicians, especially those from Transylvania, as authentic sources of traditional Hungarian repertoire and style. Táncház rhetoric centres on the trope of localized authenticity; but the authority wielded by rural Rom musicians, who carry music both between villages and around the world, complicates the fixed boundaries that various powerful stakeholders would place on the tradition. Drawing on media sources and on fieldwork in Hungary and Romania, I examine how authenticity and ‘Gypsiness’ are presented and controlled by the scholars, musicians, and administrators who lead the táncház movement, in particular in the context of camps and workshops dedicated to Hungarian folk music and dance. Organizers often erect clear boundaries of status, genre, and gender roles through such events, which, among other things, address the anxiety raised by Rom musicians’ power in liminal spaces. In addition, I look at how Rom musicians both negotiate with the táncház’s aesthetic of authenticity and challenge it musically. Finally, I discuss how musicians and the crowds that gather to hear and dance to their music together create a carnival atmosphere, breaking down some of the boundaries that organizers work so hard to create. Throughout, I demonstrate that liminality is an extraordinarily pertinent lens through which to view Roma participation in the Hungarian folk music scene.
Myth Of Romani Music In Prague
Lidé města, 2009
In today's Prague one can find a great variety of musical events and recordings labeled as Romani/Gypsy music-from classical music with "Gypsy" themes to romano hip hop. For meaningful understanding and organization of it, the article uses both the basic ethnomusicological model of Alan P. Merriam (1964) and Kay Kaufman Shelemay's (2006) concept of soundscapes. With their help, four "musical worlds"-soundscapes-are presented: the romantic image that non-Roma have of Roma; Romani coffee house bands; traditional Romani bašaviben, that is, playing for their own entertainment, influenced by popular music; and emerging Romani hip hop. Each of these worlds-however they influence each other-is at the same time internally coherent and thus it is easy to follow the connections among the original purpose of this type of music, the behavior of the musicians and the public, and musical sound. Klíčová slova myth, Gypsy-Romani music, soundscapes In the following text I discuss the myth of Romani music in Prague. For the majority of readers the first association with the expression "myth" will probably be something unreal, opposing reality (whatever we understand by "reality"), some sort of chimera, and thus, in connection with Romani music, perhaps what non-Roma naively and erroneously imagine by the term "Romani music." It would be possible to present many examples; a striking one from the last ethnomusicological conference: Speranta Radulescu submitted two pieces of music by two famous non-Romani composers intended as explicit "representations" of Romani music: Ravel's Rhapsody Tzigane and the introductory section of Enescu'sImpressions, for the perceptions of Romani musicians. Neither one of them perceived them at all as "Gypsy" (RADULESCU 2009). This text, indeed, only partially deals with non-Romani concepts of Romani music. The introductory thoughts are, however, different: they discuss the phenomenon of myth and music in general, their bases and relationship, or more precisely, closeness. My basic concept of myth differs from that folk concept of myth as a "chimera." It is much closer to the concepts of the classics of Mircea Eliade and, especially, Claude Lévi-Strauss. As is clear from the following sentences, in this understanding, striking similarities, almost a twin relation of the music and the Lévi-Strauss myth, arise. The first, basic, most striking and very surprising parallel in their relations is the realm of concepts, that is, the notions about what myth and music actually are. In the introduction to his Mythologica, Lévi-Strauss does not deal too long with the definition or delimitation of myth (which, by the way, is also typical of the ethnomusicological approach to music). Basically it is concerned with the factual narrative of some sort of events, often of a sacral character, which approaches not only the horizon, but also the meaning of the world, but the author, without too much hesitation, also includes in his research folk tales, legends, and pseudo-historical traditions (1983:4). At any rate, the essence is crucial: Myth (like-in my opinion-music) is, according to Lévi-Strauss, composed of concrete cultural material which, when properly analyzed, reveals the existence of laws (of the mind) operating at the deeper level (p. 10). These laws, elsewhere called the logic of sensory qualities or a code, have an absolute nature. This code, like the others, has neither been invented nor brought in from without. It is inherent in mythology itself, where we simply discover its presence (p. 12). Furthermore, these laws become mutually convertible and therefore simultaneously acceptable to several different subjects; the pattern of those conditions takes on the character of an autonomous object, independent of any subject (p. 11). In contrast to ethnographers, who describe or trace motifs, Lévi-Strauss, equipped with his transcendental conviction, has the ambition to contribute to better knowledge of objectified thought and its mechanisms (p. 13).
Social Inclusion , 2020
The governments of the Horthy era did not formulate a central Gypsy policy and, consequently, the so-called 'Gypsy issue' fell fully into the hands of the assigned ministries and local authorities. The public authorities acted at their own discretion: Largely, they acted according to their basic tasks and understanding, or simply ignored the issue. As a result, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Welfare and Labour were the decisive authorities in this issue. Mainly law enforcement dealt with travelling Gypsies-a small portion of the estimated one hundred thousand Gypsies living in Hungary-the majority of whom lived in 'colonies' and were dealt with as an issue of public health. Regarding Gypsies, the same era is frequently judged by the legal action affecting these travellers and the often criticised measures regulating public security and health. The foundation of the Hungarian Gypsy Musicians' National Association, which intended to represent the interests of nearly ten thousand Gypsy musicians, somewhat changed the picture that had developed, since the organisation enjoyed the full support of the heads of the Ministry of the Interior and the city of Budapest. Regulations were enacted to protect their interests and initiatives. Behind the patronage, one might note, was that after the Treaty of Trianon Gypsy music became part of irredentist ideology and the revisionist movement, and therefore the interests and claims of the Gypsy musicians fully fitted the age. The topic is very important for social inclusion today because Gypsy music continues to be considered part of Hungarian cultural heritage and thus gives Gypsies work and integration opportunities.
Selected English-Language Bibliography of Interest for Hungarian Cultural Studies: 2013-2014
Hungarian Cultural Studies, 2015
As the above title indicates, because of the publication schedule of Hungarian Cultural Studies this bibliography straddles 2013-2014, covering the period since the publication in Fall of 2013 of last year’s bibliography in this journal. Each year’s bibliography is supplemented by earlier items that were only retrieved recently. Although this bibliography series can only concentrate on English-language items, occasional items of particular interest in other languages may be included. For a more extensive bibliography of Hungarian Studies from about 2000 to 2010, for which this is a continuing update, see Louise O. Vasvári, Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek, and Carlo Salzani. “Bibliography for Work in Hungarian Studies as Comparative Central European Studies.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Library) (2011): http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweblibrary/hungarianstudiesbibliography.
Longing for a National Rebirth: Mythological Tropes in Hungarian Music Criticism 1968–1974
The article analyses the reception of György Kurtág's The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza op.7 in Germany in 1968 and Hungary in 1968 and 1974 in terms of cultural values and ambitions that were incommensurably divided in the Cold War era. Initially contextualizing The Sayings within Hungarian post-war musical society, it then explains the 'delegation' of Hungarians who travelled to Darmstadt to perform it (and other contemporary works) there. German reception reveals a sense of feeling in the cultural 'centre', and a tendency to exoticize the Eastern visitors. Hungarian reception back home reveals both a pretence that the German reception had been wildly successful, and a need to assert a positive future for Hungarian music that drew on mythical tropes of regeneration and redemption. When The Sayings was subjected to musicological study in 1974 this tendency was yet stronger, the work itself seen as a statement about a positive future and a rebirth for Hungarian music.