The other fiddler on this CD, Dénes Szabó, had also wanted to play violin since he was a child, but his parents didn’t want him to be a musician either. They finally bought him a violin when he was ten. When we asked him who taught him to play, he responded, “I taught myself” then added that he had really learned by watching other musicians – using the local expression: he “stole” the knowledge.

He learned this way mainly from his uncle, Ferenc Szántó, and from Ferenc Kulcsár. He plays the three-stringed viola too, which he also learned by watching other musicians.

1. Húsvéti öntözőnóta: Felsütött a hajnalcsillag
(Alba: dawn song for custom of Easter ”sprinkling”) 01’44”
2. Keserves, „az Aradié” (Magas hegyről foly le a víz)
(Complaint) 02’55”
3. Hajnali nóta (Dawn tune) 02’01”
4. Magyarlapádi öreges pontozó (Slow men’s dance) 02’38”
5. Magyarbecei öreges csárdás (Slow couple dance) 01’56”
6. Pontozó, öreges, szapora
(Fast men’s dance, slow and fast couple dance) 20’09”
7. Kulcsár Ferenc öregese (Ferenc Kulcsár’s tune) 02’02”
8. Lakodalmi mars (Wedding march) 02’23”
Román népzene / Romanian folk music
9. Învârtita és zdrăncănita (Párostáncok – Couple dances) 15’23”
10. De bâtă és haidău (Férfitáncok – Men’s dances) 04’47”
11. A găinii (Lakodalmi tyúknóta – Wedding tune) 01’44”
12. Învârtita, ţigăneşte és zdrăncănita
(Vadveremi párostáncok – Couple dances from Odverem) 11’30”
Német eredetű népies műtánc / Német eredetű népies műtánc
13. Margaretta (Vajasd – Oieşdea) 00’43”
Összidő (Total time) 70’27”

ADATKÖZLŐK / PERFORMERS – INFORMANTS

SZABÓ Dénes (1946, Magyarbece) – hegedű / violin (bal csatorna / left channel)
SZÁNTÓ János „Didri” (1949, Magyarbece) – hegedű / violin (jobb csatorna / right channel)
VARGA Aurel „Piciluk”, (1932, Enyedszentkirály) – háromhúros kontra / 3-stringed viola
ŞIMANDI Vasile „Kövér”, „Rusu” (1945, Felenyed) – gordon / bass