These laments (in Hungarian; keserves) were played and sang by János Zerkula – but not one right after the other as they appear on this record. They were his natural responses to questions asked by Balázs Vizeli and Róbert Kerényi during the recording-documentation sessions of the Final Hour program. Over the course of a week of recording sessions, often-times he played and/or sang one as the section preceeding a progression of dance music. As a musician, he is both servant and master of his own audience. Zerkula knows many, many laments, some of them with text (as with the Gyimes laments that are connected to a particular local personality), some of them with only a melody. Though upon request, according the ancient rule, he may be obliged to put text to a melody, and this explains why certain lines of text are heard more than once on this recording. Zerkula often inserts lines of text from his “own” lament into melodies usually played as instrumentals.

1.Egyszer egy kicsi madár, 3,20
2. Jaj, de János mit gondoltál? 2,14
3. Zúg-zeng a vasajtó, 1,28
4. Bánat, bánat de nehéz vagy, 4,33
5. Baszom, aki hová való, 3,23
6. Amott jött egy legény, jaj, de beteg szegény, 3,03
7. Szászvároson úgy köszönnek, buna seara, jó estét, 3,22
8. Oroszország nem jó helyt van, 6,09
9. Babám, ha te Ricin túl mész, 2,22
10. Kegyes bánat, szóljón magam, 2,40
11. Sír a szemem, hull a könnyem, 4,11
12. Szöveg nélküli, 1,58
13. Én Istenem adj egy napot, 2,52
14. Édesanyám rózsafája, 4,45
15. Bánat, bánat, de nehéz vagy 4,11
16. Udvaromon, kettőt fordult a kocsi, 3,41
17. Én Istenem, miért vertél meg, 2,02
18. Barna kislány, ha te tudnád, hol lakom, 5,18

ADATKÖZLŐK / PERFORMERS -INFORMANTS

ZERKULA János (1927) – gyimesi hegedű / violin
FIKÓ Regina (1922) – gyimesi gardon / hit-cello