Attacca World Music - Bihar (2022) Hi-Res

In addition to exploring the hitherto unknown treasures of Hungarian folk music, as a composer and folklorist Béla Bartók (1881-1945) worked tirelessly to collect and study the folk music of the surrounding peoples. He looked for ancient, old-style melodies: those that were the most typical of different ethnicities. He found these in peasant communities where, in the early 20th century, people still led a traditional form of life. He also examined how neighboring communities influenced each other's folk music. From 1909 to 1918 he collected nearly 3500 Romanian instrumental and vocal melodies.

The music you will hear on Attacca World Music’s BIHAR album uses this abundant collection as source material. Our musical interpretations were inspired by the instrumental and vocal melodies that Béla Bartók collected in Bihor county. (Béla Bartók: Cântece poporale româneşti din comitatul Bihor (Ungaria) / Chansons populaires roumaines du département Bihar (Hongrie). Bucureşti, 1913.)

The album also contains the arrangements of a few Hungarian folk melodies from Transylvanian Hungarians. Folksongs, a shared work by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, originally published in 1923. The arrangements combine authentic folk music elements from the Carpathian Basin with our own world music sound.

Eszter Surányi, vocals
Lili Träger, vocals
Veronika Székely, violin
Dániel Mester, clarinet, soprano saxophone
Csaba Hetessy, piano, keyboards
Tamás Gyányi, double bass
Zoltán Bordás, percussion
Special guest:
Kálmán Balogh, dulcimer