Gypsy music on the streets of Budapest
I was in Budapest last week for a four day city break.
I timed it really well too - I was full of a military strength cold and feeling very sorry for myself - so a trip to a Mittel-European city in the grips of the worst winter in years, with ice floes rolling down the Danube and a night time temperature of -11C was just the job.
I'm sure the staff at the hotel were really impressed with this wheezing, sneezing, hacking, nose-blowing Englishman and his grumpy visage mooning in and out of the lobby.
It was no fault of Hungary or the good people there - but it was not one of my best little jaunts.
However, there was a bright spot.
Out at a city cafe one night we were absolutely delighted to see that, in the corner, were genuine live Gypsy musicians, and they were
fantastic; two fiddlers, a string bass player and a cimbalom player.
They were simply amazing.
The , by the way, is a sort of grand piano version of the hammered dulcimer with about ninety courses of strings and foot pedals to damp and open the strings - a very impressive piece of kit.
The speed and feeling with which they played was terrific, and I bought their CD to bring
home with me as proof that Budapest wasn't all sniffles and frozen pavements.
The band is called Puka Károly and His Band and I remember thinking when, at one point, Mr Károly strolled around the tables with his fiddle almost on fire, tossing his head dramatically, how hard it would be for English folk musicians to entertain diners in the same way.
might just get away with it, but it would be a bit harder for a
melodeon player to wander round without knocking the soup into someone's lap
and a banjo player would probably find himself stoned to death with bread
rolls. Ah well, it was only a thought.
I might play a track from the CD on the programme some time to give you an idea of how
good it was - meanwhile the Rough Guide to Hungarian Music has some terrific
gypsy music on it.
Check it out if you can. I've also got a CD of a gypsy brass
band somewhere that I must dig out - now that really is something!
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