On the weekend of March 23-24, 2019, Hungarian folk musicians
- Laci Orbán (violin),
- Áron Székely (viola) and
- Branislav “Braňo” Briňarský (double bass)
traveled to California to teach folk music from Sóvidék, Transylvania in a two-day music workshop.
The following parts of the sóvidéki music cycle taught:
- Verbunk (men’s dance)
- Lassú (slow) csárdás
- Friss (fast) csárdás
- Forgatós / marosszéki (turning dance)
The workshop had 9 students: 4 on violin, 3 on viola and 2 on double bass. Part of the participants were Eszterlánc members, but we also had participants from outside of Eszterlánc.
In the first part of the workshop, all instruments had their own separate lessons. Later, all instruments joined in the same room and played together. Hearing 9 instruments play at the same time is invigorating!
The workshop was sponsored by Eszterlánc and by the Csoóri Sándor Program funded by the Hungarian Government. We are also overly grateful to the Hungarian Catholic Mission in the Woodside Priory who provided the location and catering for the event.
The Orbán Laci and Friends trio also played in a cheerful táncház (dance house) on Saturday evening. The guest artist was Bence Krajcsó, zither player from Hungary, “Young Master of Hungarian Folk Arts”. Bence had a wonderful and memorable zither concert as part of his tour in the US.
