44th National Táncház Festival & Fair • 4–6 April 2025
Issue:
Starting page: 14
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Instrumental Dance Music of Transylvania’s Nyárád/Niraj River Region. The Niraj (Hungarian: Nyárád) is a river in the Gurghiu Mountains, Mureș County, northern Romania. This is a study of folk music collection work done in this region by Seprődi János in 1908 and Bartók Béla in 1914: “...when examined in relation to one another they provide the most complete picture of traditional dance music at the time.” Basically the traditional cycle of dances done then was composed of: csűrdöngölő (or verbunk – a men’s dance), and couple dances: jártatós, forgatós, sebes csárdás (locally the dances were known by a wide variety of names). The dance music was played on violin, cymbalom and clarinet with or without other stringed instruments. “...The effects of modern life and culture began to change the traditional music (instruments used, the bands) and dances in this region, as all over the Hungarian language area, starting from the second half of the 20th century...” By Salamon Soma, Lecturer - Folk Music Department, Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest.