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Parno Graszt, a gypsy band from a village in northeast Hungary, is adding the U.S. and Canada to the list of countries captivated by its haunting Roma melodies and syncopations.
The band, which kicked off a month-long, 22-date North American tour on Sept. 12, performs at the Napa Valley Opera House Friday.
A fixture on the European festival circuit, Parno Graszt — meaning “white horse,” a symbol of purity and freedom in Romani language — is the band other gypsy musicians look to for inspiration and authenticity. Its members come from Paszab, a town on the Tisza river in Hungary’s poorest, least-developed region.
Roma music and traditions continue to flourish in Paszab where, half a century ago, a village elder devoted himself to preserving gypsy culture, particularly music and dance.
Parno Graszt was formed in 1987 and consists of several generations of one large family. “Nobody in our group has ever trained in music,” explains bandleader Joszef Olah. “My mother, Erzsebet Nemeth, envisioned a band and goaded me to form one that would sing our kind of music.
“Anything that can be used to create sound is an instrument for us,” he added. “We’ve even rubbed our fingers on door surfaces to create melody.”
The band plays traditional gypsy folk songs collected from North East Hungary and Romania along with their own compositions.
Their instruments are acoustic guitars, double bass, tamboura, cimbalom, accordion, violins, taragot, spoons, stereo water can and the “oral bass,” a continuous vocal improvisation made by the percussionist.
The band consists of nine musicians including four dancers — on special occasions the number of dancers is extended to 18, including three generations aged from 7 to 78.
A 50 year-old archival video is projected behind the group on stage, presenting the parents and grandparents of Parno Graszt dancing parallel with them.
The nine core members of Parno Graszt are Olah (vocals, guitar, tambura); Geza Balogh (vocals, guitar, dance);
Viktor Olah (vocals, guitar, dance); Sandor Horvath (vocals, spoons, dance); Janos Jakocska (vocals, guitar), Maria Vardi (vocals, dance); Maria Balogh (vocals, dance); Krisztian Olah (accordion); Janos Olah (double bass) and Istvan Nemeth (oral bass, milk can) but it is not unusual for the core to be augmented by other members of the family and other instruments.
Parno Graszt’s first album, “Rávágok a zongorára” (Hit the Piano) was released in 2002 and reached No. 7 on the European world music chart. The band’s second album, “Járom az utam” (… In My World), featuring Hungarian cimbalom master Kálmán Balogh, was released in 2004. “Ez a világ nekem való” (This World is Made for Me), released in 2007, marked the band’s 20th anniversary.
The disc features a version of the Parno Graszt song “Gelem Gelem” by remix master DJ Gaetano Fabri.
Songs from the album are included on the compilations “Rough Guide to the Music of Hungarian Gypsies” and “BalkanBeats 3.”
To find out more about Parno Graszt, visit here
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