Lőrincréve Népzenéje

Folk Music from Lőrincréve
Arrangements by Ferenc Sebő
Hungaroton, SLPX 18102
Made in Hungary, 1986

I found this lovely LP with Hungarian folk music in a thrift store in Charlotte Harbor. A half year ago I also found some Hungarian records at that very same thrift store. Coincidence? It had a plastic sleeve around it—for the protection of the photograph of this lovely man in a Hungarian folk dance pose—that told me the LP had been taken good care of. Despite the title being in English all texts are Hungarian (there is a hint that there once would have been a paper inside with English texts), so I can't give you many specifics or background stories concerning this record. What I do know is that the music on the record are traditional folk songs/tunes arranged by Ferenc Sebő. The track that I selected is vocal without instrumentation. The track consists of three songs performed by the vocal ensemble Tátika Énekegyüttes. Sebő is a well known folklorist, musician, and band leader, he launced the career of the famous singer Márta Sebestyén. Track B4 consists of the songs Kék ibolya, ha leszakítanálak (Blue Violet), Falu végén van egy vályú (There Is a Through), and Én Istenem, teremtőm (Oh, My God, Good Lord). The last two seem vaguely reminiscent of other songs (in a different language) but I can't bring them home. (Listen for yourself.)

Siberia

09 Dear Siberian Land.m4a

http://www.box.net/shared/zazpi9n0qo66h1diyo7d

Siberian Russian Folk Chorus  (LP sleeve)
Art Director Vladimir Chirkov
Melodia C 01669–70, made in the USSR

International records in thrift stores roughly fall under the two categories of those acquired by tourists and those imported by immigrants. (A third category is that of academic folk music archives, by far the best category but not too often found in thrift stores.) The records for tourists typically have English titles while immigrants’ records are usually in their native language. Last week I briefly discussed tourists’ records typically from countries where vacationers like to visit. The records brought in by immigrants are often from places tourists don’t usually go to like this one here from Siberia. Often these records are nostalgic and/or patriotic. My pick for this week’s song was a toss up between Mother Russia by Antoli Novikov (in Cyrillic) and an album by the Siberian Russian Folk Chorus (both in English and Cyrillic). I opted for the latter. The two best songs on the record are Age Old Pines Above the Shusha and Dear Siberian Land. Since somebody (a kindred spirit) already posted Age Old Pines (which happens to be written by the famous Soviet composer of patriotic songs Antoli Novikov) on his/her blog I chose the patriotic Dear Siberian Land (by Vladimir Chirkov, the art director of the chorus).