Recorded at the Festival Mondial des Cultures that takes place in Drummondville, Quebec each year, the group
Csurgó Zenekar provides a series of Hungarian folk compositions with a fair range across the lands. The musicians choose pieces from the full spectrum, but the core of the music is Transylvanian in nature. While the musicians individually seem fairly good at their jobs, the interplay has something broken about it. Where the song may seem to call for counterpoint, there may be an offset of the violin and the bass, leading to a tiny little touch of cacophony. Where a little bit of syncopation seems to be the order of the day, the members may stray a bit from one another in their timings, leading to a jumble of sounds. Hungarian music in general, and Transylvanian music in particular, can provide a serious amount of speed, energy, and virtuosity, but this one falls flat. Pick up some of the other Roma groups instead (even venturing into the Romanian territory --
Taraf de Haidouks,
Fanfare Ciocarlia). ~ Adam Greenberg