I wonder. Dracula played the violin?

This is Hungarian traditional music from Transylvania, which I know little.

Hungarian music of Transylvania is quite homogenous on the whole territory, I mean there are not big differences between regions.

Romanian music from Transylvania is very different from region to region. The main regions of Romanian music are Southern Transylvania (with several subzones), the Apuseni Mountains, the Cluj county, Bistrita county, Banat, Crisana, Salaj, Maramures, each of these being a different "vein" of musical manner. The music in Cluj county as well as the Salaj and Bistrita regions are influenced by the Hungarian sonorities.

The music of Szekler (Szeklers are a branch of Hungarians numbering ~700.000 people, half of the Hungarian population of Romania) has Moldavian influences. The music of Csango (Hungarian and Romanian speaking Catholic population in some zones of Moldavia) is almost identical with Moldavian music.


Hungarians are using much the string.

Romanians too are using. For example, look these videos of bugle-violin, an instrument particular in Bihor, Crisana (West Romania, at the border with Hungary)::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IqzREG8NzA,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7qOVsbpANw


Violin has an important part in Maramures music too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycDvZ-sM9Ew



About Dracula: he never existed. I have a bad opinion about Bram Stoker's fiction which gived Transylvania an undeserved image.



Other videos:

A Hungarian band from Palatka (a village center of Hungarian folklore):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iFsSRkwSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIH57LZn2P4




Edited by Menumorut - 20-Mar-2007 at 20:03

About Dracula: he never existed. I have a bad opinion about Bram Stoker's fiction which gived Transylvania an undeserved image.

you should make a thread about this.

The Romanian national Anthem was created in Transylvania...

Having listened to a lot of this music, I still cannot listen too it!

bugle-violin, an instrument particular in Bihor, Crisana (West Romania, at the border with Hungary)::

I have seen these before. What exactly are they? Do you know anything more about them?

There is an article on English Wikipedia about this kind of violin, too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroh_violin

I only heard about it the other day after watching some of those videos online.  It's  a pretty strange looking instrument!  But I guess all unfamiliar ones are..   While I'm learning the violin, I already sound loud/scratchy enough, my roommate would probably strangle me to death if I was learning on one of those, haha!!

I'm not very good at instruments you have to blow into, but then again I'm not good at violin either so I probably have an equal chance of making everyone leave the building ;)