very recent song collecting

Subject: very recent song collecting
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 12:43 PM

I've just seen a nicely produced collection of Transylvanian Hungarian ballads and lyrical songs, collected up to last year from singers ranging from age 81 to age 15: Lajos & Matild Kristály, Domokosi nagy hegy alatt: Csíkszentdomokosénekes népzenéje 1948-2008, ISBN 978-973-0-06612-8, 2009. It's in the local bookshops but has no publisher indicated (presumably published by the collectors). Nicely done with colour photos of the regions and the source singers. Csíkszentdomokos (Sandominic in Romanian) is a small town in eastern Transylvania.

I get the impression that sort of thing is not considered surprising round here.

Subject: RE: very recent song collecting
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 01:15 PM

Thanks for that Jack.
There were suggestions that the change of political system would badly effect the singing and music in many of the central and eastern European countries - nice to know it's not the case (entirely anyway).
Ther was an nteresting series of essays published on the subject back in 1996 entitled 'Retuning Culture- Musical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe' edited by mark Slobin and published by Duke U.P., in the US.
Jim Carroll