Obit: Tamás Kobzos Kiss, Hungarian bard

Subject: Obit: Tamás Kobzos Kiss, Hungarian bard
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 09:14 PM

I just looked him up and found he'd died nearly a year ago: born Debrecen 30 May, 1950; died Budapest 8 November 2015. I only heard him live once, at the early music festival in Csikszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), Romania. Hypnotic performer: no mannerisms and almost no movement, he just wove a spell with his voice and koboz playing.

This interview doesn't really convey what his performing was like, though it has a lot about the folk music school he directed near Budapest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXHZ8gORk2c

My favourite recording of his is the 2-CD set of the songs of the Renaissance soldier-poet Bálint Balassi. Sound files complete here in MP3:

http://musicahistorica.hu/balassi.html