Latcho Dives

Ternipe, Hungarian Gypsy Band

Known as ‘Ternipe' (meaning ‘youth') at home, Bela Lakatos & The Gypsy Youth Project is predominantly vocal but also features percussion from sticks, foot-stomping and a metal can, an acoustic guitar and mandolin. The group began by collecting traditional rural Gypsy folk songs, and many of them gathered on these research expeditions, are featured on this recording. The songs are gritty, reflecting the rural Roma experience – tales of lost love, discrimination and hardship. Their repertoire features the three predominant styles of Hungarian folk music: Ló Ko Gilji (slow ballad), Ró Vjaki Gilji (a song for the ‘stick dance' that is typically played in a 4/4 rhythm) and Khelimaski Gilji (a style that is traditionally danced either solo or in pairs, and played in a 2/3 rhythm).

Today in Hungary, there are two distinct worlds of Gypsy music: rural folk (performed almost exclusively for the Gypsy community) and ‘restaurant music' (performed primarily for tourists). This is a great introduction to a group of young musicians whose mission is to ensure the survival of Gypsy folk songs.

In 1989, Gusztav Varga (founder of the legendary Hungarian Gypsy band Kalyi Jag) teamed up with the singer and arranger Bela Lakatos and a group of young musicians who still spoke Romany as their mother tongue. Their mission was to preserve and develop traditional Hungarian music."

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Ternipe "Del O Brishind"

I Wish My Baby Was Born