Técső Band

Técső Band
Rusin folk music from the upper Tisza region (Ukraine)

ED-CD 043

The Técső Band – playing the traditional Rusin music of the Máramarosians – is one of the best-known bands of the crown town, which lies on the upper part of the river Tisza. The accordionist Jóska Csernavec and his brothers are the descendants of a reputed gypsy dynasty, but the band’s violinists are not family members. Somehow playing violin was not inherited within the family. All of them learnt the musical style from their ancestors. Their diverse repertoire – because of the strong interethnic influence – features local Romanian, Gypsy, Jewish, Russian and Hungarian songs. I made my first recordings with them at the beginning of the 70’s. At that time, the legendary father Jura Csernavec “Manyo” played the violin.

Unfortunately, his virtuoso performance survived only on a single cassette in bad quality. The band often performs on weddings, on funerals, on Christmas and on the fest of “Misána” (sheep clipping). Their instrument kit includes violin, neckwear cimbalom, bajan (that is an accordion with buttons) and drum equipped with cymbal. The drummer uses a plastic sheet called plonka. He operates this by pressing it between his lower denture and his gum, playing tunes or sometimes playing only to enhance the rhythm of the dance.
Present recordings were made on two occasions with two different primates. On the first part of the album, we can hear wedding music on the second part dance music. During the editorial work, my ambition was to have the band record the most interesting pieces in our studio. I was hoping that many others would love the music of the “unknown land” as much as I love them.

Ferenc Kiss

Track 6: Kalácstánc Track 7: Kárpáti kolomejkák Track 14: Szkarani (román ugrós)
Joszip Csernavec Georgijovics „Jóska” (1945) – bajan Mihailo Csernavec Jurijovics „Misu” (1947) – little cimbalom Jurij Csernavec Olexandrovics „Júra” (1951) – drum, plonka, Jew’s harp, voice Ivan Popovics Mikolajovics „Iván” (1958) – violin Petro Babics Sztyepanovics (1952) – violin, voice

The journalist Zap Gus from Holland made these pictures on the 24th Kaláka Festival