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Added by Admin on Sun, Jan 11, 2009, 10:41 PM
The cimbalom, in other words, the hammered dulcimer of the Hungarian folk musicians, is the
basis of their orchestra. The cimbalom we know today was perhaps
developed in 13th C. Persia. In Iran and the Caucasus region it has
remained popular to the present day, under the name of santur. The
original version of the cimbalom, placed on a table and having neither
legs nor damper pedal, once enjoyed popularity throughout Europe, from
Austria to Britain and from Spain to Italy.
In Hungary today it is called the "kiscimbalom", meaning a small cimbalom.
In the 1870's Jozsef Schunda's instrument factory in Budapest developed the modern enlarged cimbalom. Large cimbaloms stand on 4 legs, with a 4-octave chromatic range, and damper pedals like a piano. The early smaller cimbalom formed part of the earliest known folk band, that of Panna Czinka, who died in 1772. The large cimbalom is now a fundamental part of the folk band that has a cimbalom player, at least one or two violinists (one of them is called the prímás) and a base player. Other mainly wind instruments can also play a role in the traditional Hungarian folk enseble.
One of the most famous Hungarian folk ensembles in the world is the 100 member Gypsy folk ensemble (their official English name is Budapest Gypsy Orchestra) (in Hungarian it is the Száz tagú cigányzenekar) in Budapest.
Alex once recorded a great album with the orchestra's founding lead violin player (prime violin or Primás in Hungarian) László Berki. In 2006 Alex remastered the original recording and now the unforgettable tunes can be heard from his CD titled "Hungarian Virtuoso". This piece was recorded live without any rehearsal where two giants, the great Alex Udvary cimbalom master plays the cimbalom and László Berki plays the lead violin. The Hungarian Virtuoso CD is available for your enjoyment from the Order Page.
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