LOVASZ, IREN AND TEAGRASS

Irén Lovász & Teagrass

"Wide Is The Danube"

The Danube is a powerful symbol. This beautiful river represents the true connection between Europe West and Europe East. The area, defined in this way, has many common features because it has been a real melting pot where nations and the events of their history were mixed like in an alchemist`s laboratory.

Few know that you can find Czechs from Moravia living in Romania, or Croatians who have been living in Moravia for a hundred years. Or, if you really want to learn about Hungarian culture you also have to visit Slovakia, Transylvania, Moldavia and other regions. And throughout these settled national homelands there has been a history of the shifting network of Jewish and Gypsy communities.

So it happened that Teagrass, an eclectic Moravian-Slovak band, met the Hungarian folksinger Irén Lovász, joined by CCn'C-Producer Ulrich Rützel. Experience in contemporary folk, jazz and bluegrass music was the main contribution of Teagrass musicians while Irén brought her deep knowledge of the ancient folk melodies of various geographic and national origins.

Irén Lovász´s first solo CD "Rosebuds In A Stoneyard" appeared 1996 on the Erdenklang Label in Germany (www.erdenklang.de) for which she received the German Record Critics Award in genre Folk-Worldmusic. She also appears on "Supreme Silence" (CCn'C 00182), the crosscultural work of the Estonian composer Peeter Vähi which is based on the rituals of the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu School.

Press reviews (excerpts)

It all works very well. Singer Irén Lovász sticks close to the original sound (and shines on a couple of unaccompanied songs); the musicians have understood their local music and takes a pleasantly understated approach to the North American influences. There is much to enjoy here. (Kim Burton, Songlines, UK, Summer/Autumn 2000)

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This is musical brainfood of the most sustaining kind Omnivorous Eastern European folkfusion. (Ken Hunt, Classic CD, London, UK, July 2000)

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Irén Lovász has been toasted as Hungary's most promising singer. On this album will attest to the expressive power and subtlety of her voice.This is musical brainfood of the most sustaining kind. (Classic CD, London, july 2000).

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I was thoroughly lost from the first few bars of this unusual recording. After a few measures of music right out of the Musikas songbook, they were slipping into a jazzy violin riff and then the CD rolled on from there. It dips into bluegrass and newgrass, hovers around klezmer without ever landing, and takes folk music from Moravia, Hungary and other eastern European locales and adds American folk music in some very interesting ways. Band leader and singer Lovász has a strong, rich voice, not dissimilar from her fellow Hungarian Marta Sebestyén. The band, a mix of Moravian and Slovak musicians based in Czech Republic, is clearly well versed in bluegrass and blues, but with the strong input of traditional European material. They are offered a real challenge in adapting all of these disparate sounds to a new music suitable for Lovász' folk-academic singing style. They succeed over and over again, moving from straight traditional modes to Dawg-music ramblings, all with great ease and artfulness. "Vergen Meg Az Isten". The tune we have chosen here is "Vergen Meg Az Isten" (The Curse of God), features a classic Hungarian sound, with a throbbing cello for the bass part supporting the vocals, cimbalom and saxophone, punctuated by some hot fiddling from Stanislav Palúch to create the bridge between east and west. - Cliff Furnald © 2000 RootsWorld

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The inspiration for this encounter between Hungary's Iren Lovasz and the Czech folk-jazz-bluegrass band Teagrass came from Michal Shapiro, a New York-based music producer and journalist. As usual, Shapiro was right. There could be no better companions for a musical exploration of the various ethnic enclaves and nationalities living along the Danube River. Balkan, Gypsy, and Jewish tunes turn up, flanked by several songs of specifically Moravian or Hungarian origin. Amazon.com

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The acoustic instrumentals are creative, tight, and clean. Teagrass employ a hurdy-gurdy, viola da gamba, fiddle, clarinets and saxophones, plus flutes and bass, but the mandolinist makes the strongest impression. The group has an eclectic quirkiness that is refined but not inhibited by Lovasz's erudition and cultural integrity, and the ensemble provides an ideal setting for her flawless singing. Christina Roden

Musicians:
Irén Lovász: vocals
The Teagrass musicians:
Jirí Plocek - mandolin, end-blown flute (in "Kedz Sa Mily"),
Michal Vavro - guitar, viola da gamba (in "Byla Cesta"),
Stanislav Palúch - violin, hurdy-gurdy (in "Byla Cesta"),
Michal Zpfvák - clarinet, taragot, soprano saxophone (in "May The Curse Of God Befall You"), Slovak six-hole whistle flute (in "While The Handsome Shepherd"),
Petr Sury - upright bass.
Guest musicians:
Dalibor Strunc - cimbalom (in "Byla Cesta"),
Dusan Kovarík - viola (in "May The Curse Of God Befall You").