Final Hour

Back in 1907, Béla Bartók on an expedition collecting folk music in Transylvania wrote about the difficulties of the task at hand in a letter: “Despite every concerted effort, a researcher looking for old Hungarian folk songs, instead finds mostly popular melodies and composed city tunes. We seem to be living the final hour – or even final minutes – of the music culture truly connected to the traditional folk life.”

Today researchers still refer to the “final hour” of traditional folk culture, yet collection work continues. After the collapse of eastern-bloc communism in 1990, folk culture in our region experienced a rapid transition. Thus in the mid-1990s, believing that we were truly in the “final hour” – we wanted to take the last chance to document the traditional music still left in the Hungarian language region. László Kelemen’s plan became reality in 1997: the first bands arrived in Budapest for the recording sessions.

First we invited 46 bands from rural Transylvania, the members of which were our “informants” – though they were not “professional musicians” in the classical sense, as they were not musicians who made their living solely from playing music. One or two singers and a dancing couple arrived with each village band. In the five-year period between 1997–2001, 112 traditional bands participated in our “Final Hour” project. We documented 1250 hours of material; roughly 23,000 melodies. In the course of collection we endeavoured to record music well-known for the performers, whichever ethnic group they belonged to. Thus the collection includes Hungarian, Romanian, Gypsy, Saxon, Jewish, Slovakian, Gorol, Rusyn, Serbian and Croatian melodies, thus giving a nearly comprehensive picture of folk music in the entire Carpathian Basin.

Although the recording part of the programme is complete, the work is still in progress. 10–15 CDs of material per band are available for scientific studies. In addition, our goal is: to provide a wider audience interested in traditional folk music with compilations of the best music from the collection – while also providing the Hungarian dance house movement with exciting new material. Eighteen CDs have already been released by Budapest’s Fono Music Hall. We call it the Új Pátria (“New Patria”) series. The series was named after the collection work led by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály in the 1930s and the resultant Pátria series of gramophone records.

In 2010 we are pleased to release 50 more Új Pátria CDs – material from the Final Hour project – supported by European Economic Area (EEA) financing and Norway Grants programs. This CD is part of the series.

Official page

utolsoora.hu

Scroll down for the albums of this artist.

SELECT * FROM webbolt_termekek WHERE eloado = '14' AND aktiv > 0

Gyergyódamuk - Békásszoros - Original...

1.500 HUF

Medvesaljai népzene - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Almásszentmihály - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Bálványosváralja - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Tambura Music from Hungary’s Baranya...

1.500 HUF

Tarnalelesz - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Ózd, Domaháza, Sáta - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Buza - Original Village Music from the...

1.500 HUF

Kolozsi „Kicsi” Aladár - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Csíkjenőfalva - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Garamszőlős - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Alsókálosa - Sandrikék - Original Village...

3.000 HUF

Gyergyócsomafalva - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Abaújszina - Magyarbőd - Original Hungarian...

1.500 HUF

Fejérd - Original Village Music from...

1.500 HUF

Mezőkölpény - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Ördöngösfüzes - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Pólyánhegyaljai népzene - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Hirip - Szatmári népzene - Original...

1.500 HUF

Zsarolyán, Szamosangyalos, Csenger -...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from Slovakia’s...

3.000 HUF

Szilágysámson - Original Village Music...

1.800 HUF

Hertelendyfalva - Traditional Hungarian...

1.500 HUF

Ádámos - Magyarkirályfalva - Folk Music...

1.500 HUF

Balázstelke - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Héderfája–Gógánváralja - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Sárospatak, Sátoraljaújhely - Original...

1.500 HUF

Gerendkeresztúr - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Pólyány - Original Village Music from...

1.500 HUF

Gúta - Nagymegyer, Nemesócsa - Original...

1.500 HUF

Feketebalog - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Zámutov/Opálhegy - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Oláhszentgyörgy - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Tura - Original Village Music from Hungary’s...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from Gömör Region...

1.500 HUF

Őrkő - Original Gypsy Music from Transylvania’s...

1.500 HUF

Magyarbece - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Heves, Jászladány Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Ipoly menti népzene - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Mezőörményes - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Közép-Maros-vidéki népzene - Original...

1.500 HUF

Marosvécs - Original Village Music from...

1.500 HUF

Pered, Diószeg - Original Hungarian...

1.500 HUF

Magyardécse - Nagy-Szamos melléki népzene...

1.500 HUF

Vajszló - Bogádmindszent - Original...

1.500 HUF

Récekeresztúr / Recea Cristur - Original...

1.500 HUF

Halmosd / Halmăşd - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Tótraszlavica / Raslavice - Sárosi...

1.500 HUF

Kürt - Vág -Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Zsére - Original Village Music from...

1.500 HUF

69.000 HUF

Original Village Music from Gyimes -...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from Upper –...

1.500 HUF

Magyarszovát - Original Village Music...

1.500 HUF

Nemespátrói énekesek - Original Village...

1.500 HUF

Kalotaszegi népzene - Váralmási Pici...

1.500 HUF

Kelet-Mezőségi népzene - Budatelke -...

1.500 HUF

Mezőségi népzene - Báré - Magyarpalatka...

1.500 HUF

Folk music from Transylvania's Ghimeg...

1.500 HUF

Szilágysági népzene - Szilágybagos-Szilágynagyfalu...

1.500 HUF

Folk Music from the upper Mureş region...

1.500 HUF

Máramarosi, avasi és Kővár vidéki népzene...

1.500 HUF

Észak-mezőségi népzene - Szék

1.500 HUF

Big Christmas, Little Christmas - Új...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from the Târnave...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from Upper-Mureş...

1.500 HUF

Original Village Music from Kalotaszeg...

1.500 HUF

When the Shepherd Lost His Sheep

1.500 HUF

Sărmaşu - From the collection of the...

1.500 HUF

Új Pátria Series - 68 CD complete

99.000 HUF

« back