Kaláka
Encyclopedia
Kaláka is a folk music group formed in Budapest
, Hungary
on November 26, 1969. The founding members are Dániel Gryllus, Vilmos Gryllus, István Mikó and Balázs Radványi. Later Mikó was replaced by Péter Dabasi who in turn was replaced by Péter Huzella and later by Gábor Becze. Tamás Kobzos Kiss was also a member of the band for a short time. They have been in their current lineup since 1996.
Since 1980 they organize the Kaláka Folk Festival in every July in the Castle of Diósgyőr
, Miskolc
.
The word kaláka means "working together" in some Hungarian dialects.
Several poems by Hungarian and foreign poets were set to tune by Kaláka, including János Arany
, Endre Ady
, Sándor Weöres
, Dezső Kosztolányi
, Sándor Kányádi
, Lőrinc Szabó
, Attila József
, Robert Burns
, François Villon
, Sergei Yesenin
.
Kaláka have released about 1000 songs and 25 albums.
Soundtracks
They composed the theme for the cartoon series Hungarian Folk Tales.
Concerts and tours
They often give concerts for children. All the musicians learned by the Kodály method
in primary school and utilize what they learnt there about music education.
Kaláka have toured abroad in the following countries: Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Republic of China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Soviet Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
on November 26, 1969. The founding members are Dániel Gryllus, Vilmos Gryllus, István Mikó and Balázs Radványi. Later Mikó was replaced by Péter Dabasi who in turn was replaced by Péter Huzella and later by Gábor Becze. Tamás Kobzos Kiss was also a member of the band for a short time. They have been in their current lineup since 1996.
Since 1980 they organize the Kaláka Folk Festival in every July in the Castle of Diósgyőr
Castle of Diósgyor
The Castle of Diósgyőr is a medieval castle in the historical town of Diósgyőr which is now part of the Northern Hungarian city Miskolc.-History:...
, Miskolc
Miskolc
Miskolc is a city in northeastern Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 170,000 Miskolc is the fourth largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern Hungary.- Geography :Miskolc is located...
.
The word kaláka means "working together" in some Hungarian dialects.
Members
- Gábor Becze: double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Dániel Gryllus: fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, zitherZitherThe zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
, pan flutePan fluteThe pan flute or pan pipe is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length...
, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, tárogatóTárogatóThe tárogató refers to two different Hungarian woodwind instruments: the ancient tárogató and the modern tárogató...
, bagpipe - Vilmos Gryllus: celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, charangoCharangoThe charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, luteLuteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, Jew's harpJew's harpThe Jew's harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, trump or juice harp, is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 4th century BC... - Balázs Radványi: mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, 12-string guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, ukuleleUkuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
, cuatroCuatroCuatro is Spanish for the number four. It may also refer to:* Cuatro , Name for two distinct Latin American instruments one from Puerto Rico and the other from Venezuela....
, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, kalimba
Works
Music and poetrySeveral poems by Hungarian and foreign poets were set to tune by Kaláka, including János Arany
János Arany
János Arany , was a Hungarian journalist, writer, poet, and translator. He is often said to be the "Shakespeare of ballads" – he wrote more than 40 ballads which have been translated into over 50 languages, as well as the Toldi trilogy, to mention his most famous works.-Biography:He was born in...
, Endre Ady
Endre Ady
Endre Ady was a Hungarian poet.-Biography:Ady was born in Érmindszent, Szilágy county . He belonged to an impoverished Calvinist noble family...
, Sándor Weöres
Sándor Weöres
Sándor Weöres was a Hungarian poet and author.Born in Szombathely, Weöres was brought up in the nearby village of Csönge. His first poems appeared when he was nineteen, being published in the influential journal Nyugat through the acceptance of its editor, the poet Mihály Babits...
, Dezső Kosztolányi
Dezso Kosztolányi
-Biography:Kosztolányi was born in Szabadka, Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1885, the town belongs today to Serbia. The city serves as a model for the fictional town of Sárszeg, in which he set his novella Skylark as well as The Golden Kite....
, Sándor Kányádi
Sándor Kányádi
Sándor Kányádi is an ethnic Hungarian poet and translator from the geographical region Transylvania, Romania. He is one of the most famous contemporary Hungarian-language poets.-Biography:...
, Lőrinc Szabó
Lorinc Szabó
Lőrinc Szabó de Gáborján was a Hungarian poet and literary translator.-Biography:He was born in Miskolc as the son of an engine driver, Lőrinc Szabó sr., and Ilona Panyiczky. The family moved to Balassagyarmat when he was 3 years old. He attended school in Balassagyarmat and Debrecen. He studied...
, Attila József
Attila József
Attila József was one of the most important and well-known Hungarian poets of the 20th century.-Biography:The son of Áron József, a soap factory worker of Romanian origin from Bánát, and Hungarian peasant girl Borbála Pőcze, he was born in Ferencváros, a poor district of Budapest. He had two elder...
, Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, François Villon
François Villon
François Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
, Sergei Yesenin
Sergei Yesenin
Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was a Russian lyrical poet. He was one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century but committed suicide at the age of 30...
.
Kaláka have released about 1000 songs and 25 albums.
Soundtracks
They composed the theme for the cartoon series Hungarian Folk Tales.
Concerts and tours
They often give concerts for children. All the musicians learned by the Kodály method
Kodály Method
The Kodály Method, also referred to as the Kodály Concept, is an approach to music education developed in Hungary during the mid-twentieth century by Zoltán Kodály...
in primary school and utilize what they learnt there about music education.
Kaláka have toured abroad in the following countries: Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Republic of China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Soviet Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.
Discography
- Kaláka (1977)
- Az én koromban (1981)
- A fekete ember (1984)
- Oda s vissza. Holland versek magyarul (1984)
- A pelikán (1985)
- Szabad-e bejönni ide betlehemmel? (1987)
- Az én szívemben boldogok a tárgyak (1988)
- Villon – Kaláka (1988)
- Boldog szomorú dal (1989)
- Ukulele (1993)
- Kaláka 25 (1994)
- Hol a nadrágom? (1995)
- Bőrönd Ödön (1996)
- Varázsvirágok (1998)
- Hajnali rigók (1998)
- Nálatok laknak-e állatok? (1998)
- Kaláka 30 (1999)
- Egyetemi Színpad '76 (2002)
- Csak az egészség meglegyen (2003)
- Kaláka – Kányádi (2004)
- Kaláka – Kosztolányi (2005)
- Karácsonyi Kaláka (2005)
- Madáretető (2006)
- Kaláka – Arany János (2007)
- Ukulele – Kaláka verseskönyv gyerekeknek (2007)