The members of the Gyanta Hungarian Folk Band, North America’s preeminent Hungarian folk music group, are drawn from the vibrant Canadian-Hungarian communities of Ontario and Quebec. They belong to the upper echelon of musicians, singers and dancers based in North America specializing in the unique and centuries-old folk music of the Hungarian villages located in Hungary, Transylvania (a part of western Romania), and Slovakia.
Gyanta’s members have recorded extensively and performed at festivals, concerts, and Hungarian community-based events and “tanchaz”-es (Hungarian folkdance parties). Since its founding in 2006, the band has been featured at the Drummondville Folk Festival, Mondial des Cultures (North America’s largest world music and dance festival), Folklorama (Canada’s longest-running ethnic festival), toured the U.S. Midwest (including performances in Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit), performed at large-scale Hungarian folk festivals in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and collaborated with several well-known artists from Hungary and Transylvania.
“Gyanta” means rosin in Hungarian, a word with double meaning to Hungarian folk musicians. Not only is rosin necessary to prepare the bow for playing the string instruments that forms the foundation of the top-shelf music of Gyanta, but the verb “rosining” also denotes the preparing of the musicians themselves – through some light-hearted and good-natured drinking from a top-shelf selection. It is this work-hard but play-hard Hungarian tradition which Gyanta seeks to preserve and share with its audiences.
The impressive roster of Hungarian and Transylvanian artists with whom Gyanta has worked includes Kalman Balogh (cimbalom), Janos Csik (vocals/violin), Istvan Varga “Kiscsipas” (violin), Istvan Pal “Szalonna” (violin), and Salamon Soma (flute/accordion) as well as well-known Hungarian bands such as Duvo, Uszturu, and Gazsa. Its members have also accompanied many North American-based Hungarian folkdance ensembles, including Bokreta (Montreal), Kodaly (Toronto), Vadrozsa (Calgary), and Csipke (Detroit). It has often shared the stage in performances with established North American-based folk bands such as Eletfa (New York/New Jersey), Forras (Vancouver/Seattle), Feketefold (Toronto), and Szaszka (Madison/Minneapolis). Gyanta has frequently appeared with Montreal-based Sergiu Popa and Jessica Gal of the Sergiu Popa Ensemble, as well as with former founding Gyanta members Bandi Kocsis, Margit Bajnoczi, and Andras Gal. For several years, Gyanta has served as the “house band” for weekend and week-long Hungarian camps in Detroit, Niagara Falls, and Montreal.
Aside from its core offering of Hungarian village music, Gyanta also plays music from the Hungarian “nota” tradition (often referred to as “gypsy music”) and popular Hungarian dance tunes, including well-known csardas melodies, hallgato (listening songs), waltzes, tangos, and polkas. This allows the band to serve the musical needs of all Hungarian communities in North America. For this reason, Gyanta is often called upon to play at Hungarian weddings, balls, and various community functions throughout the continent for those desiring a wide-ranging mix of village music together with these more mainstream genres.