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.
In acknowledgement of the group’s 20th anniversary, the band’s members were honored by the Ambassador of Hungary to Canada (Miklós Lengyel) as representing “an invaluable asset in Canadian cultural life not only as performers, but also as faithful guardians and transmitters of the traditions of the Carpathian Basin.”
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), HungaroFest (at Sankofa Square in Toronto), and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering (in Elko, Nevada). The group has toured throughout the United States and Canada, including appearances in New York, Ottawa, Edmonton, Kitchener, Cleveland, Winnipeg, Chicago, Calgary, Detroit, Toronto, San Francisco, Vancouver, Montreal, Regina, Lethbridge, and Berkeley (California).
“Gyanta”, which means rosin in Hungarian, has collaborated with several well-known artists from Hungary and Transylvania. The impressive roster of artists with whom Gyanta has worked includes Kalman Balogh (cimbalom), Janos Csik (vocals/violin), Istvan Varga “Kiscsipas” (violin), Florin Kodoba (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), Forras (Vancouver), Kodaly (Toronto), Vadrozsa (Calgary), and Csipke (Detroit).
Gyanta has often shared the stage in performances with established North American-based folk bands such as Eletfa (New York/New Jersey) and Forras (Vancouver/Seattle), and has frequently appeared with Montreal-based accordionist Sergiu Popa, as well as with former founding Gyanta members Bandi Kocsis, Margit Bajnoczi, and Andras Gal. Gyanta has served as the “house band” for weekend and week-long Hungarian camps in Detroit, Niagara Falls, Alexandria (Ontario), and Montreal.
Aside from its core offering of Hungarian village music, Gyanta also plays select 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 fully serve the musical needs of all Hungarian communities in North America.