The Carpathian Folk Quartet



This guy grew up in Transylvania


The one on the far right above played a rip-roaring cimbalom:



And I learned what a bracsa is:


a viola player who plays quick rhythm chords, almost a kind of percussion, and holds the viola sideways




I even got my cd photographed.

I'm no groupie though.

very cool! sounds like you had fun! that cimbalom looks like a serious instrument!

damn i thought you meant Jimmi Hendrix's Gypsies lol
but still very cool
that Cimbalom kinda looks like a big version of the asian instrument the Guqin, a chinese zither
very cool

I meant to say I got my cd autographed. And now I can listen to them at home.

The cimbalom was insane. The thing about gypsy music is it gets faster and faster and faster and


FASTER







And the cymbalom player would hammer all over that thing, nice dynamic range too, soft to loud, like an ocean wave crashing on a cliff or something.

What a great show.

well, I'd say gypsies make some of the best music in the world, they should have a larger audience...I'm happy for you, heartbeatocean,did you talk to them?

In terms of extreme instrumental prowess combined with passion coming directly out of LIFE, I'd say gypsies are the best. Yeah, I talked to them a little but they spoke very little English, except for the bass player. I mentioned I also play violin and they wanted to know what style. And I told the violinist his playing was excellent and he seemed quite glad to receive some appreciation.



I later learned that the viola player was a classically trained violinist who later fell in love with folk music and devoted himself to the bracsa craft.