Ha megfogom az ördögöt… / If I catch the devil…

Curatorial Note

Debut album by the Szilvási Gipsy Folk Band, originally released by Fonó Records in Budapest in 2001. Recorded live, the album documents a repertoire grounded principally in Vlax Roma and Hungarian Roma musical traditions, drawing on songs and performance practices associated with communities in Hungary, Romania, and Transylvania. Sung in Romani and Hungarian, the recording combines vocal traditions, oral bass, water-can percussion, spoons, guitar, and tambura with violin, clarinet, and double bass, bringing elements of Roma folk performance into dialogue with the instrumental language of the Hungarian professional Gypsy-music tradition. Individual tracks identify regional and community-specific sources, including Lovara and Romungro repertories, making the album particularly valuable as documentation of the internal diversity of Romani musical practice. The recording also features Roma civil rights activist Jenő Setét as guest vocalist on “Kígyóballada.” As an early twenty-first-century recording produced by Roma musicians presenting and reworking their own musical traditions, the album constitutes a significant document of Romani cultural self-representation in Hungary.