András Hodorog
Born in 1940, András Hodorog, a flutist from Klézse, is a leading M Csángó folk musician from Moldva. In 2016 he was awarded the Master of Folk Art (a Népművészet Mestere ) prize. He learned to play the flute from his maternal grandfather. His instrumental knowledge is not limited to dance music, but he is also well versed in the vocal tradition of the Hungarian melodic heritage. She follows the example of her mother, Luca Hodorog, who was a famous songstress, storyteller and a scholar of old customs in the village of Klézse. Besides many collections (e.g. Zoltán Kallós, István Pávai), András Hodorog’s music is also preserved in publications. At the same time, he himself participated in numerous folk music camps (tánctábor), dance houses (táncház) and performances, where he taught and demonstrated his skills. He is one of the most influential representatives of Moldavian flute music. His melodies have been integrated into the curricula of folk music students.
From a village flutist, he has developed-changed over the past decades into a uniquely virtuoso musician, similar to the violinist-prime musicians, influenced by the community demands of dance houses (mainly in Budapest or in dance camps). He with flute plays along with the violinists and even their melodies, which was unknown in traditional village music. His musical language shows exceptional skills, constantly recreating familiar melodic material with motivic improvisation, new forms and new ornamentation. The 84-year-old master’s playing has not lost any of its quality over the years, and even now Uncle András (András bácsi) delights the audience and the dancers with ever better and more exciting melodic variations.
He travels two thousand kilometres, twenty-four hours, from Klézse near Bákó (in Romanian Bacau) in Moldva (on the border of Transylvania, in Romania, on the outer side of the Carpathians) to Gdansk and Torun!
