Since performances of Népdalok are hardly available on line, the author of cimbalom.nl was glad to be given the opportunity to add MP3 demos of the Messzi tábortüzek CD's to the collection of Népdalok on this site.

He was glad to help MT to further promote this lovely and rare collection...

EGY HOLLAND ÁLLATORVOS
A Magyar Zene Rajongója

Dr.Jan L. van Os - holland állatorvos és tudományos kutató - talán a világ egyik legnagyobb külföldi gyűjtője a magyar zenének. "Cimbalom" nevű honlapján több, mint 3500 dallam található. Fiatal gyerekkora óta rendszeresen játssza őket. A kezdetben nagyrészt az u.n. "magyar nótákból" és cigányzenéből álló gyűjtemény az utóbbi években - magyar cserkészek hatására - erőteljesen kiterjedt eredeti magyar népdalokra is. Így történt, hogy Dr. van Os megismerkedett és beleszeretett a Messzi tábortüzek népdalsorozatba, amelyet június óta honlapján is ismertet.

Ezen a kapcsolaton keresztül ismerkedett meg Dr. van Os a Messzi tábortüzek sorozattal is. Különösen értékesnek és hézagpótlónak találta ezt a sorozatot, amely már négy CD lemezből és az azokkal járó, a kottákat és szövegeket tartalmazó könyvecskékből áll.

Immár 3500 magyar dalt nyilvántartó honlapján (www.cImbalom.nl), külön részt létesített a Messzi tábortüzek sorozatnak (www.cimbalom.nl/MT/nepdal.html). Itt nemcsak ismerteti a sorozatot, hanem a CD-ken megtalálható összes dalt bemutatja, hol csak az első versszakát, hol az egész dalt.

Nemrég a holland kormány is felfigyelt Dr. van Os munkájára és budapesti követségének honlapján terjesztette hírét, mint a holland-magyar kultúrkapcsolatok értékes mozzanatát. Mi magyarok pedig büszkék lehetünk, hogy nemzetünk zenei anyanyelve ilyen szeretetteli fogadásra talált Hollandiában.

Dömötör Gábor

A DUTCH VETERINARIAN
Admirer of Hungarian music

Dr. Jan van Os - a Dutch veterinarian and research scientist - is perhaps the greatest foreign collector of Hungarian music. His "CIMBALOM" on-line site already contains more than 3500 melodies. He has played this type of music ever since early childhood. His collection, which at the beginning contained mostly "magyar nóta" and gypsy music, has more recently - in part motivated by Hungarian scouts - expanded significantly into the area of legitimate folksongs. That is how he got to know and appreciate the Messzi tábortüzek collection of folksongs, which, as of June, 2009, he is also presenting as part of his on-line site.

It will probably surprise many people - it certainly did me - that in Holland over 40 orchestras play this type of music. As we found out, in the early 1900's many Hungarian musicians - among them Pali Lakatos, Sándor Vidák, Lajos Veres - visited Holland and achieved great success. As a consequence, the father of Dr. van Os, together with a group of university students, formed an orchestra and began to play. Dr. van Os himself formed a similar orchestra while still in high school. Later on, as a college student, he continued with regular appearances, even performing on transatlantic ships. He continued with this passion when already an active veterinarian and later as a research scientist in industry. Even today, he plays with his orchestra almost every week.

Dr. van Os told me of two memorable experiences. One concerns the time when he received his first cimbalom: at the outbreak of WW II, Timi Balázs, a friend of Dr. van Os' father, brought over his spare cimbalom in order to avoid possible confiscation by the occupying Germans. The other memorable experience took place on New Year's eve in 1956, when the Dutch people organized a party for the recently arrived Hungarian refugees and asked his university orchestra to play.

As part of his research activities in industry, Dr. van Os became familiar with the new phenomenon of the computer. He perfected his computer skills and, after early retirement, started to build websites. That is also the time when he began the systematic collection of melodies. Hungarian music is his preferred genre, although he also appreciates the music of other surrounding nations.

Meanwhile, he became acquainted with Árpád Zubrits, a Hungarian scout leader in Toronto, who not only gave him significant help but also emphasized the special value of original folksongs. Since Dr. van Os does not speak Hungarian, Árpád first helped with the translation to English as well as with the correct spelling of Hungarian words. And the originally 450 folksongs increased to 1100.

It is through this contact that Dr. van Os also became acquainted with Messzi táborüzek. He found this series of CD's and their acompanying books, which contain the scores and words of the songs, to be a rare and valuable collection. On his site (www.cimbalom.nl), which by now already contains 3500 Hungarian melodies, he has created a separate section for Messzi tábortüzek (www.cimbalom.nl/MT/nepdal.html). He presents samples of every song of the series, playing either the first verse or, occasionally, even the full song.

Recently the Dutch government became aware of Dr. van Os's work and published a story about this valuable cultural interchange on the on-line cultural site of its Hungarian embassy. Meanwhile, we Hungarians can be proud that our music has received such a warm welcome in Holland.

Gábor Dömötör