Gypsy Stringz

Rick Vukmanic (top) and
Richard Balazs (bottom)

Dance Workshops

at Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church

5501 Locust Lane, Harrisburg Directions

Morning and afternoon workshops with Richard Balazs and Rick Vukmanic: details to be announced.

7:30 pm :: Concert/Dance

at the St. Lawrence Club

13 Highland St, Steelton Directions

Concert set by Gypsy Stringz, followed by open dancing.

• $10 General Admission

About Richard Balazs

Richard Balazs was born in Kisvarda, a small town in Northeastern Hungary. He began dancing at the age of 3, encouraged by his father, Dr. Gustav Balazs, a renowned authority on Hungarian Gypsy dance and folklore. Richard was also lucky enough to grow up in a "dance family"; his aunts, uncles and cousins are among the best Gypsy dancers in the Szatmar region of Hungary and are often the subjects of anthropologists and folk dance researchers. From a young age, Richard frequently accompanied his father on research trips, workshops and rehearsals. By the age of 6, Richard was already being asked to join established folk ensembles as a guest performer.

Richard danced competitively as a child and won many awards. At fourteen, he traveled to Finland to study classical ballet, finishing five years worth of classes in one year. Returning to Hungary, he became a professional dancer and instructor, traveling throughout Europe and gathering laurels. At the age of 18, Richard was accepted at the Kossuth Lajos University in Debrecen to study Anthropology, but decided instead to study in America at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He was awarded a scholarship to join the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, a folk group specializing in Eastern European music, song and dance.

During his four years as a Tamburitzan, Richard performed across North America, averaging 100 shows per year, while still maintaining full-time student status. Richard has taught workshops and choreographed dances for folk dance groups across the United States and Canada.

About Rick Vukmanic

Rick Vukmanic grew up immersed in the Croatian culture of Steelton, one of the earliest sites of Croatian immigration in Pennsylvania. He comes from a family of musicians of mixed heritage — Croatian, Slovenian and Carpatho-Rusyn — which greatly influenced his openness to various musical styles.

As a child, Rick was a member of the Kolo Club "Marian", one of the oldest Croatian folk ensembles in the States. He began teaching folk dance to the grade school group while still in high school and assumed leadership of the entire ensemble in 1984. In subsequent years, Rick taught several parish folklore groups in Pennsylvania and was the choreographer for the Cardinal Stepinac Folk Ensemble of New York City for ten years. Rick began assisting the St. Lawrence Junior Tamburitzans in 1994. In 2002, Rick and several friends founded Gemist, an adult ensemble, focused on exploring obscure elements of Croatian folk song and dance. The group is recognized for its focus on authenticity in singing, dancing and folk costuming, much of which Rick creates by hand.

Rick has had the opportunity to study with several noted experts of Croatian folklore, both in the US and Croatia. He spent several summers researching folk customs in the Croatian communities of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the border region between Croatia and Slovenia. Over the past two decades he has been a leading influence in helping Croatian-Americans in his community understand the intricacies of Croatian dance and the specific characteristics that define regional and trans-national variations of various Croatian dance forms. Rick is particularly fascinated by the ongoing development of folk culture within the Croatian diaspora and has authored several journal articles detailing this process. Additionally, Rick has established contacts with Croatian communities in Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. In his spare time, Rick is a member of Zadnja Stanica, a tambura orchestra popular with Croatian youth.

About Gypsy Stringz

• Tamburaland.com has a review of their CD Gipsy Stringz Live, and a music sample.

• George Batyi is a genuine Gypsy violinist of the finest, and fastest, caliber. Hailing from a multi-generational musical family, George is largely self-taught, but following his acceptance to the Chatham College School of Music at the age of 10, he studied with Jack Goldman of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. George has been leading various orchestras since the age of thirteen and is a 2006 recipient of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship in the Folk and Traditional Arts.
• Bob Sestili was raised in Pittsburgh in a home located between a Croatian club on one side and an Italian club on the other. Although of Italian descent, Bob gravitated to the Croatian side of the street and has been playing tambura instruments since the age of six. Bassist for Gypsy Strings and the Jerry Grcevich Orchestra, Bob is also a co-founder of Tamburaland, dedicated to the promotion of ethnic music.
• David Kosovec is a former member of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans. He plays bass and berda and is music director for the Golden Triangle Junior Tamburitzans in Pittsburgh. He is a 2003 receipient of the Tamburitza Association of America (TAA) Founder's Award, granted to a young person who demonstrates a outstanding devotion to the preservation of tambura music and Slavic culture.
• Peter Kosovec is a critically acclaimed composer with four CDs to his credit; he plays prim and brác. At age 16, he composed the song "Sviraj Cijelu Noc" that became one of the 1997 hits of the acclaimed Zlatne Zice Slavonije festival in Pozega, Croatia. He is also a former Duquesne University Tamburitzan and a 2001 recipient of the TAA Founder's Award.

About Tamburitza Music

Tamburitza's origins can be traced back to Europe the mid-1800s, when along the central Danube River and its tributaries, tamburasi (tambura musicians) began to form ensembles. While it is believed that Hungarian Roma were the first to play tamburitza instruments in groups modeled on their famous violin ensembles, the first known ensemble was formed in 1847 in Osijek in eastern Croatia. They played a repertoire much like that known today: Croatian folk songs, and circle dances, folk songs and dances from neighboring peoples, light classical songs and instrumental pieces, and popular music of the day.

Five instruments are key to tamburitza music: the small lead prim (or bisernica), the alto brac (or basprim), the tenor celo, the chordal bugarija or kontra, and the large fretted bas or berde. It is not unusual to find other instruments in a tamburitza orchestra; violin and accordion are most common.

When massive immigration from eastern Europe to North America peaked in the years 1870-1910, tamburitza ensembles began to make their appearance on this side of the Atlantic. The first known American ensemble was active in the early 1890s around Steelton, Pennsylvania. It is no wonder that Pennsylvania is the home of today's acclaimed group Gypsy Strings.

Thanks to the Great Lakes Folk Festival for this writeup!