The Spellbinding Music of Vardos
By Emma Hall
Special to the Epoch Times Jun 21, 2007
Vardos' Alana Hunt with her quick violin, Sofia Chapman plays the piano accordion and Indra Buraczewska on the bass at the Surrey Music Cafe in Box Hill. (Jarrod Hall)
Stories of cheese, milk, flies, horse taxis and mountains may not sound like the ideal night out, but it's merely the appetiser to the gypsy music that regularly sweeps the audience off their feet when Vardos work their magic. The trio play gypsy as well as traditional Hungarian and Romanian songs with a few Russian tunes thrown in.
Vardos energetically play a game of cat and mouse with their instruments while closely interacting with each other and the audience. Violinist Alana Hunt drives the trio with her violin; Sofia Chapman plays the piano accordion, while Indra Buraczewska – "the authentic European" – plays the bass.
Sofia Chapman explains why she is drawn to specialise in European music: "With the folk music and the gypsy music it just seems to be very lively and when you go and hang out in those communities you see everyone in the village just gets involved and so for weddings they'll go for days on end. It's just dancing and enjoying the music. It's exciting to get caught up in that too."
The band was formed in 1993 in Perth by Alana Hunt and since then Alana, along with Sofia, has made several trips to Europe to enhance their gypsy music training.
Watching them perform, it really doesn't matter where they're from; they've certainly captured the European gypsy music spirit excitement and humour.
During the show, Alana tells earthy stories of cheese, milk, flies, horses and mountains to introduce the origin of many songs. Some of Vardos's songs, particularly the Romanian ones, have slow melodies that are perfectly interwoven with each other. Other songs spin into a dizzying passion and dancing, and showcase the fantastic interaction between the three musicians who exchange meaningful looks.
One Romanian song about fairies at a stream had a lingering and mysterious quality to it that really made one feel as if walking in a deep forest.
"A lot of the people that we've learnt from do happen to be gypsies. That section of the gypsy community that plays the music, they just try and outdo everybody and play the best that they can and that's why whatever sort of music they play, gypsy musicians can excel at it," says Sofia Chapman.
Apart from playing to live audiences, Vardos have also branched out into film and television with a line-up of several short-film soundtracks to their name, including the ABC series "Seachange". More recently, in March this year, they were guests on The Footy Show playing their version of It's more than a Game.
They also featured in Ruth Cullen's documentary on artist Vali Myers, Painted Lady.
Vardos have toured in the US, Germany, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Switzerland, around Hungary and also played at the Famous Spiegeltent in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2003 they were nominated for the BBC Radio3 World Music Awards.
It is rare that musicians who are not native to the cultures of Romania and Hungary can hold their own when playing the music to which locals claim ownership. But even the locals admit that gypsy music is best left to gypsies; the fact that Vardos dare to tread into such emotionally charged territory speaks volumes. A quote from a Romanian local newspaper illustrates their passion: "If in the beginning of our careers we thought that we couldn't live without music, now we are sure that we can't live without Romanian music."
Vardos will perform on Saturday June 16 at the Austrian Club in Heidelberg West in Melbourne and at the Czech House on June 17 in North Melbourne. In true gypsy fashion the trio perform at a whole range of events that also include weddings. To find out more and sample their spellbinding music visit www.vardos.com.au.
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Copyright 2000 - 2007 Epoch Times International
Special to the Epoch Times Jun 21, 2007
Vardos' Alana Hunt with her quick violin, Sofia Chapman plays the piano accordion and Indra Buraczewska on the bass at the Surrey Music Cafe in Box Hill. (Jarrod Hall)
Stories of cheese, milk, flies, horse taxis and mountains may not sound like the ideal night out, but it's merely the appetiser to the gypsy music that regularly sweeps the audience off their feet when Vardos work their magic. The trio play gypsy as well as traditional Hungarian and Romanian songs with a few Russian tunes thrown in.
Vardos energetically play a game of cat and mouse with their instruments while closely interacting with each other and the audience. Violinist Alana Hunt drives the trio with her violin; Sofia Chapman plays the piano accordion, while Indra Buraczewska – "the authentic European" – plays the bass.
Sofia Chapman explains why she is drawn to specialise in European music: "With the folk music and the gypsy music it just seems to be very lively and when you go and hang out in those communities you see everyone in the village just gets involved and so for weddings they'll go for days on end. It's just dancing and enjoying the music. It's exciting to get caught up in that too."
The band was formed in 1993 in Perth by Alana Hunt and since then Alana, along with Sofia, has made several trips to Europe to enhance their gypsy music training.
Watching them perform, it really doesn't matter where they're from; they've certainly captured the European gypsy music spirit excitement and humour.
During the show, Alana tells earthy stories of cheese, milk, flies, horses and mountains to introduce the origin of many songs. Some of Vardos's songs, particularly the Romanian ones, have slow melodies that are perfectly interwoven with each other. Other songs spin into a dizzying passion and dancing, and showcase the fantastic interaction between the three musicians who exchange meaningful looks.
One Romanian song about fairies at a stream had a lingering and mysterious quality to it that really made one feel as if walking in a deep forest.
"A lot of the people that we've learnt from do happen to be gypsies. That section of the gypsy community that plays the music, they just try and outdo everybody and play the best that they can and that's why whatever sort of music they play, gypsy musicians can excel at it," says Sofia Chapman.
Apart from playing to live audiences, Vardos have also branched out into film and television with a line-up of several short-film soundtracks to their name, including the ABC series "Seachange". More recently, in March this year, they were guests on The Footy Show playing their version of It's more than a Game.
They also featured in Ruth Cullen's documentary on artist Vali Myers, Painted Lady.
Vardos have toured in the US, Germany, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Switzerland, around Hungary and also played at the Famous Spiegeltent in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2003 they were nominated for the BBC Radio3 World Music Awards.
It is rare that musicians who are not native to the cultures of Romania and Hungary can hold their own when playing the music to which locals claim ownership. But even the locals admit that gypsy music is best left to gypsies; the fact that Vardos dare to tread into such emotionally charged territory speaks volumes. A quote from a Romanian local newspaper illustrates their passion: "If in the beginning of our careers we thought that we couldn't live without music, now we are sure that we can't live without Romanian music."
Vardos will perform on Saturday June 16 at the Austrian Club in Heidelberg West in Melbourne and at the Czech House on June 17 in North Melbourne. In true gypsy fashion the trio perform at a whole range of events that also include weddings. To find out more and sample their spellbinding music visit www.vardos.com.au.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2000 - 2007 Epoch Times International
Labels: Gypsy, Music, Roma, Romania, Russia, Vardos
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