Hungary donates musical instruments

Hungarian Ambassador to Korea Gabor Csaba, left, poses with Seongnam Arts Center President Jung Eun-sook at the donation ceremony at his residence in Seoul on Jan. 13. / Courtesy of the Seongnam Arts Center

By Rachel Lee

Hungary’s folk music has arrived in Korea.

Hungarian Ambassador to Korea Gabor Csaba has donated three traditional instruments to the Seongnam Arts Center, becoming the 50th country to add to the theater’s collection.

“We are happy to present Hungary’s traditional musical instruments to Korea,” the ambassador said at a donation ceremony at his residence in Seoul, Jan. 13. Second Secretary at the Hungarian Embassy Peter Tamas Horvath as well as representatives from the Seongnam Arts Center ― including President Jung Eun-sook and Chief Curator Park Tcheon-nahm― attended the event.

Given to the performing center were a furulya, doromb and tambura, all of which are hand-made and commonly used in the country.

The tambura is a four-string instrument made of wood. The instrument, which has a small body and long neck and is plucked, is played widely throughout the north Balkans; but has its own tradition in Hungarian music, according to the Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection website.

The instrument is played with a plectrum.

The doromb, also called the Hungarian Jew’s harp and mouth harp, has long been part of Hungarian culture and has an interesting story behind it.

“The doromb disappeared for about 100 years in the mid 19th century,” the ambassador said. “But production began again recently, and it has become very popular over the last few decades.”

Hungarian instrument maker Zoltan Szilagyi was the leader in the re-production of the instrument, which is also well known all over Asia and Europe.

“Considering the size of it, the sound is very deep and wide,” Jung said.

The furulya, the traditional wooden whistle of Hungary, boasts detailed carving and coloring with wax.

“The recorder is probably the most traditional you can associate with Hungarians,” Csaba said. “Shepherds in particular specialized in playing it.”

“This particular one is decorated from motifs from South Eastern Hungary from the Great Hungarian Plain,” the second secretary said.

With the donated musical instruments, the Seongnam Arts Center is planning to host a concert sometime this year.

“We really hope to hold a performance of these beautiful instruments for a Korean audience sometime very soon,” the president said.

The Seongnam Arts Center launched the “World Musical Instrument Museum” in 2013 and has collected more than 200 instruments from 50 countries. The exhibition, on the second floor of the Opera House, has two sections ― “Asia, Oceania” and “Africa, North and South America, Europe.”

There are also touch-screen monitors on which visitors can see a description of each instrument; a map that shows each instrument's origin; and video clips of musicians playing the instruments.