Kalotaszeg
Ti Ti Tabor is thrilled to welcome two special guest music instructors for the 2025 camp!
Music students will learn material from the region of Kalotaszeg from two master musicians from this area, primás István “Kiscsipás” Varga and kontra player Rudolf “Rudi” Toni. Both of whom come from long lines of famous Kalotaszeg musicians and will join our camp band Dűvő as instructors for the week.
Guest Instructors!
István “Kiscsipás” Varga was born on the 10th of January 1974 in Bánffyhunyad, Transylvania. He was born into the famous Csipás musical dynasty. His grandfather was the famous violinist Ferencz Varga, the “Old Csipás” who had three sons. The younger Ferencz Varga – “Csipás” – was also a famous violinist. The second son was István’s father, Márton “Csipás” Varga who was a famous primás of Kalotaszeg. The younger brother, József Varga, was a kontra and accordion player.
István started playing the violin at 12 years old. His father taught him and he played his first wedding at the age of 14. From there he continued to learn the violin and travel to play in many parts of the world—America, Japan, Canada, Latvia, and other parts of Europe. When he’s not busy playing violin, István enjoys fishing. He is excited to bring the fame of Kalotaszeg and the name of Csipás to the wider world – including Ti Ti Tábor.
Rudolf “Rudi” Toni is the youngest member of three generations of a famous Kontra player dynasty from Kalotaszeg, Transylvania.
Kalotaszeg has a strong tradition of music, it is part of everyday life and is famous for its beautiful melodies and folklore dancing.
Rudi started playing music from an early age, starting with the guitar and very soon moving on to the Kontra, following in his fathers footsteps. Family and tradition are very important to him.
Rudi has toured around Europe with Fodor Sandor ‘Neti’, the Csuros, the Mera Gipsy Band and the Nadar Gipsy band for over 15 years. He is an all-rounder, playing kontra, bass and guitar and is happiest when performing the music of his ancestors on stage.
Camp Band
Dűvő has taught music at folk camps throughout Europe and are a favorite at folk festivals in Hungary. They play a vast repertoire from all ethnic groups of the Carpathian basin and Felvidék area, have earned the “Young Master of Folk Arts” in 1983, are the accompanying band for the Nógrád Dance Ensemble, and have played for many Western Canadian Hungarian Festivals. Dűvő has released at least 12 major recordings as well as numerous teaching recordings.
The members of Dűvő:
- Dénes Hrúz plays violin, duda and ütőgardon
- Szabolcs Hrúz plays violin, kontra, and koboz
- Zsolt Nagy plays clarinet, kontra, and furulya (resume)
- Albert Mohácsy plays bass, koboz, and ütőgardon