Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Dance

Classical composer Bela Bartok was fascinated by folk melodies he heard throughout his native Transylvania at the close of the 19th century / beginning of the 20th century. Similar to when American musicologist Alan Lomax journeyed into the rural communities of the US (and other counties), Bartok journeyed deep into his native countryside to research and collect songs. He eventually archived approximately 3600 pieces on the then-prevalent cylinders. It was not long before he incorporated some of those sounds into his works and presented them to an increasingly modern 20th century. Many of his creations wove those melodies into concertos, quartets and other compositions.

Through the centuries, there were bitter disputes and shifting borders between Hungary and Romania to see who would ultimately claim Transylvania, which was part of Hungary when Bartok was young.

Romanian-born pianist Lucian Ban started classical music training during the later part of the 20th century and was familiar with Bartok's work. Ban began to shift toward jazz and eventually recorded a pair of albums in the 1990s in his native Romania before migrating to New York in 1998. By the early 2000s, he released additional albums including 2013's Transylvanian Concert (ECM Records) with violist Mat Maneri. Although Ban was credited as the leader, it was a project of equals as they drew on the old folk sounds while continuously adding their own improvisational variations. They released the acclaimed Transylvanian Folk Songs (ECM Records) in 2020 (with saxophonist John Surman), while 2024 marked the arrival of Transylvanian Dance in which Ban teamed up with Maneri yet again.

Building on Bartok's work, the pair wove folk melodies into their own original and, in many ways, very contemporary pieces. When it came to performing either live or in the studio, Ban confirmed that the source material for what they performed was "recorded, transcribed, noted down and annotated by Bartok." Ban continued that pieces were "published in (Bartok's) lifetime as stand alone research and that it is called Romanian Folk Music. He recorded instrumental songs and vocals, some solo, some with instruments, some acapella. He recorded many violin songs, many bagpipe songs, many flute songs" and more. Since the original recordings were limited to a mere 40 seconds due to the limitations of the cylinders, the duo expanded for these projects. Some of the works stay close to the folk music while others burst forward with the spirit of the moment via improvisation. The fact that Ban plays piano, an instrument rarely used by most of the indigenous—and at the time indigent performers—adds to the spirit of Ban and Maneri charting their own course. Although they consistently drew from the sounds from long ago, hints of classical music and jazz improv guided the way and Ban confidently states that "our goal was to go to the depth of what these songs mean—this whole human drama—and find ways that will open this (music) up. We are improvisers. We are not going to play these folk songs like they were played. We want to improvise off them and do them justice." If the folk music was the root that Bartok preserved, it is artists such as Ban and Maneri who make it blossom.

The opening three songs of Transylvania Dance tend toward the delicate and wistful as the emotive viola and piano gently welcome listeners. Then the title track is unveiled at about the disc's mid-point. It is more upbeat, spry and energized but the music soon drifts back to the more nocturnal and subtle sounds that carry the music to a peaceful, tranquil ending. Listeners in search of fiery solos will have to look elsewhere since it is the delicate ripples below the surface that are at the core of this disc.

Ultimately, Ban and Maneri's goal was to get to "a deeper level" and pay homage to the authentic music while still improvisationally "creating on the spot" and weaving the duo's spirits into the songs. In summarizing the project, Maneri added that the melodies are so strong that "If we just kinda slapped on a jazz groove, it's going to sound ridiculous. So what we had to do was really play the melody, really understand the melody, and really find our way to express it."

In conversation, both artists favored the phrase "connective tissue" since they heard and absorbed sounds and techniques from folk music from not only Transylvania but during tours around the world. Sounds found in West Africa or South Korea and India were all subtly woven into live concerts as well as the recordings. Maneri recognized that people tend to categorize musicians and what they play into convenient categories. Ban added that he had read reviews that said "It's not jazz, it's not folk, the music is not classical music." After a recent concert, people asked 'What is it that you play?'" Ban's answer was simple when he stated, "We play these folk songs" while Maneri volunteered that "There's something to be said for mystery, there's something about art that the mystery of art and creation is a mystery...we're not doing world music fusion. This is not what we're doing. We're taking melodies that are so powerful and putting them into our context of how we improvise." When asked what that was, their response was "That's your job to figure out!"

So, dear listener, you now have your assignment.

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