Lovász Irén

Irén Lovász is a notable singer with a calm, serene delivery, never overtly impassioned but bringing out the subtlety of 23 songs from throughout the environs of Hungary. Transdanubia, the north, the Great Plain, Transylvania and Moldavia. Her voice has less of the edge of, say, Márta Sebestyén, but hearing her alighting naturally and accurately on those microtonal melodic ledges is a delight.

Essentially this is an unaccompanied vocal album with added accompaniment in form of samples and electronics from László Hortobágyi. In principle this could be a fine way to go about things, letting the songs go their own way and occasionally interpolating sounds to support and enhance the concentration of the listener rather than providing a formal and perhaps constraining accompaniment, but, though sometimes it’s effective, the overwhelming image is not of a strange landscape surrounding the songs but of keys, faders and knobs – a boffin playing with sounds in a stuffy studio, of air not being shifted. Actually, during my first listen-through a cacophony of police and ambulance sirens struck up outside, and had no lesser musical effect than a spot of woo-woo Hortobágyi uses later in the album.

Never mind, the singing and the songs (many apparently collected by Lovász herself) are fine, and it’s the sort of album that if tracks were played through the PA before a gig there’d be a queue of inquirers at the mixing desk.

(© 1996 Andrew Cronshaw Folkroots on Irén Lovász:  Rosebuds in a Stoneyard )

The singer with her crystal-clear voice tells strange stories… thats how this record of an unbelievably power originated.
(Frankfurter Rundschau)

The messages from these old ages are enchanting like the sound of her voice
( Dt.Allgem.Sonntagsblatt.)

With a radiantly beautiful voice… This nature poetry is an insider -tip for all those who would be willingly bewitched by Enya and Dead Can Dance .
(Hamb. Morgenpost)

Wistfully her voice is carries over sitar, tabla and gamelan silhouettes. An almond-like asiatic perfume.
(Dt. Rolling Stone)

An important finding for mythical researchers and poets. But above all it’s Iren Lovász’s voice and the ecstatic, removed world of sounds that enchant me like an indefinable fragrance.
(KGS)

She dived into a submerged world of mystical closeness which also defines the music. The whole work is in fact a highly interesting undertaking in the field of “World Music”
(W.A.Z.)

More than a rosebud!
Another wonderful Hungarian voice to compare with Marta Sebestyen’s! The backing music is modernist (i.e. does not employ ‘traditional’ instruments) but is generally very good…
June 2, 2000, Philip Line, Yorkshire, England

This is the most beautiful female voice I have ever heard. Haunting melodies, perfect pitch, richness in tone, the most amazingly sensitive aural interpretations of the meanings of the songs pours through to the listener’s soul even ‘though you can’t understand a word of Hungarian…in summary: I have a CD and vinyl collection of all kinds of music that numbers in the thousands and Iren’s “Rosebuds in a Stoneyard” is firmly in my top five favorite. Her voice is sublime and divine beyond description. You will NOT be disappointed.
January 28, 2000, David Caldwell, Dallas, Texas USA .

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