After the SACRED VOICE (2006) and the
INNER VOICE (2007) CDs, the present piece
called FEMALE VOICE (2017) is the third in
her Healing Voices series of CDs. They are based
on the curative and healing power of Hungarian
folk songs.

FEMALE VOICE contains Hungarian folk
songs, which speak of specifically female roles,
fates, and existential situations. The listeners can
hear little girls’ games, brides’ farewell partieswedding
songs, lullabies and songs about both
happy and unhappy love. One can also hear
songs about the marrried woman’s fate as well
as a dirge, ballads, and archaic folk prayers to
facilitate childbirth. After all, it is the woman who accompanies the individual through life’s important
situations with her songs and voice. Both the opening and closing numbers of this record praise the
especially blessed ability of the woman, which is her creative unique prerogative to bestow; the privilege
of giving birth. All this praises and proclaims the life force, energy and vitality.
FEMALE VOICE is a mirror of the female soul and to wit, it can be happy, serene or beclouded, it can
be innocent or teasing, weak or strong.
Besides the traditional texts, Irén has included pieces from her own family and female mythologies, as
her own texts and songs, her personal lullabies, which she has been singing to her own children.

The dearest gift on this disk is her own mother’s voice. „My female voice is a continuation of hers. It
was brought forth by her voice and it has grown up in its shadow as I encountered my first folk songs
transmitted to me by her voice whilst still in her womb. Thus my female voice would lack credibility
without hers. She always sang, no matter what the situation. Now I sing along with her.”
(Irén Lovász)

The composer, László Hortobágyi shows how archaic Hungarian folk songs fit in the fabric of world
music, thereby validating their universality. Thus Hungarian folk music reaches through time and space.
Here is hoping that the present FEMALE VOICE as much as my earlier collection called VILÁGFA
(1995) and ROSEBUDS IN A STONEYARD (1996) will represent the timeless validity and universal
acceptability of Hungarian folk music while also serving the continuous mediating role of Hungarian
culture between East and West.

Irén Lovász - vocal

Közreműködik:
László Hortobágyi
Réka Gémesi - vocal
Petra Gyenis - vocal
Linda Kutasi - vocal
Antalné Lovász - vocal

"The basis of this cd is made up of Hungarian renaissance poems, texts which have been preserved in our folksongs, in the songbooks written in long hand in the 16-18th centuries and codices, as well as in the oral tradition of Hungarian love poetry. You will also hear contemporary "hits" that were popular in those days, but we have also used adaptations of European renaissance dances. We wish to present the specimens of courtship, wooing and loving that were current during the Renaissance so that listeners living today can also enjoy them." - Irén Lovász

Irén Lovász - voice
István Győri - renaissance lute, baroque guitar
Zsolt Szabó - violda da gamba, fidula
Béla Ágoston - peasant flutes, bagpipe
Kornél Horváth - percussion

The present compact disc is the first piece of a four-part series. This is the first, SACRED VOICE, which will be followed by FEMALE VOICE, INNER VOICE, and HEALING VOICE: These four are linked by the idea that human voice may very well have a healing power, for this is one of the most important ancient and universal function of singing by human beings.
The SACRED VOICE, contains mostly Hungarian folksongs. These songs have survived as a living oral tradition and are still being sung in the most archaic regions. The order of the songs represent the festive circe of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. In our songs invoking the Virgin Mary one can recognize the archetypical figure of the protecting, helping and healing Mother Goddess. The mediaeval Ambrosian songs in Latin and the lauda in Italian underscore and illustrate the vivid and dynamic European parallels that existed between popular, secular and official Church religiosity during the Middle Ages.
The accompaniments are free interpretations of the so-called „burdon technique”, ranging from „overtone singing” to the repetitive ostinato. This is known form numerous cultures the world over; its role is to help the listeners submerge themselves deep in the musical conjuring of the ethernal. Additionally, we have chosen instrumental and vocal inprovisation, also inspired by the ambiance of the enchanting acoustics of the underscroft where the recordings took place.

Irén Lovász – voice
Balázs Szokolay Dongó – flutes, fujara, soprano saxophone

VOCES3 ENSEMBLE:
Zoltán Mizsei – voice, harmonium, psalterium, medieval harp
András Demjén – voice
Csaba Gyulai – voice, medieval harp