GYPSIES ON STRIKE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 108, 9 May 1934, Page 9

GYPSIES ON STRIKE

BOYCOTT OP THE RADIO. DISPUTE IN HUNGARY. The gipsy fiddlers of Hungary, whose age-old tunes, with their sombre melancholy, aro known to many British wireless listeners, started a boycott of the radio last month. The fiddlers stated that they felt both insulted and exploited, and refused to appear before the microphone until their grievances were remedied. These were :—That the fees received from the Hungarian Broadcasting Company are inadequate. That Dr. Andreas Spur has been appointed to the newlycreated post of Commissioner for Gipsy Music.

Twenty-two out of the 24 leading gipsy conductors and their orchestras joined the strike. The two remaining orchestras hardly sufficed to carry on the gipsy programmes. But the aid of less-talented gipsy musicians was being invoked. Dr. Spur is an expert on Hungarian folk music. His main task in his new post is to superintend the arrangement of wireless programmes so that duplication of items may be avoided. It has frequently occurred that different orchestras playing on the same evening have given the same melodies through lack of organisation.

The doctor has also been authorised to regulate, for broadcasting purposes, the musicians’ technique. The artistic susceptibilities of the temperamental gipsies are thus deeply-wounded, and they are expressing their resentment of the new “ gypsy dictator ” by the only method open to them. , A prominent gipsy violinist said : “ My father and my grandfather fiddled the tunes that I am playing today. I can bring tears to the eyes of my patrons, for my art is inborn. It is a thing of fhe soul, not something that may be regulated by academic principles/’