The Continental Gypsy Strings

In one form or another, the Batyi family of Homestead has had a band for over fifty years, part of Homestead's strong tradition of Hungarian and Gypsy music-making since about 1900. George Batyi, the leader of Continental Gypsy Strings, is in his thirties, but he remembers as a child attending performances and listening to recordings of his grandfathers' and uncles' band. Batyi's father played clarinet and saxophone, while his grandfathers played clarinet and violin. Batyi himself plays violin and guitar.

Batyi still lives in Homestead, the steelworking town to which his family emigrated from Hungary in the early twentieth century. He grew up speaking both Gypsy and Hungarian, as well as English. Like his father and grandfathers before him, Batyi engages his band for performances at concerts and events such as picnics and dances sponsored by Hungarian and Slovak churches, fraternal clubs and other organizations. One of the largest events each year is Hungarian Day at Kennywood Park in Duquesne.

In Batyi's grandfathers' time, most band jobs were in Homestead or communities nearby in the Lower Monongahela Valley, and the band members were either blood relatives or other Hungarian Gypsies from the neighborhood. By contrast, the Continental Gypsy Strings band reflects the current trend towards regional rather than local ethnic identity. The band also reflects the changing settlement patterns in Homestead and, more generally, the steel town experience. The musicians are not all Hungarian, but they are all of East European background. Those who are not from Homestead are from the greater Pittsburgh area: Glenshaw, Carnegie, Imperial. The ensemble's repertoire includes not only Hungarian national dance music, such as the csardas, but also dance music and songs of East European Slavic groups.