For anyone interested in Hungarian music, this is a very useful overview of the last 40 years, since the beginning of the folk revival. Congratulations are due to András Lelkes and Endre Liber – musicians of the Tükrös Ensemble, part of the second generation of the revival – who made the selections. ‘We have tried to select songs and melodies that have been with us since our childhood, tracks which we happily listened to at the time and listen to even now’, they write. They've chosen music they feel stands the test of time.

Of course, everyone is going to have their favourites bands and favourite tracks, but all the key names are here. Quite rightly they begin with the Sebő Ensemble who started the táncház (dancehouse) movement in the 1970s. But it is really the second track by Muzsikás that is really arresting with its irregular, limping rhythm, intense fiddle playing and vocals by Márta Sebestyén. There are tracks that reflect both strands of the revival at this point – the excitement of discovering a living folk tradition in Transylvania and new arrangements of old material. There are good examples from Muzsikás of both. Other notable bands from this period are Vízöntő, Vujicsics, playing South Slav music, Nikola Parov's group Zsarátnok, playing Balkan music and the more experimental Makám.

New names featured on the 80s disc are the extraordinary violinist Félix Lajkó (quite a star in Hungary), cimbalom player Kálmán Balogh with his Gypsy Cimbalom Band, the brilliant táncház fiddler Csaba Ökrös and the jazz-folk Dresch Quartet. Muzsikás appear again with their beautiful Jewish song ‘The Rooster is Crowing, again with Márta Sebestyén. Highlights of the 2000s are: the táncház band Tükrös, showing how the tradition evolves; Besh o droM, the Hungarian answer to Balkan brass; Napra, with their folk-fuelled electric guitar; the trio of excellent new generation female singers Szilvia Bognár, Ágnes Herczku and Ági Szaloki; and the brilliant tambura band Söndörgő with Ferus Mustafov, who will appear at Songlines Encounters in June. It must say something about the current state of Hungarian music that this disc is probably the best of the three.