Music from Eastern Europe makes Harmonia band feel right at home

By Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer

You can't judge a band by its album covers. Not fairly.

Harmonia, for instance, is neither as foreign nor as homogenous as it seems. Within the category of Eastern European folk, the Cleveland-based band, now in the midst of a short U.S. tour, proves there's both surprising diversity and strong connections to the larger musical world.

"For people who come to us not knowing what to expect, they can relate to what we do," said Walt Mahovlich, the group's founder and accordionist, at his home on West Boulevard.

At the same time, he added, just because the Romanian laments, gypsy songs and Serbian dances featured on their new album, "Hidden Legacy," would occupy the same shelf at the music store doesn't mean they sound the same. Far from it.

"There's a big difference, and we're using just the same instruments," he said. "The way they're played and the feeling in them are quite distinct."

One thing everything Harmonia (harmoniaband.com) plays has in common: energy.

Where you come from doesn't matter. One need not be Ukrainian to appreciate the cimbalom, a cousin of the hammered dulcimer, or Slovakian to enjoy the voice of singer Beata Begeniova.

Under the right circumstances, the group's seven members -- including two folk violinists and one player each on bass, percussion and flutes -- have what it takes to get people from all cultures and even the staunchest of wallflowers up and dancing.

"On the one hand, we are playing for our communities, to which we feel very connected," Mahovlich said. "On the other, we play concert stages. . . . Worrying about who is what nationality fades away. We find people are just so pleased that we're playing this music."

Indeed, Harmonia has played just about every sort of venue. Friday's show at Nighttown is the latest of several appearances there, on top of performances at churches, colleges, festivals and ethnic centers. Recently, the group spent time with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

It all started in 1989, when Mahovlich, a self-taught accordionist of Hungarian descent, encountered Steven Greenman, a conservatory-trained violinist serious about playing folk music.

"At that moment, I said, 'Let's make it happen.' "

At first, the pair kept to dance halls and ethnic centers, where a fan base was assured. But both their following and the size of their group grew substantially as Greenman tapped his connections and brought on board peers on other instruments.

Harmonia as it looks today was born in 1997 and now has three records to its name, with a fourth in the works. Its current tour includes stops in New York, Washington and Detroit.

Still, Mahovlich sometimes has to pinch himself, so incredulous is he at how popular is the music he simply picked up growing up in Northeast Ohio.

"I've wound up being surprised that the music I'm playing is being put on stage," he said. "It's just been wonderful."