2007

English Table of Contents 2007/1  

Page 3
Printed here is Jánosi Zoltán’s speech given on January 21, 2007 in the town of Nagykálló (in Northeastern Hungary) in celebration of National Hungarian Culture Day, the Hungarian National Hymn and its composer Kölcsey Ferenc who was from the nearby town of Szatmárcseke.

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The 16th International Christmas Traditional Bethlehem Pagent Play Festival was held on December 15–17, 2006. This is the first time this festival has been hosted by and held in the town of Debrecen, in Northeastern Hungary. 500 participants arrived from every part of the Hungarian language area to perform their local versions of this traditional custom... Report by Juhász Erika

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The Szekszárd Folk Dance Festival, was held on November 18 and 19, 2006 at the Babits Cultural Center in the town of Szekszárd in Tolna County. 14 groups, 512 people participated. This is a juried competition. The grand prize went to the Székesfehérvár Albia Régi Dance Ensemble. For list of other awards, see article in Hungarian. Report by Karácsonyi Zoltán

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Interview with Juhász Erika folk singer, singing teacher in the folk music department of the Nyíregyháza College, director of the Boroka singing group. The Boroka Ensemble won first prize in a wine song competition which culminated with a concert at the Szentendre Village Museum on November 10, 2006. See article in Hungarian for names of all the singers in the group. By K. Tóth László

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Karikás Band from the town of Debrecen celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert on December 16th, 2006 at the Vojtina Puppet Theatre in Debrecen. Vasvári Annamária of Hungarian Radio interviewed members of the band for a radio program which was aired on January 1, 2007 – on Kossuth Rádió.

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Festival and meeting of traditional wedding leaders – the so-called ’vőfely’ is usually a local personality that acts as master of ceremonies at weddings, leading the chain of events throughout the wedding and reception. Their tasks usually includes reciting traditional wedding verse and telling jokes. 80 traditional wedding leaders were invited from all over the Hungarian language area to attend on November 24 and 25, 2006 in the town of Földes in Hajdú-Bihár County in Eastern Hungary. Ethnographers documented each of the participants. Report by Juhász Erika

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Video series: Hungarian Traditional Costume – 11 short films (each one approx. 30 min) on costume from villages in 5 Hungarian regions. Produced by Konkam Studio and the Muharay Elemer Association with support from the Hungarian Heritage House and the Hungarian National Cultural Fund. These films are shown from time to time on Duna TV. See announcement in Hungarian for contact information and list of films.

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Exhibition: Bartók Béla – the folk music researcher – an exhibition of photos and documents opened at the Hungarian Heritage House on November 9th, 2006. Includes letters, folk music transcriptions, archive photographs, works by Bartók and his colleagues. The exhibition was prepared through support and cooperation of: the Department of Folklore Documentation of the Hungarian Heritage House, Insitiute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Bartók Archive, Hungarian Museum of Ethnography, and the Ministry of Education and Culture. We will publish excerpts from this exhibition in the 2007 issues.

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Magtár– Literary column – this issue: Poetry by Iancu Laura – born in 1978 in Magyarfalu *Ungureni* – a Hungarian village in Moldavia. Presently she lives in Budapest.

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Comments on the renaisance of traditional peasant agriculture in Cuba today by Henics Tamás after his trip to Cuba in November of 2006.

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Book Review – Csoma Gergely: ’Megtalált szavak’ [Words Found] Agroinform Press. Budapest. 2005. In Hungarian. An account of the author’s experiences teaching Hungarian to children in an after– school program in the easternmost Moldavian Hungarian village of Magyarfalu [Ungureni]. Such after-school programs organized in the interest of maintaining the Hungarian mother tongue in these ethnically Hungarian communities, have met with a great deal of fear and suspicion on all levels as a result of years and years of attempts by the Romanain governments to assimilate this group of Hungarians into the Romanian culture. Review by Kóka Rozália

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Szany – Bokréta Folk Dance Ensemble. The folk dance group in the village of Szany in Western Hungary (population 2417) celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2006. This group which performs exclusively the local traditional dances, performed for the first time on August 31, 1931 in Budapest at the ’Gyöngyösbokréta’ *Pearly Bouquet* Festival. Report by Héra Éva

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Basic ingredients, places and tools for preparing food used traditionally by Csángó Hungarians in Moldavia – Part 2. „In Moldavia, like in other traditional communities food served first of all to nourish the body – presentation and taste were [not necessarily priorities]”. „…the WC attendant at the bus station in Bakó/Bacău (RO) – a man from the village of Lészped/Lespezi – was contentedly eating plums with bites of bread. I asked if that was his lunch. Yes, he said, I love it.” Cooking was traditionally done in pots over small open fires in kitchen areas often seperate from the rest of the house. Many, many variations of wood burning stoves are known. Pots and cauldrons, frying pans, simple baking tins were the main cookware. A main staple food of the Moldavian Csángó people is corn meal (polenta, málé, mamaliga, puliszka); bread is a more recent addition to the diet. Mainly they ate vegetables and meats they produced themselves, purchasing only salt, yeast, rice, sugar, dried noodles for soup. An array of edible wild plants were collected seasonally. Religious fasting customs and practices for pig slaughtering are described. By Halász Péter.

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Discussion of movement education, related research and academic conferences as opportunity for increased professional communication. Includes bibliography. By Lévai Péter

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Dialogue on authenticity in traditional dance. By Misi Gábor

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Kiss Ferenc writes about folk music arrangements – part III. After a short discussion on world music, music as business and the huge music business trade fairs, there is discussion with specifi c examples of the way traditional music changes in the dance house scene

English Table of Contents 2007/2  

Page 3
Kiss Ferenc: Pávaének [Peacock Song] – a concert in honour of Kodály Zoltán on 2007 March 19th with Bognár Szilvia, Herczku Ágnes, Szalóki Ági and others. Report by Henics Tamás

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The invitation to dance – in Hungarian tradition (Part 2.) This study examines customs, history and practices for inviting a partner to dance in a non-specified time in the past in traditional village society. It is organized under the following headings: the moment of inspiration [desire to dance]; learned and voluntary expresssion of invitation to dance; unwritten rules and the working reality – women’s and men’s roles; expressing the desire to dance; how men invite women to dance; the woman’s initiation/accepted individual methods; gestures and methods for inviting a partner to dance. For the most part, in traditional village communities: „the boy makes the moves, the girl waits”. Two levels of invitation to dance are discussed: invitation to the dance event and invitation to dance while already at a dance event. The author worked from 150 examples of related documentation found in a Hungarian Heritage House archive – the „Médiatár”. By Redő Júlia.

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Interview with Kóka Rozália – recent recipient of the Hungarian Heritage Award. A frequent contributor to FolkMagazin, Kóka Rózália is the daughter of Bukovina Székely father and Bácska Hungarian mother. When she was in high school she met ethnographer Andrásfalvy Bertalan who ignited her relentless, life-long quest of collecting the tales, songs and folklore of the Bukovina Székely people. She founded a chorus in the Bukovina Székely community in the town of Érd in 1971. She is also recognized for her collection work amongst the Csángó Hungarians. Interview by Sándor Ildikó

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Budapest’s Kertész Folk Dance Group has spent New Years for the last 3 years in the village of Inaktelke [Inucu] in the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania. This group, like other dance groups, has organized trips for the whole group to visit dance events in villages of dances they have been studying and/or performing. The Kertész Ensemble took it upon themselves to actually organize New Years balls for three years now in this famous (in the dance house movement anyway) village in Kalotaszeg. This is an account describing some of their failures and successes in this endeavor – for example the confl icts which arose because the local youth actually prefer pop music, their quest to find the people of the village who still enjoy a ball with traditional dance and music and the success of the ball this past New Years where many dancers and musicians from the neighboring villages came. By Eplényi Anna

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A showcase of tradition preserving groups from all over Hungary took place in Budapest on Janaury 27th, 2007 at the Thalia Theatre. 7 groups performed choreographies of their local dances and traditions. The groups were rated beforehand and chosen for this performance on the basis of authenticity of traditional material and performance, staging, costume, etc. Antal László off ers his critique on each of the groups.

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The Jászság Folk Ensemble celebrates 35th anniversary Started in 1971 by Papp Imre (who at the time was a chemistry-biology High School teacher), the ensemble has been going strong ever since; as one of Hungary’s best and most well-known amatuer folk dance ensembles. Papp Imre was director until 1996 when he handed the job over to his students, Szűcs Gábor and wife Urbán Mária. A well-known international folk dance and music camp grew out of the work of this ensemble; it was started in 1981 and then expanded in 1991 to include the Csángó Festival. Many of Hungary’s most sought-after choreographers have worked with the group over the years. Many dancers have gone on from here to dance professionally or lead other ensembles. On November 25 and 26, 2006 there was a gala performance in Jászberény in celebration. Article by former dancer H. Báthó Edit In celebration of its 35th anniversary, the Jászság Folk Dance Ensemble will perform at the Festival Theatre at the Palace of the Arts in Budapest on April 15, 2007.

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New CD: Hegyközi Lakodalmas – Traditional wedding music from Hungary’s Hegyköz region. This recording is the result of research and collection work done in the villages of Mikóháza, Pálháza, Füzér and Pusztafalu; located along the Hungarian–Slovak border in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. The Szeredás Band, several traditional musicians from the region and several good singers from some of the villages are heard on the recording. The record has been supported by the National Cultural Foundation, Sárospatak Cultural House and local governments of the villages. 2007. Announcement by Darmos István

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Young Master of Folk Arts – Nationally recognized title of excellence in performing and handcrafted folk arts. Detailed conditions and prerequisites for application. In competition for this title, contestants must submit requested materials, which are then rated by juries. Deadline for application is May 7, 2007 to Hungarian Heritage House. Announcement by Hiller István, Ministry of Education and Culture

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CD review: Gömbszörp Band – ’Music of the future’ Having tried this recording out on her children (who, she believes, with their exposure to music are a good barometer), Sándor Ildikó reports on their reaction to this CD: positive; listenable. Ildikó recommends it.

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Bartók Béla – the folk music researcher Part 2. Letters and other documents related to Bartók’s collection work in Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania and amongst Moldavian Csángó Hungarians. From the exhibition in the foyer on the first floor of the Hungarian Heritage House at Corvin tér in Budapest.

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Széki Soós János – another great story about real life in Szék in about the 1960’s, ’70s, ’80s.

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’We are your grandchildren...’ was the name of the full length performance by the Nyírség Folk Dance Ensemble from the town of Nyíregyháza in Northeastern Hungary. The performance was at the Hungarian Heritage House in Budapest on December 1, 2006. The Babszem and Margareta Ensembles, also from Nyíregyháza, performed as well; all were accompanied by the Szikes Band. The performance was staged by Demarcsek György (director), Kácsor Ignácz Gabriella, Kácsor István. The Nyírség has a long-standing reputation in Hungary as an amatuer ensemble that presents authentic folk dance at a very high level of expertise. Report by Vörös Árpád

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The 18th National Solo Dance Festival in Békescsaba, Eastern Hungary Interview with Felföldi László – dance researcher and president of the jury An in-depth conversation about many, many aspects of this dance competition, the compulsory dance material, the approach members of the jury use for rating the dancers, including mention of the changes that this competition has seen over the 33 years it has been going on. In this competition, the dancers are expected to improvise for a certain portion of the dance. Professional and amateur dancers alike must be able to show a deeper knowledge and understanding of a particular dance from a particular location– a knowledge which goes on-beyond dancing a sequence of steps on stage to please an audience. By Dr. Nagy Zoltán

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Kozak József was apparantly in the Bretagne region of France for a one day traditional Bretagne music and dance festival known as ’Fest Noz’. He performed on Hungarian bagpipe and shepherd’s flute to a luke-warm welcome by the local people. He also gave demonstrations in Hungarian to the local French children about his instruments. Neither the date, nor the exact location of the festival are mentioned in his article. S.F.

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Announcement: the Hungarian Heritage House is sponsoring a competition for amateur and professional revival folk bands. Three bands selected by a jury will win a maximum of 50 hours of studio recording time towards production of CD. See announcement in Hungarian for contact information. By Mohácsy Albert

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Series of round table discussions on directions and issues of the dance house as revival movement and related areas of research. The first round table discussion brought a group of Hungarian researchers together from various areas of ethnography. The idea for this series has come out of a growing sense of importance of this movement which over thirty years has become institutionalized – though in the process, a certain intellectual support and back up seem to have gone by the wayside. The hope is to spark an intellectual exchange on themes important to the movement – in an eff ort to consciously move the movement in new directions toward more modern ways of preserving tradition. Excerpts from the January 2007 meeting will be published in the next issue of folkMAGazin. The next round table is planned for September 15th, 2007. Report by Eredics Júlia

Page 38
Photography Exhibition in Székelyudvárhely [Odorheiu Secuiesc], Transylvania. In this Transylvanian town, there is a photograph studio at Kossuth utca 21, which has been run for three generations now by the Kováts family. From March 20th – September 30, 2007 there is an exhibition of 100 years of photographs by this family: an exhibition of both photography and local history.

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Announcement: 21st Kecskemét Folk Music Festival This year’s festival is to be held on September 20–23, 2007 with an emphasis on celebration of the 125th anniversary of Kodály Zoltán’s birth. The festival is to include concerts, youth fiddling competition, photo exhibition, dance houses, films, and much more. Contact information in announcement in Hungarian. By Hungarian Heritage House, the Kecskemét Erdei Ferenc Cultural Center.

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Csernavec Misi – the Técső Band’s cymbalom player has died The Técső Band is from the town of Técső in an area of Southwestern Ukraine inhabited by Ruthenians, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks and Gypsies. The town is on the banks of the Tisza River, which in that area forms the border between Ukraine and the Maramures region of Romania. Misi would have been 60 years old this year, he died in February, 2007. His cymbalom was the ’old’ type which hangs from the neck, has no pedals and is tuned diff erently from the more common large cymbalom. Misi was brother of accordionist in the band (Joska) and member of a family dynasty of musicians. He began playing music in the band as a child when his father was the fi ddler. Th e Técső Band has been to Hungary to perform many, many times since its fi rst trip here in the 1990’s to record for the Final Hour collection project. Keszhélyi Imre’s thoughts in farewell to this quiet, humble musician.

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Vas János ’Panyiga’ – historian, folklorist, musician, employee of the Néptáncosok Szakmai Háza (Folkdancer’s Resource Center) for 25 years, aged 54. Due to budget cuts at the Hungarian Heritage House, Panyiga was layed off in February, 2007. „Because of my age and long history of work in this very specialized area of activity, there is little or no chance of finding work through traditional avenues of employment search...” Anyone with any ideas for his further employment please refer to contact information in the Hungarian announcement.

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„Roots and Routes” Announcement for master workshop in dance for youngsters aged 15–25, to be held May 1–4, 2007. Auditions will be held to select the participants on April 14, 2007 at Almássy tér Recreation Center in Budapest’s 7th district. Areas of dance focus: folk dance, ’contemporary dance’ (called modern dance in USA), hip-hop; this is to be an experiment in stretching the borders between these dance types. See announcement in Hungarian for further contact information / names of teachers. Announced as a part of an international talent development program by the Sziget Cultural Mangement Offi ce and the Hungarian Music Export Offi ce.

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New CD: The Morotva Band: Szerelem [Love] Arrangements of Hungarian folk music on the theme of love. With guest Fejér Noémi – voice. By Rácz Gyula

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Budapest’s Marczibányi tér Cultural Center: Gyimes and Moldavian Csángó Dance House. After several monthes break while Marcibányi tér’s cultural center was closed for rennovation, the Guzsalyas Dance House is going again on Wednesdays since February, 2007. For 18 years now, this has been the best place in Budapest to find the music and dances of these ethnic groups. The Somos and Szigony bands provide live music. There are teachers to lead the dancing. Gyimes dance house will be every other week, with Moldavian on alternate weeks. Announcement by Sándor Ildikó

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Zahonyi András reports on Hungarian dance groups, choreographies, a Hungarian language pre-school, also mentioning events which occurred in the recent past in Hungarian communities called: Őrvidék, Őrisziget, Alsóőr and Felsőr. Making inferences from the report, one can surmise that these places must be in a region of Austria known as Burgenland. The report assumes that all readers know where these communities are; so apparantly all Hungarians know where these communities are. Unfortunately I was not able to locate them on my maps of Hungary or Austria. They are probably somewhere on the Austrian side of the border with Hungary, near Southwestern Hungary.

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10th Verbunk Competition to be held in Zalaegerszeg (in Southwestern Hungary). The compulsory material to be performed by competitors is the verbunk from Szék [Sic] (Transylvania) – specifi cally Szabó István „Kicsijozsipista” and Zsoldos István „Segges”. Date of the competition: May 12th, 2007. First prize is 70,000. HUF. For further contact information, see announcement in Hungarian. By Zala Dance Ensemble Association

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December 16, 2006 – an evening of folk dance and music celebrating Takács András’ 75th birthday. Takács András, originally from the Gömör region of Southern Central Slovakia, has been a key figure in the Hungarian folk dance movement in Slovakia for many, many decades. He was dancer and founder of the Népes Ensemble, and has been a tireless organizer, researcher, consultant and supporter of traditional dance in Hungarian communities in Slovakia. Report by Kövesdi Károly, first published in ’Új szó’ on December 22nd, 2006.

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A Peasant Boy Emigrates – Part 3. Lives of Bukovinan Hungarians – Kóka Rozália’s column. In early January 1957 three Bukovina Székely Hungarian boys decided to leave Hungary and find the world, because it seemed like the Soviets would be ruling Hungary for a long time. After many months in a refugee camp in the Balkan Mountains, in October of 1957 Lőrincz Gergely signed a contract to work in a Belgian mine. He travelled to Belgium, then after working in the mine for two years, he moved on to Germany. First he worked on the estate of a ’Baron Arentin’ in Bavaria. He was injured at work and spent half a year in hospital. He married, they had a son, but his marriage was not happy; his wife was dishonest about money. It ended in divorce. Over time he got German citizenship and was hired by the postal service in Munich, where he worked until retirement in 1989. At some point on a visit to Hungary he met a sweetheart from his youth, Etelka. They were both single – she was a widow, he was divorced – so they decided to spend whatever years they had left, together. He moved to Baja, Hungary in 1991 where he finally found a secure home and peaceful life.

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Part 4: Discussion on folk music arrangements The point of departure here is musical accompaniment for stage productions of traditional folk dance. In preparing the music for a folk dance choreography the music director must deal with questions on authentic instrumentation, choice of melody from available authentic melodic vocabulary, key, etc. Questions arise on whether or not the piece of music prepared for a given choreography can be considered a seperate work, which should then be subject to copyright laws and royalties. Also discussion of questions and arguments of ethics and taste when taking the liberty to depart from the totally authentic – as played by the traditional musicians in their own environment. As usual, these questions are laced with the arguments on authenticity that so often arise in a revival movement. By Kiss Ferenc

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Part I. Research on Eastern Folk Music: history of research A review of the reasons for and previous collection work done on folk music amongst Turkik and Finnougrik peoples from Mongolia and the Volga River to Anatolia in Turkey. Hungarians have done collection and analysis of traditional music from these areas mainly in search of the roots of Hungarian music. Bartók did important collection work in Turkey in 1936 before he emmigrated to the USA in 1940. Other Hungarians who have contributed to work in this area from 1956 to the present are Vikár László, Bereczki Gábor, Szabolcsi Bence, Vargyas Lajos, Dobzsay László, Szendrei Janka and the author of this study, Sipos János (musicologist and researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Article includes bibliography.

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Szentendre Village Museum 2007 calendar of special programs and announcement for new service off ering special advice on location on traditional peasant building methods and structural questions. See announcement in Hungarian for dates of special programs.

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The Csík Band’s new recording ’Senki nem ért semmit’ [No one understands anything] recently won Hungary’s 2007 MAHASZ Fonogram music award in the ’world music’ category. This band, based in the town of Kecskemét, is actually dedicated to ’passing on [musical] pearls of authentic Hungarian folk culture’. By Csík János – fiddler and director of the band

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Record label, FolkEuropa Kft announces two new CDs: Sóvidék Band – From Fekete Antal ’Puma’’s collection of field recordings (number 6) from a ball on December 26, 1980 in the Székelyföld region of Transylvania. FECD 031 FolkEuropa, distributed by Hangvető

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Vajadaszentivány [Voivodeni] Band – original fi eld recordings of Transylvanian village music from Fekete Antal ’Puma’’s collection (number 7). FECD 032 FolkEuropa, distributed by Hangvető [www.hangveto.hu]

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New CD: Fondor Band – Authentic Hungarian Folk Music from Szilágyság region of Transylvania This is a young band of revival musicians who have researched the music from this lesser-known region of western Transylvania which is also called Partium. The music of Szilágyság belongs to the Transylvanian dialect, but characteristics of music from Szatmár, Bihar and Alföld regions are also present. Recorded at Hungarian Heritage House’s Ethnic Studio, Budapest, November– 2006.

English Table of Contents 2007/3  

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Roundtable discussion: “in an eff ort to stir up the waters that the dance house movement and its institutions are presently standing in”. An edited version of the recorded discussion that took place on January 16, 2007 in Budapest at the Insitiute of Musicology. 10 people took part in the discussion – a group of educators, researchers, ethnographers (check the Hungarian for list of names). “The goal of the discussion was to bring up areas that are lacking in the dance house movement…. There needs to be a change of approach and attitude in preserving our traditions.” One of the topics discussed was the folk music department to open in September 2007 at the Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest.

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’Góbé Virtus’ [Silly feat] is the nam of the new choreography recently premiered by the Hargita Folk Dance Ensemble (from the town of Csíkszereda [Mercurea Ciuc] in Transylvania). The group recently performed the new program in Budapest, Budakeszi, Siófók and Eger. The choreography apparantly features dances from Székelyföld. Review by Záhonyi András

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Bartók Béla, the folk music researcher. Selections from the exhibition in the Hungarian Heritage House (Budapest I. District. Corvin tér 8). Bartók’s letters mainly from the period 1906–1915 while doing collection work in the countryside. Subject areas: Slovak folk music, Romanian folk music and [folk] dance reasearch.

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Part I. In this issue’s literary column, MAGTÁR, there is an excerpt from a novel by writer Simó Márton. Simó was born in the town of Urikány [Uricani] in Transylvania. His work has been published in magazines since 1985, first in Transylvania, then in Hungary (since 1990). Four of his books have been published to date. This excerpt is from his trilogy (the third volume of which goes to press in the second half of this year) where he writes on “what has crept into our souls over the last hundred years”.

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Report on the status of UNESCO’s program of listing and protection of ’intangible cultural heritage’. ’Intangible cultural heritage’ became recognized by UNESCO in 2003 as a seperate area of cultural heritage to be protected; which includes areas such as: traditional music, dance and oral traditions such as singing, story telling, folk customs. By autumn of 2008, UNESCO expects to have the first international, country by country, listing for this area of cultural heritage. Hungary’s first list was submitted to UNESCO in Paris in June 2006. By Mrs. Kovács Bíró Ágnes, Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education.

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Kunkovács László has been collecting old photographs of peasant life and cataloging them all his life. There are several exhibitions of photographs from his archive in various locations in Hungary. Kunkovács was recently awarded honarary doctorate of arts from the Moholy Nagy Arts University (formerly the Hungarian University of Arts and Crafts) Mr. Kunkovács recently celebrated his 65th birthday.

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During WW II, there were various programs of ’exchange’ set up by the governments of Hungary and surrounding countries… with the goal of getting as many ethnic Hungarians into Hungary as possible, while also ridding Hungary of as much of its ’non-Hungarian’ ethnic groups as possible. The personal story related here is that of a young girl (still in her teens in 1946) whose family name happened to be Slovakian. Her father decided to take the off er of re-location and move his family to Slovakia in hopes of fi nding a bettter situation for them there. As told to Kóka Rozália.

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Part V. of Kiss Ferenc’ series on folk music arrangements. The theme this time is musical accompaniment for folk dance theatre. Folk dance theatre or so-called ’thematic folk dance choreographies’ here in Hungary is a genre of staged folk dance which is seperate from the authentic or traditional choreographies which strive to put traditional dance on stage in as unchanged form as possible. Here the great Hungarian music arrangers and composers in the folk dance theatre genre are listed: both a previous generation and the names of those presently doing this kind of folk music arrangements.

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Folk songs, folk music from the steppes of Khazakstan. On doing collection work (in 1997) in this region by Sipos János, folk music researcher at the Insitiute of Musicology of the hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Discussion of the locations, instruments and types of melodies.

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Pontozó – in three parts The Transylvanian legényes (young men’s dance) is the traditional improvised solo men’s dance with the most interesting and greatest variety of movements. In the area of Transylvania known as Maros-Küküllő region the local term for this dance is pontozó. These men’s dances fall into dance sections or little sequences of steps within the entire dance progression; – these dance sections are called ’pontok’ or points. On the basis of several films of entire dances danced by one dancer, dance researchers can evaluate the dance’s structure, sets of steps (or motifs) used, and types of motifs used and draw conclusions on the method or habit of improvisation. János Fügedi examines here the pontozó dance of one dancer – Jakab József from the village Magyarózd [Ozd]. Includes bibliography.

English Table of Contents 2007/4  

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Magyarlapád [Lopadea Nouă] – A Hungarian village of 1200 inhabitants in the Maros/Kis-Küküllő Rivers region of Transylvania. A dance and music camp has been held there each summer since 1997. This camp was first organized with the help of the Kallós Foundation, but is now organized and supported by the village itself. The village band is called the Piros Pántlikás Band (formed in 1985 by young people from the village that were studying in Kolozsvár [Cluj] at the time) and there also is a local ’tradition preserving’ dance group. Young dancers from Budapest have been active in supporting the revival and/or rejuviation/nurturing/reteaching of the Magyarlapád dance and music traditions, have formed friendships with people in the village and have done ethnographic study on the village. Reports by Lukasik Zsófia, Eplényi Anna, Bánffy Farkas

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In September 2007 folk music will be taught on the university level in Hungary: the newly formed department of folk music at Budapest’s Liszt Academy of Music begins its first semester. After several rounds of application and auditions, 21 students will start the school year at the ’Music Academy’. Most students are studying violin or singing but there are also double bass, cymbalom, fl ute and tambura students participating in the three year bachelors program. Department Director is Richter Pál. There are plans to extend the training to off er also a masters degree and teaching diploma. Article appeared in ’Népszabadság’ on Aug. 10th, 2007. By Serfőző Melinda.

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Folk Music Festival – Kecskemét, Hungary. September 20–23, 2007. Organized and sponsored by the Hungarian Heritage House and Kecskemét’s Erdei Ferenc Cultural Center. Events include: fi ddling (primás) contest for Hungarian fi ddlers under 25 years old, conference, guest master fi ddlers, dance house, photo exhibition, etc.

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New publications: Mé piros a gólya csőre? [Why Does The Stork Have A Red Bill?] Erotic and obscene folk tales from the Southern Hungarian language region. By Burány Béla. Timp Kiadó. Budapest. 2007. In Hungarian. ISBN 963 961 4427 [Melodies On Five Strings] On the history of the Hungarian hurdy-gurdy. Includes CD. In Hungarian. By Hankóczi Gyula. Timp Kiadó. Budapest. 2007. ISBN 963 961 4068

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Museum of local history in Szabófalva [Săbăoani], Moldavia. Kóka Rozália tells about an excursion with Nyíregyhaza members of the Kodály Association to this Hungarian Csángó village in Eastern Romania: an ethically Hungarian village where nowadays only 30% of the people speak Hungarian. The museum was founded and is runned by professor Perka Mihály, native of the village.

Page 13
Stuber György has been travelling to Moldavia doing research on bagpipers there since the 1970’s, nearly all of his informants have died over the past few years, leaving Csobotár András – Hungarian Csángó Moldavian bagpiper from the village of Vráncsa – as literally one of the last.

Page 18
Bartók Béla – the folk music researcher. From the exhibition of photos and documents in the 1st fl oor foyer at the Hungarian Heritage House at Corvin tér in Budapest. Excerpts from Bartok’s letters to family and colleagues between 1911–1941 on Balkan folk music, doing collection work in Algeria and Turkey and a congress in Cairo.

Page 28
Lauer Edith – 2001 recipient of Hungarian Heritage Award, left Hungary in 1956 with her family and has lived in the USA ever since. She was born in Budapest in 1942. She has spent her life in avid and active support of Hungarian culture. Kóka Rozália writes about her life story and Sütő András about her work in recommendation for the award.

Page 34
Why dance notation? Dance notation is taught by Fügedi János during all four years of dance training at the Hungarian Academy of Dance in Budapest. Dance notation is a system of signs and symbols with which movement can be written down on paper and read. Here a 4th year student sums up the advantages and uses of studying this science. Learning dance notation heightens a dancer’s ability to analyse movement and awareness of body position, direction of movement in space, portion of the body in motion. It provides a vocabulary for describing movement direction and levels, types of movement, steps, jumps, weight changes, turns, gestures, turning parts of the body, positions, body parts, and so on. Dance notation is useful for documenting choreography and movement which can then be later re-taught or used for research. The method of dance notation taught and used in Hungary and most recognized the world over was developed by Lábán Rudolf (1879–1958) and was introduced by him in Berlin in 1928. Hungarians Szentpál Mária and Lányi Ágoston have further developed the Lábán dance notation system. Article by Láda Júlia. Includes bibliography.

Page 36
80th Anniversary of Vass Lajos’ birth – Printed here is the lecture given by Dr. Horváth Géza from the Slovakian Hungarian Pedagogues Association on Vass Lajos’ work with Hungarian choruses in Slovakia after 1965.

Page 40
About Hungarian bobbin lace makers who held a lace making demonstration at the K-3 tent during Budapest’s well-known Sziget (Island) rock Festival. This festival is defi nitely not focused on folk arts and crafts: the idea was to show the lace making craft in a place where it wouldn’t usually be seen. Of course the lace makers are regular participants of the festival of folk arts and crafts at Budapest’s castle hill every August 20th. In October 2007 there will be an exhibition of works created during the last five years of lace making summer camps in the village of Tokod. Report by Borka Elly

English Table of Contents 2007/5  

Page 4
Honoring Felföldi László’s work and career in celebration of his 60th birthday. László has been director of the Dance Department in the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1989. He has been assistant director of the Institute of Musicologysince 2002. Presently he is also president of the Ethnochoreology Study Group of the International Council on Traditional Music (ICTM). He has lately been involved in forming the Hungarian Ethnochoreology Group. Th e publications and papers written and/or edited by him is too long to list in this summary. He has recieved national awards in recognition of his work. By Varga Sándor of the Department of Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology at the Szeged University.

Page 4
List of people from dance house circles that received national honors and awards at the March 15th holiday.

Page 5
Results of the [prímás] fi ddlers competition held at the folk music festival in Kecskemét on September 21st, 2007. Four out of nine contestants were given awards. First prize of a violin worth HUF 800,000.went to Hegedűs Máté of Kecskemét. Report by Mohácsy Albert

Page 7
„As long as I can dance, I’ll live” – a gala dance performance and party will be held in Rimóc on December 22, 2007 – in memory of Vincze Ferenc – traditional dancer from the village of Rimóc (in Northen Hungary) and in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth and 5th anniversary of his death. See article in Hungarian for contact information. By Paluch Norbert

Page 9
International Folk Dance Festival – Mezőkövesd, Hungary In 2007 the festival was held during the first week of August with several dance groups from Hungary and several from abroad performing. Th e report off ers a bit of history of the festival, changes in organization over the last fi ve years and cooperation with other summer international festivals in Hungary. By Mrs. Berecz László Zsuzsa

Page 12
An excerpt from: András Erzsi"Erdei": "Kedvemre való hogy meséljek" Mentor Kiadó, Marosvásárhely, 2008 pp 18-20. This excerpt is about the winter custom of the spinning parties. Unmarried girls gathered at someone’s house to do their spinning together. This was also the place where the boys came to court the girls. At one time in Magyarvista there were three spinning parties - one on each street of the village. The girls would get as much spinning done as they could before the boys arrived. After that, there were games, jokes, singing and the boys trying to get the girls to kiss them. The girls had to be home before dark.

Page 14
Bartók Béla – the folk music researcher. From the exhibition of photos and documents that was in the foyer on the 1st fl oor at the Hungarian Heritage House at Corvin tér in Budapest. Excerpts of Bartók’s writings on the diff erence between Gypsy music and Hungarian music, what is the ’folksy composed tune’, and defi nitions of folk music/ traditional music (from 1911, 1920, 1931–34). Also some great excerpts from letters written from the countryside on diffi culties encountered while doing field work, 1906–1914. Exhibition curated by Pávai István and Vikárius László.

Page 26
Lauer Kiss Edit – tells about some of her activities supporting Hungarians and Hungarian culture. She lived in the United States but was actively involved in the work of, and fund raising for the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), the American Hungarian Coalition (and their role in the process of expanding NATO in the early 1990’s), the „ ITT–OTT” camps in Ohio, supporting Hungarian literature in Hungarian communities in Slovakia, supporting the education of Hungarian children in Transylvania through a godchild program. Conversation with Kóka Rozália.

Page 30
Since 2005, the Muzsikás Ensemble has been travelling all over Hungary doing special concerts for children in schools. During this time they have visited over 130 schools. Th is program is sponsored partially by MOL Rt. – the Hungarian Oil Company. Printed here is a high school student’s reaction to one of these concerts – found on a blog on the internet – and makes it absolutely clear that they have achieved their goal in at least one young person. Report by Henics Tamás

Page 31
ExperiDance performance in Szekszárd, Hungary – September 15th, 2007. ExperiDance is a professional dance troupe based in Budapest and directed by Román Sándor. Th e group performed their program entitled „1001 Years – a Hungarian History Show”. This controversial group does high level dance-show style work based also in traditional dance and described here as „crowd-pleasing Hungarian folk McDonalds”. Report by Szabadi Mihály Jr.

Page 32
A comparison of Hungarian traditional music with traditional music of Southwestern Khazakhstan. The goal of this kind of research is in attempt to determine whether or not the Hungarians have some kind of relation to these peoples – from the period before the Hungarians arrived to the Carpathian Basin. Here is a technical discussion of mourning songs, songs for brides leaving their families upon marriage, love songs. By ethnomusicologist Sipos János

Page 36
Folk Music Arrangements – Part 4 This is a discussion of Hungarian dance theatre – thematic folk dance productions based on folklore, traditional dance and music. „For the composer these dance theatre works are an exciting task. This kind of work is collaborative and much depends on the composer’s relationship with the choreographer, the habits of those involved in the creative work, their preparedness, level of culture, work methods, the capacity of the troupe, budget and available resources.” There is also some discussion of the government’s role in dictating style and content of works in times before 1990. Please see the article in Hungarian for listing of the choreographers, directors and musicians who have created these kinds of productions over the last three or four decades, here in Budapest. Th ere is criticism of the newer type of production categorized as ’stage dance show’. By Kiss Ferenc. Includes list of recommended literature.

English Table of Contents 2007/6  

Page 3
Transylvanian Dance House celebrates 30th Anniversary At the end of September 2007 they celebrated the anniversary of the first dance house held in the Transylvanian town of Csíkszereda (Mercurea Ciuc), that is the first dance house of the revival movement there. „I was a pioneer of this movement, but I don’t remember setting any specifi c objectives. I do remember that at the time, we were all in love. With folk music.” By Transylvanian singer/ actress Panek Kati

Page 5
Őrkő is the name of the Gypsy quarter of the town of Sepsiszentgyörgy [Sfântu Gheorghe] in Transylvania. The Gypsies from there have a special singing tradition and Etnofon Records recently invited some singers and musicians from there to record in Budapest along with Gázsa’s band and other great Budapest musicians. Record to be released any minute by Etnofon Records, 2008 EDRCD 093

Page 6
Vargyas Lajos (1914–2007), distinguished folk music researcher, ethnographer, former director of the Folk Music Research Group at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, died in October at the age of 94. He wrote his doctorate in 1941 on the music life of the village of Áj. “....his intellectual heritage will live on in us....” Andrásfalvy Bertalan’s farewell. Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery in Budapest on October 29, 2007.

Page 6
Vargyas Lajos (1914–2007), distinguished folk music researcher, ethnographer, former director of the Folk Music Research Group at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, died in October at the age of 94. He wrote his doctorate in 1941 on the music life of the village of Áj. “....his intellectual heritage will live on in us....” Andrásfalvy Bertalan’s farewell. Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery in Budapest on October 29, 2007.

Page 8
Kóka Rozália writes about her trip in August of 2007 to the village of Magyarfalu (Ungureni) – a Hungarian Csángó village in Moldavia. She was invited as honoured guest and patron of the 5th Magyarfalu Days celebration organized by the village. Th is was her first trip back to the village since doing ethnographic field research there in 1970.

Page 12
The curse of the wildgirl – a folk tale told by Tankó Gizella as heard from her mother in the Gyimes region of Transylvania. Written down by Ábrahám Judit

Page 16
Literary Column – Magtar Celebration of Light in Pannonia – A short story by Pető Judit a teacher, originally from the town of Lajosmizse, who lives in Budapest.

Page 18
Photographer Korniss Péter and choreographer Novak Ferenc “Tata”, on the occaision of Korniss’ 70th birthday, reminisce about going to the Transylvanian village of Szék together in 1967. Tata wrote his thesis on Szék and went there the first time in August of 1956. Korniss’ amazing photographs from that trip and other trips to Transylvania have become famous in these circles and beyond. Conversation transcribed by Kiss Ferenc

Page 24
November 10, 2007 – A new gravestone was ceremoniously placed at the grave of Vass Lajos (composer, chorus leader, music teacher 1927–1992) and his wife Kaposi Edit (folk dance researcher 1923–2006) in Budapest’s Rákoskeresztúr Új Köztemető. Announcement by Dr. Olsvai Imre.

Page 24
Traditional horse-herder, whip maker Szántó István of Kisújszállás, Hungary, who when times and methods changed (around 1982) continued working even though his task became putting up the “electric shepherd” fencing for the herds.

Page 27
Kóka Rozália writes about visiting a children’s home in the town of Déva (Deva) in Transylvania in February of 2007. The home was founded by priest Father Böjte Csaba. Rozália met a Hungarian couple there, Dr. and Mrs. Gereben László, who live in Sweden but sponsor a goddaughter in the home.

Page 29
Potta Géza was laid to rest on November 24th, 2007 in Abaújszina (Seňa), Slovakia. We mourn the loss of Potta Géza, a born prímás. He was 74 years old. A Gypsy traditional fi ddler who played Gypsy music, folk music, composed ’nota’, standards/slager – all, always directly from the heart. A few years ago a CD of his playing was released with the help of the Ifjú Szivek Dance Ensemble of Pozsony (Bratislava). Obituary by Grendel Ágota. First appeared in Új Szó on November 23, 2007, Pozsony.

Page 30
Bringing up the next generations of lead fiddlers – By the mid 1970s the popularity of the dance house scene called for more musicians, so Halmos Béla and others set about training them. Camps were organized for intensive learning that soon became courses in Budapest and regular classes held at music schools – such as the ones in Székesfehérvár, Budapest’s Obuda. Dance house musician training courses were also held in Győr, Nyíregyháza and other cities and towns in Hungary. In 2008 the Hungarian Academy of Music established a Folk Music Department making it possible to get an accredited diploma as an academy-trained folk musician.
Page 34 inset - Summary of Halmos Béla’s fieldwork collecting traditional music
Page 34 inset - The recording entitled "Szép piros hajnál"– Halmos’ 'solo' record was released by Hungaraton on vinyl in 1989 and then on CD in 1995. It contains Halmos’ arrangements of traditional folk music from field recordings collected by him and 7 other ethnomusicologists. It features Béla on lead violin and voice accompanied by a group of first generation dance house [folk music revival] musicians.

Page 31
The Söndörgő Band played with guest Macedonian clarinetist Ferus Mustafov in London at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in July of 2007. They played the first half of a double bill concert with the Boban Markovic Orkester. Review by Kőry Ágnes of the Bartók Béla Music Center in London, first appeared at www.MusiciansWho.hu on September 2, 2007

Page 32
The Vizin Band. This is a Hungarian tambura band from the city of Pécs in Southern Hungary. They recently competed along with other bands from all over former Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary – in two juried tambura festivals in Serbia. At both festivals Vizin got prizes in several categories.

Page 32
The Vizin Band. This is a Hungarian tambura band from the city of Pécs in Southern Hungary. They recently competed along with other bands from all over former Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary – in two juried tambura festivals in Serbia. At both festivals Vizin got prizes in several categories.

Page 32
The Vizin Band. This is a Hungarian tambura band from the city of Pécs in Southern Hungary. They recently competed along with other bands from all over former Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary – in two juried tambura festivals in Serbia. At both festivals Vizin got prizes in several categories.

Page 36
A description of the work of Budapest ceramics artist, Master of Folkarts, Gy. Kamarás Kata whose work has been exhibited nationally and in Western Europe. A Madonna sculpture of hers was presented as a gift to the Vatican from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture. By Borka Elly

English Table of Contents 2007/x  

Page 3
Folk artist, folk musician Kádár Ferenc (born 1891 Dévaványa, Békes County, Hungary);

Page 4
Cattle herder, dancer Deákos Farkas Lajos from the village of Borzova/ Silická Brezová in the Gömör region or Rožňava District in south central Slovakia.

Page 6
Wooden flute maker, shepherd Horváth Lajos of Sámsonháza, Nógrád County, Hungary (born 1908 Tar, Palóc region, Hungary) who sold his handmade flutes at regional markets and fairs all over the larger region.

Page 8
Herders and animal bell makers at the yearly October market in Körösfeketó / Negreni, Romania (Transylvania)

Page 10
Singer/beggar- sung/rhymed chronicler Horváth Béla at Máriapócs (northeastern Hungary) 1974 during the pilgrimage to the shrine of a late 17th century painting of a weeping Madonna. Includes information about traditional chroniclers.

Page 12
The Transylvanian village of Szék, in Kolozs (Cluj) County, Romania had a salt mine for 500 years and because of this it was always a center. In 1990 the population was 5000. In the Budapest dance houses it is famous for its traditional dances, music and costume. The Szék dance houses were any house in the village where they would clear out the furniture of one room and hire musicians for a dance event. "…the unmarried boys and girls strive to organize dance houses as much as possible, as these are the venues for social life and choosing a mate. From autumn through spring, this is also where they hold the spinning bees. A week looked like this: Tuesday – Friday: spinning bee; Saturday- Sunday: dance; Monday: break.”

Page 15
Shaman and swine herder Köblös János born 1907 in Geszteréd, northeastern Hungary .

Page 18
The “hídi vásár” [bridge market] in the Hortobágy region was the site of Hungary’s largest animal market and traditional meeting place for Hungarian herders. Later on, the meetings were consciously held on August 20th to bring the traditional herders together in ethnographer dr Béres András’s loosely organized effort to promote and preserve the tradition. Kunkovács began photographing there in 1974 and continued for decades until the old generation of herders passed on. 6 pages of photographs of herders at this celebration.

Page 27
Cattle-herder Kakucsi István of Angyalháza (Hajdúszoboszló), Hungary – the grazing grounds for which were half day’s walk from Hajdúszobszló, where the herds and cattlemen stayed out for more than 6 months of the year.

Page 30
Custom of ‘burying winter’ - Szandaváralja, Nógrád County, Hungary – the Palóc Region. This custom was practiced here spontaneously for the last time in the early 1960s and then again in the early 1970s. Kunkovács mentions his opinion that organizers of consciously revived traditions may miss the essence of a custom, or change it for reasons of tourism, and this kind of thing was not interesting for him.