folkMAGazin

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English Table of Contents 2015/1

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Remembering Ertl Marika (1936–2014) of the town of Litér in Western Hungary. She was a dedicated teacher who taught folk song and dance to countlesss generations of children, founder of the Zöldág Folk Dance Ensemble and member of the Heritage Childrens Folk Arts Association. Eulogy by Foltin Jolán, choreographer.

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HB – Long Farewell to Halmos Béla – a documentary film honoring the late Halmos Béla, a founder and leader of Hungary’s dance house movement. Premiere showings of the film were held at Hungarian Heritage House in Budapest on January 22 and 23, 2015. Béla worked for over 20 years on a series documentary portrait films on traditional Hungarian musicians. This film tribute to Béla was made by his colleagues in that project. Director: Szomjas György. Producers: Rosta Katalin, Jantyik Csaba. Review by Abkarovits Endre.

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Publication: Celebrating ethnomusicologist Almási István’s (b.Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca 1934) 80th birthday and life work, a volume of new studies in folk music, folk dance and ballad research by 25 of Almási István’s former colleagues and students has been published. Almási was a key member of the Romanian Academy’s Kolozsvár Folklore Institute for 50 years. He added nearly 6000 melodies and transcriptions to the archives and countless publications, including his monography on the Szilágyság region. Announcement by Salat-Zakariás Erzsébet.

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Part II. Conversation with Salamon József, parish priest in Gyimesbükk, Romania. Salamon József has served in an impressive number of communities in Transylvania over the years: Brassó-Bolonya, Gyergyóditró, Szászrégen, Óradna (in Beszterce County) from where he travelled to the villages of Magyarnemegye and Kisilvár to hold mass. In 1997 he was transferred to Gyergyóhodos, then in 2004 to Gyimesbükk where he also works in his community to help protect the ethnicity of and raise awareness within this Hungarian ethnic group living on the outer edges of the Hungarian language area. By Kóka Rozália.

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Interveiw with Nagy Gusztáv – journalist, writer, teacher of Gypsy language and literature at Kalyi Jag Institute and Vocational and Arts School. Nagy Gusztáv has translated the works of many important Hungarian and other European writers into the Gypsy language. ”...there is hardly anyone who can read these. I ask myself who am I translating for? When I don’t find the answer, I get bitter and sad. I try to encourage my students to learn their own language, but they aren’t really interested.” Interviewer: Grozdits Károly.

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Kóka Rozália’s new column presents selected stories from Keresztapám nadrágja – a book by Péter László who wrote down humorous stories he heard from his relatives in his childhood growing up in a community of Székely Hungarians that had been expelled from Bukovina at the beginning of the 1940s, and resettled in Northern Serbia. These are stories of the hardships of resettlement in a new land – told with the Székely bitter-sweet sense of humour.

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Publication: Széki Lakodalom [The Wedding in the Transylvanian Village of Szék] Edited by Árendás Péter. Hungarian Heritage House. 2015. In Hungarian. Book with CD ROM. Includes extensive bibliography. Presents a detailed account of the wedding customs and a collection of previously published studies on the history and folk customs of Szék.

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Publication: Jagamas János népzenei gyűjteménye [The folk music collection of Jagamas János] Edited by Pávai István and Zakariás Erzsébet. Published by cooperation between: Folklore Archive of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Musicology – Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Hungarian Heritage House. 2014. Book and DVD ROM in Hungarian, Romanian and English. Jagamas’ collection was amassed between 1940 and 1950 and consists mainly of Hungarian folk music from Romania: 7236 melody variations, 3036 sound clips.

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Hurdy Gurdy Instruction in Hungary. The hurdy gurdy has been part of European culture since the Middle Ages. It is known all over Europe. This is a discussion of teaching and learning hurdy gurdy as one of Hungary’s traditional folk instruments. Includes quotes from Sebő Ferenc, Szerényi Béla, and Bársony Mihály and bibliography. By Patonai Bátor.

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22nd National Solo Folk Dance Competition – Békescsaba, Hungary – January 10, 2015. This is a serious juried competition held every two years in Eastern Hungary. Contestants spend many hours practicing and learning to dance the compulsory traditional dance sequences. Some dancers return and compete several times before finally being chosen by the jury as winner of the ’golden spur’ or ’golden pearl’ of folk dance excellence. Several-time winners earn the eternal golden spur or pearl. This year’s winners and jury members are listed in this issue. The article discusses some obstacles posed by modern life for attaining this kind of excellence in folk dance. By Kovács Norbert „Cimbi”.

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Farewell to singing teacher, folk song competition organizer Nits Márta (1955–2014). She spent her life teaching in Budapest; 15 years at Hunyadi János School, 13 years at Erkel Ferenc School and until her death at Kandó tér Elementary School. She was known amongst her colleagues for her tireless work, dedication and quiet, humble service. Obituary by Juhász Katalin.

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The Republic of Bashkortostan, also known as Bashkir (Başqortostan Respublikahı) or Bashkiria; is a federal republic of Russia, located between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. The capital city is Ufa. The Bashkir language belongs to the Kypchak branch of the Turkic languages. Hungarian ethnographers Szabó Zoltán and Juhász Katalin recently had the opportunity to visit this country. Though there are no scientifically proven direct genetic or cultural connections between the Hungarians and this ethnic group – during their visit to the capital city our ethnographers were struck by many familiar impressions and similarities between the Hungarian and Baskir cultures and languages. By Juhász Katalin.

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Traditional Hungarian Kitchen – Fánk is the Hungarian version of the doughnut (deep-fried, yeasted sweet dough). By tradition this sweet is usually made in Hungarian communities in winter during the carnival season. Offered here are five different fánk recipes. By Juhász Katalin.

By Sue Foy

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English Table of Contents 2015/2

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In memory of Pál István “Pista bácsi” (Feb 1919–March 2015) – shepherd, bagpipe player from Hungary’s Palóc region. He was an important and beloved informant of the dance house movement who provided bagpipe players, ethnographers and the táncház movement with a wealth of inspiration and information not only on traditional, but also human life. The name of this piece “Anyone born of a mother, must sooner or later die” – is a quote from Pista bácsi. The interviewer asked him about when and how he prayed and his relationship to religion. By Fehér Anikó.

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Kóka Rozália talks with Raj Rozália (Doroszló / Doroslovo, 1950) and Nagy István (Magyarittabé / Novi Itebej, 1958) about how they grew up in Hungarian communities in Northern Serbia (Banat, Voivodina) and then became dedicated to preserving local folk tradition. To be continued.

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Review: Singer Bodza Klára’s CD release concert – Hungarian Heritage House, Budapest February 2nd, 2015. The new CD (Fonó FA 360-2), entitled Ó, áldott Szűzanya! (Oh, blessed Virgin Mother!) is all about “faith, experience and giving thanks” and provides a summary of Bodza Klára’s many-decadeslong career as a singer and teacher. She has said this would be her last concert. By Kiss Eszter Veronika – first published in Magyar Nemzet 2015 Feb 4.

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Interview with Liber Endre on his activities as a founding member of Hangvető Hungarian folk and world music distributor, on hosting WOMEX (International World Music Expo) scheduled for October 2015 in Budapest, about the village of Martonvásár where he first came in contact with folk music as a music student in elementary school and the Tükrös Ensemble where he has been playing cimbalom and viola for some 30 years. By Grozdits Károly.

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Erdélyi Zsuzsanna (January 1921–February 2015) was a nationally acclaimed ethnographer, arts writer and member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. She began doing research on Hungarian folk music and folk arts in the 1950s and 60s while working in the folk music department of the Ethnographic Museum. She is known for her research on religious folk customs and textual folklore, many many publications and received numerous national awards in recognition of her work.

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List of awards received on the national holiday March 15th.

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Thoughts on the prímás (lead fiddler’s) festival in Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), Romania held in November 2014. This event, bringing Transylvanian master village fiddlers together with young fiddlers, is held in annually. It was founded by director of the Hargita National Székely Folk Ensemble, András Mihály and is guided by Transylvanian ethnomusicologist dr. Pávai István. By György Katalin.

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New Publication: Babai Dániel, Molnár Ábel, Molnár Zsolt: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Land Use in Gyimes (Eastern Carpathians). MTA Research Center and Ethnographical Institute and the MTA Ecological Research Center Ecological and Botanical Institute. Budapest/Vácrátót, 2014. ISBN 978-963-9627-75-8 Printed here are review/recommendations by ethnographic researcher Agócs Gergely (Budapest) and biologist, farmer Demeter László (Csíkszereda, Romania).

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Tömörkény István (1866–1917) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, ethnographic researcher; he wrote the piece included here – Gül Baba’s pilgrims – in 1916. Gül Baba – the Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent – died in Buda in 1541 at the beginning of the 150 year long Turkish occupation of Hungary. His tomb still stands in Buda today. This writing tells of traces of the Turks that still existed at the time it was written, which included pilgrimages that Turks made to pay respects at Gül Baba’s tomb.

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Listing of summer 2015 folk dance, music and handcrafts camps and workshops to be held in Hungary and neighboring countries.

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Exporting the dance house method to Bashkiria. Interview with Somfai Kara Dávid, ethnographic researcher – Turkish peoples. Two traditional dancers and a flute player from the Republic of Bashkiria (in today’s Russia) will be in Hungary for the week of the dance house festival. They, for example, do jumping dances that seem very similar to Hungarian jumping dances. During the time of their visit, the Hungarian dance and music researchers hope to be able to persuade and train these people to use the dance house method for preserving dance and music tradition in Bashkiria. By Juhász Katalin.

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Cooking Traditions – this column usually focuses on Hungarian traditions – but this time presents filled breads and doughs of the Bashkir and Tatar peoples that live between the Volga River and Ural Mountains in today’s Russia. Six recipes feature stuffed dumplings boiled in hot water, a version cooked in a pan without oil, others deep-fried in oil, and then one baked in the oven. By Juhász Katalin.

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Folk music concert in Academy of Music

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Hurdy-Gurdy Instruction in Hungary – Part 2. This is a discussion of teaching and learning hurdy-gurdy as one of Hungary’s traditional folk instruments, and the importance of developing a method or system on the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels to be used nationally for instruction. The beginning level begins with traditional material from the Hungarian Southern Plain, and so on. Includes input from Szerényi Béla. By Patonai Bátor.

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Lecture series – Hungarian Museum of Ethnography – Budapest. Kerezsi Ágnes: Shamans in Siberia – past and present. Wednesdays 6–8 pm March 25th – April 22nd. The lecture titles: What is shamanism?; Shaman mythology; The Shaman’s role; Obi-ugor shamans; Categories, characteristics of obi-ugor shamanism; video screenings. In Hungarian.

By Sue Foy

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English Table of Contents 2015/3

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Folk music collection at the Fonó – Part 1. Between September 10 and December 20 of 2014 a series of collection work and concerts were organized by the Hungarian Heritage House in memory of the Holocaust. Ten traditional Gypsy bands arrived from selected villages in Transylvania (Romania), Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary for documentation, ethnographical interviews, recordings, and concerts. The focus of this collection project was local Jewish and Gypsy repertoire. These bands had specific memory of the Jewish and/or Gypsy repertorie of their area. This issue includes summaries of three of the bands – from Magyarszovát (Suatu, Romania), Tiszakóród (Hungary), Nagybánya (Baia Mare, Maramureş region, Romania). Report by Árendás Péter.

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Part II. Kóka Rozália talks with Raj Rozália (Doroszló / Doroslovo, 1950) and Nagy István (Magyaritabé / Novi Itebej, 1958) about their tireless work towards preserving local folk traditions in Hungarian communities in Northern Serbia (Bánát, Voivodina). In September of 1995 they founded the Voivodina Hungarian Folklore Center. Establishing the center has given them the infrastructure to organize events and workshops for preserving and passing on traditional dance, music, customs, community and handcrafts in the region.

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Folk CD spring releases – commentary and recommendations from the Hungarian blog: langologitarok.blog.hu. Recordings mentioned here are: Szegelet – ifj. Fodor Sándor „Neti” (son of the late elder Neti), traditional musician from the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania. And from dance house movement bands: Parasztünnep; Góbé Band’s Ez van; Fokos Band. All Fonó releases – all Hungarian folk music. By Rácz Mihály.

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A traditional music workshop was held in the village of Kostelek (Coşnea) in Transylvania’s Gyimes region (Romania). April 8–15, 2015 thirty-six local children had the opportunity to study the music of their region. The workshop was sponsored by the Hungarian National Talent Program and is part of a longer project that has been going since 2005 to help the Csángó ethnic group perserve their Hungarian heritage. Program coordinator – Németh Nóra

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Conversation with G. Szabó Zoltán. Zoltán is an active folk musician, he started with the Vizin Band in Pécs and has performed with Vujicsics, Etnofon Zenei Társulás, Carmina Danubiana and many more. He is also a museologist and ethnographer, has done extensive collection and research on the bagpipe, worked at the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography; since 2008 he has been at the Hungarian Heritage House’s Folk Industrial Arts Museum (exhibition space at Fő utca 6 in Budapest’s 1st district). By Grozdits Károly.

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The Miskolc Dance House Festival was held on April 11, 2015 at the Gárdonyi Géza Cultural Center celebrating Miskolc’s 40 years of dance house history. The event included music by 10 different bands for 9 dance cycles led by 12 dance teachers and a photo exhibition. People arrived from Miskolc, Budapest, Eger, Matyóföld, Felsőzsolca and Kazincbarcika to join in the celebration. Report by Boncsér Gábor.

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Publication: Zentai Tünde: A Dél-Dunántúl hímes templomai – [Painted Churches of Hungary’s Southern Danube Region]. 10th volume of the series. Pro Pannonia Kiadó, Pécs, Hungary. 2014. ISBN 9789639893986. This book is the result of years of research both in the fi eld and the archives. It provides a complete overview of 70 churches with information on history and art history with pictorial presentation of the churches, also addressing periods and styles of ornamentation. Includes also information on churches in communities in Croatia and Slavonia. In Hungarian with a summary in English. Synopsis by dr. Szirtes Gábor.

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Dr. Büki Béla (1931-2015?) was classmate and good friend of Martin - from mid 1940s throughout secondary school. First they were both intensely interested in the Native Americans. They came in contact with ethnography and folk dance in the boyscouts. They both became passionate about dancing and were excellent dancers learning from Molnár István in the Csokanai and Ruggyantagyár Ensembles. Martin continued dancing; becoming a professional folk dancer in 1950. "He was a fantastic dancer." Their paths parted when Büki went on to study medicine (and become a doctor). Martin continued with folk dance and ethnography. Writing a paper together in secondary school, Büki "realized how persistent and precise [Martin] was; he already knew how to research, make notes and organize to write a paper."

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Muharay Elemér Folk Arts Association celebrates 25 years with 3 events. A 3 day workshop was held April 24–26 in Rimóc, Varsány and Hollókő in Hungary’s Nógrád County. A festival for tradition preserving children’s groups was held in Bag, Hungary on May 9th. The Association’s 25th anniversary celebration was on May 16th in Százhalombatta, Hungary. The event included a conference discussing aspects and importance of preserving tradition and it’s meaning today; a celebrational mass, awards ceremonies and gala performances by member dance groups and Masters of Folk Arts. The Muharay Association is an umbrella organization for local tradition preserving groups. The association organizes regular festivals for these groups, meetings and professional consultation on methods and problems of perserving tradition. By Antal László.

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Tradition and the Hungarian Kitchen – the art of sour soups’. Soup has an important place in the Hungarian diet and it has been this way for some 200 years. Here several kinds of sour soups are described along with various methods of making them sour. The Poles, for example, make a sour soup by letting rye flour and water ferment for a few days at room temperature. Th e resultant sour liquid is used to make the soup sour. The Moldavian Csángó people use a similar method. Amongst soup recipes provided here are: żurek, borcs, cibere. By Juhász Katalin.

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Halmos Béla wandering trophy. The violin of the late Halmos Béla (1946–2013) has become a ‘wandering prize’. Each year on May 9th – Dance House Movement Celebration Day – Béla’s violin shall be given to a deserving folk musician to use for a year. One year later, the violin will be handed on to the next deserving musician, and so on. The first one to win the use of Béla’s fiddle is musician, folk music teacher and researcher, Lipták Dániel. Announcement by Virágvölgyi Márta.

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Csángó Festival – Jászberény. The first Csángó Festival and conference was held in the summer of 1991. Traditional Csángó dancers, singers and musicians from 11 villages in Moldavia were invited to the first festival. The town of Jászberény is also famous in these circles for its award winning folk dance group the Jászság Ensemble (founded in 1971 by Papp Imre / present director: Szűcs Gábor), and for the folk dance and music camp hosted by the ensemble there each summer. By Péterbencze Anikó.

By Sue Foy

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English Table of Contents 2015/4

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Henics Tamás : Feketetó [Market on the Banks of the Körös River] – Published by the author. Hungary 2015. ISBN 978-963-12-1525-0. A photo album. Can be found at MesterPorta: 1011 Budapest, Corvin tér 7. Since 1815 Feketetó/Negreni has had the right to hold national markets. Every year on about the fi rst weekend in October there is an outdoor market in this village at the gateway to Transylvania. Th is is Henics Tamás’s third photo album. He is a medical researcher, an amateur photographer, founder/director of Ladikos Festival, and active supporter of Hungarian traditional life and music.

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Kallós Zoltán: Balladás könyv. Collected by: Kallós Zoltán; Eds: Kallós Zoltán, Németh István. Kallós Zoltán Alapítvány, Válaszút, Romania 2014. 700 pages/ includes DVD. ISBN 978-973-0-17845-6. Kallós Zoltán was born in 1926, in the village of Válaszút/Răscruci, Kolozs County, Romania (Translyvania). He is an ethnographer and singer. He collected his first ballad in 1942 in his home village. Over the years his informants were between the ages of 9 and 89 years old, much of the material is still being sung today. His ballad collection work focused on Hungarians in Moldavia and in the Gyimes, Northern Mezőség and Kalotaszeg regions of Transylvania.

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Kóka Rozália’s series on dedicated Hungarians living outside Hungary. This issue’s story features Smuk András of Vienna. Born in 1947 in the village of Pusztasomorja in a border area of Western Hungary. His family escaped in 1956. He was sent to Hungarian schools in Austria and Germany, completed his PhD and worked in Vienna in oil and natural gas research until retirement. This story is about his dedication and contribution to Hungarian culture and active participation in Vienna’s “Europa”-Club which included organization of pilgrimmages for groups of Austrian Hungarians to visit Hungarians in Hungary and in other periferal areas after 1989.

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Anca Giurchescu 1930–2015. “Anca was an internationally renowned dance scholar from Romania. She grew up in Transylvania and then moved to the capital Bucharest, where she studied Rhythmic Dance at the University of Physical Education in 1949. In 1953 she took up a research position in the Choreology Department of the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore. Despite being prevented from continuing her studies several times by the communist authorities, she graduated in 1963. By the time she left the department in 1979 she was Head Researcher. During her time at the institute Anca contributed to the foundation and development of folk dance research in Romania, conducting fi eldwork in over 240 localities. As well broad-ranging research on dance, she investigated, from an insider’s perspective, the way traditional symbols were manipulated by communist cultural management for political power legitimation. In 1979 Anca defected from Romania and was granted political refugee status in Denmark, where she remained active as a dance scholar. She returned to her homeland in 1989, following the fall of the communist regime, to continue her research (started in 1968) on the process of transformation of the healing ritual Călus¸ and dance tradition of the Roma minority.” (from University of Roehampton, London – website) Anca also knew and worked with the great Hungarian folk dance researcher Martin György (1932–1983). Felföldi László’s tribute to Anca and her work includes a partial listing of her publications.

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Message to Halmos Béla – THE fiddler. A friend and colleague of the late Halmos Béla (1946–2013) shares a few of his own adventures with Béla demonstrating Béla’s friendly, intelligent personality and his dedication to the dance house movement. Also mentioned here is the Halmos–Szomjas series of films – Portraits of Traditional Musicians – released on DVD in 2013. By Szabó Zoli – the bagpiper.

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Interview with Kovács Norbert “Cimbi”– folk dancer, choreographer, Young Master of Folk Arts, award winning solo dancer, active organizer of cultural events. Originally from Western Hungary and presently living there in the village of Kiscsősz, he has been working on projects that will be an asset to the village community, the region and to those that consider traditional dance, music and folk culture to be more than just a scene. By Grozdits Károly.

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Ratkó Lujza: Szabolcs-Szatmár–Bereg megye népművészete. Nyíregyháza: Jósa András Múzeum, 2014. 800 pages. Contains 19 studies, and 900 illustrations. In Hungarian with some English summary. The series of monograph-level albums on Hungarian folk art heritage was started in 1987 – each to be an in-depth look at folk arts of each county of Hungary. Th e 10th volume of the series was published in December of 2014 featuring Hungary’s Szabolcs-Szatmár–Bereg County.

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Farewell to Nagy Zoltán József “Púder”. Púder died tragically and suddenly in a train accident on July 10, 2015. He leaves behind his wife and 3 children and scores of friends and colleagues that worked with him over the years. He was dedicated to the dance house movement, a good teacher, dancer and choreographer who travelled the world teaching Hungarian dance. This farewell is written by his long time friend and colleague, member of Kolompos Band – Ifj. Timár Sándor.

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Interview with Berán István – organizer of the National Dance House Festival (traditionally held at the end of March in Budapest) and director of the Táncház Guild. This conversation covers history of the festival which began in the early 1980s, recent developments, commentary on 2015’s festival and plans for the future. By Maksa Henrietta – first appeared in Folkpédia 2015 May 23.

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Virágvölgyi Márta: When I met Martin György /thoughts after teaching a master course for folk musicians in Kolozsvár/Cluj Napoca on May 16th, 2015. This article gives us information on Márta’s career, music, research work, teaching and what it was like working with Martin György. It is also serves a report on the master workshop in folk music she taught with Fekete Antal “Puma” in May. She offers advice and motivation for aspiring folk musicians – now that so many of the Transylvanian village musicians that were her masters, are gone.

By Sue Foy

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English Table of Contents 2015/5

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New Publication: Pávai István: Magyarózd népzeneje Horváth István gyűjései tükrében – The Folk Music of Magyarózd as Reflected in the Collection of István Horváth. Hagyományok Háza /MTA BTK Insititue of Musicology. Budapest. 2015. In Hungarian and English. Includes DVD-ROM. Magyarózd/Ozd is located in Maros County, Romania – in Transylvania. Mr. Pávai is one the most knowlegable ethnomusicologists working in this area. He is from Transylvania and has been actively involved in research in the area since at least the early 1970s.

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At an awards ceremony on November 5th, 2015 at the Pesti Vigadó in Budapest three outstanding Hungarian artists will be named Artist of the Nation. This award is bestowed by the Hungarian Academy of Arts. On November 5th, 2015 architect and interior designer Ferencz István, choreographer Foltin Jolán, and sculptor Szerváttiusz Tibor received this national honour.

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Csurgó Band celebrates 20 years. They are based mainly in the town of Szekszárd in Hungary’s Tolna County. They do folk music programs for children in the area, also play for dance houses, and work with several folk dance ensembles in the region. In December they expect to release their 3rd record of children’s material, and will celebrate their 20th birthday with a concert and dance house on December 12th, 2015 in Bonyhád. Report by Siklósi Krisztián.

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Philosophical introduction
"…in considering the recent past of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble we search for keys to the deeper layers of the artistic practices and work of choreographer Mihályi Gábor.
…aesthetic formation of imitative movement inspired by tradition - folk dance… as an energetic bodily activity would remain indefinable without back-up from phenomenology and hermeneutics..."

Preliminary notes, hypothetical statements
"…In my experience, since 2000…under Mihályi Gábor’s artistic direction, the State Folk Ensemble instead of focusing on a motionless static past (based on the folk dance documented by the researchers), focuses on its own existing present - thus on the memories within that, and on awaited horizens - …over the last fifteen years the ensemble has searched and is searching for tradition…."
"…many of the performances have been collaborative works with other choreographers…nevertheless when we look back over the variety and richness of the ensemble’s last fifteen years of activity - it can be seen as one process. Mihályi Gábor’s name is the emblematic and creative name I shall use as coordinator of all the group work and leader of the ensemble…"

The fate of tradition, or its fatelessness
"…the present question becomes: what does tradition mean in our actual world? How can we make the summonable, danceable past our own, and organically build upon that in the present?…"
"…the [State Ensemble’s] repertoire is made up of neither authentic nor dramatic performances, [Mihályi] allows for dance (yes, folk dance ) to freely stand out with its unbridled emotional content as the embodiment of reality…"

Unmarked presence
"The State Folk Ensemble is professionally related to the past, they build on folk dance material documented by the researchers…"

The body of folk dance, or the body’s folk dance
"…Mihályi Gábor’s choreographic world is comparable to that of Merce Cunningham, who while discovering pure dance also ventured close to the source…"

In summary
"…in Mihályi Gábor’s choreographic world, folk dance has become one of the definitive forms of contemporary dance, in such a way that neither its historical embededness nor its community nature has been lost in the meantime."

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The Muzsikás Ensemble’s children’s dance house is still going on. Though Muzsikás has a full schedule of concert engagements all over the world and regularly travels all over Hungary doing concerts for children in schools; they still make time to hold their children’s dance house on Fehérvári út in Budapest. They have been doing this for more than 40 years. By Veszprémi Attila – first published in Új Pedagógiai Szemle 2014, 9–10.

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Four humorous folk tales on death: preparing for death, thinking about death, a crypt, and a corpse that woke up. Selected by Kóka Rozália in light of November 1st, 2nd’s All Saints Day and Day of the Dead from Péter László’s book Kërësztapám nadrágja – Magyar Művelődési Intézet. Zenta/Senta, Serbia. 2011.

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Female vocalists Jitka Šuranská, Irén Lovász and Michal Elia Kamal have released an album entitled Tři hlasy / Three Voices. The three singers got together thanks to a project called Folk Holiday in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Czech Republic. Michal Elia Kamal is an Israeli singer of Iranian descent, Irén Lovász is a Hungarian singer and Jitka Šuranská is a Czech singer/violinist. Their multi-cultural collaboration is reviewed by Fehér Anikó.

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The music and records of cymbalom duo Balogh Kálmán and Lukács Miklós have made world music charts top lists and the duo was selected to perform during the recent 2015 WOMEX festival in Budapest. The introductory/congratulatory speech for the two musicians printed here includes a bit of history on the Hungarian pedaled concert cymbalom – the first of which was built in 1874 in Schunda Vencel József ’s instrument factory in Budapest. By Liber Endre.

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The 2nd Sztána International Folk Informational/Documentary Film Festival was held in the village of Sztána/Stana in the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania in Romania, August 28–30, 2015. The film festival focuses on Transylvanian and Hungarian themes in customs, tradition, folk art and ethnography. A jury of five Hungarian experts chose the awarded films. Report includes commentary and interview with festival participants, bringing out differences between ethnographical documentation and documentary film on folk traditions aimed for wider public and TV. Report by Kovács László.

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The fur cloak – szűr – of the Bakony region – Part II. “There is no wind or snow storm in the Bakony that a shepherd’s fur cloak will not protect him from...” This writing gives us a good idea of all the things that this extraordinary piece of outer wear was good for, while also pointing out the differences between the ones worn by shepherds and those worn by swineherds. It includes a tale about a 19th century cannon ball found in a farmer’s field and a Jewish tavern keeper. By Eötvös Károly (1842–1916) – a Hungarian writer, lawyer, politician best known as the defense counsel in a notorious case related to anti-Semitism – from Bakonyi utazás. Vitus Aureus Veszprém, Hungary. 2008. pp 246–253.

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Stories from Szék. The Old Couple – A conversation between an old husband and wife that goes from old lovers and jealousy, to love, forgetfulness and the fact that they’re already in line for the inevitable death. From Kocsis Rózsi’s writings published by Juhos Kiss Sándor.

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Héttorony or Seven Towers is the name of a Hungarian music festival as well as a piece of music composed by Kiss Ferenc. Both were inspired by the Hungarian pavilion for the 1992 world fair in Sevilla, Spain which was designed by the late Hungarian architect Makovecz Imre (1935–2011). Makovecz was a proponet of organic architecture. He was also inspired by traditional Hungarian art. This is the story of a Hungarian who went to Sevilla in the summer of 2015, and searched for Makovecz’ pavilion. Unfortunately he found it in a sad state of disrepair and isintegration. By Henics Tamás.

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Dénes Zoltán is a Hungarian photographer and cinematographer who has been visiting Transylvania and involved in the dance house movement since the mid 1970s. These photographs are from his travels to Transylvania over 40 years.
This Special Issue focuses on photographs which are supported by minimal text and quotes from notable personalities, participants of the dance house movement. The quotes and texts are from: Dénes Zoltán, Sebő Ferenc, Szomjas György, Domokos Pál Péter, Nagy László, Kallós Zoltán, Katona Imre. Also included are excerpts of folk songs from the Transylvanian villages of Magyarózd/Ozd and Visa/Vișea, a poem written for Kallós by poet Lakatos Demeter from Szabófalva/Săbăoani (Moldavia), and a Csángó folk song.

"Kallós’ life bears witness to amazing determination, perserverance and belief in the power of tradition. In his old age he has been able to see the next generations acknowledge the soundness of endeavors. His foundation has become internationally known. The dance house center he built in Válaszút/ Răscruci welcomes hundreds of young people every summer who want to learn, and provides a home and place to learn for Transylvanian Hungarian minority school children. His museum makes it possible for anyone to view the huge collection of folk art objects he accumulated; it also houses his extensive Transylvanian folk music collection. Hungary first knew of him as a collector of Transylvanian Hungarian ballads at the beginning of the 1970s. He was our guide on our first trips to Transylvania and tireless promoter of the traditional instrumental and vocal music of the Mezőség region. He coaxed us over mountains on dirt tracks to traditional village events that were then still a natural part of everyday life. Through him we had experiences we will never forget. At the time we could hardly believe that this world still existed and that we could take part in it. All that one heard back then [in Hungary], was that Bartók and Kodály had already collected everything there was to be found in the villages.” Sebő Ferenc

"In the Transylvanian villages the dance house was the place where the young people went to have fun – there was live music [from the area], they met there to sing and dance on weekends and holidays. Forty years ago some young people from Budapest discovered this music and form of recreation. Folk music and folk dance used like this soon became popular [in Budapest], and even became a movement.
Tradition and contempory come together the dance house – making it a valid answer to one of the basic questions of our time. Collection work and documentation in the field were organic parts of the dance house movement. The city youth went looking for traditional musicians, dancers and singers in villages that for the most part were outside of Hungary’s borders. Their collection work on those trips to the village was only truely accomplished when they were able to become closer acquainted with the people and their life-style.
Dénes Zoltán was one of those who took part in this important process - first as a musician, later as a photographer and cameraman. He has been a constant colleague of important figures of the movement such as: Kallós Zoltán, Sebő Ferenc and Halmos Béla. His photographs bring the village people and culture we were amazed at forty years ago closer again – and become the live connection to a dissapearing past." Szomjas György

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Foods of Finnougric language relatives east of the Ural Mountains – Community Porridge. Amongst the Udmurt and Mari peoples, for traditional community celebrations (after sowing, harvest, etc.) the animal appropriate to the type of celebration was/is selected and communally paid for, slaughtered and cooked – boiled – in cauldrons outdoors. The meat is taken off the bones and returned to the pot, then some kind of grain – barley, oats, etc – is added to the pot, and cooked to make a „mush” with meat, which is eaten by the community. Every part of the processs was done according to custom and ritual significance. From conversation with dr.Kerezsi Ágnes – a leading expert on Finnougric peoples. By Juhász Katalin.

By Sue Foy

6

English Table of Contents 2015/6

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Szada is a village northeast of Budapest in Pest County, Hungary. This is the story behind the Szada museum of local tradition. It includes information on local history, tradition, culture, participation in the Pearly Bouquet movement, photographers of the past who documented the inhabitants, exhibitions and publications of the old photographs. Examples of the old photographs are included in this issue of folkMAGazin. Interview with director of the museum Mrs Novák László by Grozdits Károly.

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Legedi László István – Traditional Moldavian Csángó Flute player – 2015 Master of Folk Arts. Legedi László István was born in the village of Klézse/Cleja in Romanian Moldavia. He learned to play the wooden shepherds flutes of the region from his father Legedi László András. Since 1990 he has been regularly invited to play in Hungary for dance house events and recordings. He is a fantastic flute player that holds a wealth of traditional knowledge, well deserving of the Master of Folk Arts title. By Balogh Sándor.

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The life story of Bereczky Ildikó Hungarian Calvinist pastor of Harkány in Southern Hungary and the old Hungarian tradition of Christmas Bethlehem passion plays are subjects for the next portrait in the series on personalities dedicated to preservation of Hungarian folk arts and culture. By Kóka Rozália.

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Kobzos Kiss Tamás – May 30, 1950 (Debrecen) – Nov. 8, 2015 (Budapest) The well-known, late Kobzos Kiss Tamás was a singer, instrumentalist and music teacher; his signature instrument was the coboz, or Moldavian lute. He was long-time director of the Óbuda Folk Music School in Budapest. Throughout his career he played with a long list of folk and old music ensembles and received numerous awards in recognition of his artistry and work: amongst them – the Kossuth and Liszt Ferenc awards. Farewell by Szabó Zoltán.

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A bit of ethnography on Hungarian Radio. Two pieces: one discussing the village kántor referring to the local singing master/singing leader and music teacher – who was also the church organist and assistant to the local priest or clergy. The other piece discusses the local school teacher also referred to as the school rector or mester in traditional village communities, who may have had tasks similar to the kántor with regards to music and singing, but was also school teacher for the village children. Both were positions of respect in a village. By Erdélyi Zsuzsanna and Jávor Kata from „Kis magyar néprajz a rádióban” RTV, Minerva, Budapest. 1978.

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The skewed picture of Hungarians – reasons for historical tragedies and current problems. Part 2. This study examines and argues statements such as: The arrival of the Hungarian tribes to the Carpathian Basin put an end to the spread of the flourishing Slavic religions; The Hungarians massacred everyone that came into their path, then moved into their places. Was this really how it happened?; Even in 1996 certain Slavic neighbors referred to the Hungarians as ’thieving nomads’. This is a lecture given in 2006 by retired ethnographer, university professor, politician Andrásfalvy Bertalan (born 1931 Sopron, Hungary). Transcribed by Henics Tamás.

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Letters from Bársony Mihály to Sebő Ferenc from between 1970 and 1988 before Bársony’s death. Bársony Mihály (Tiszaalpár, Hungary 1915–1989) – traditional hurdygurdy player, instrument maker and handy man extraordinaire of Hungary’s southern plains region; he was called a ‘peasant genius’. He also played clarinet and zither, was recognized with the title of Hungarian Master of Folk Arts, and was one of Sebő Ferenc’s important informants.

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Exhibition of folk art collected by ethnographer Andrásfalvy Bertalan celebrating his 90th birthday. The exhibition will be held from November 17th, 2021 through March 1, 2022 in the city of Pécs. It includes traditional costume pieces and textiles, photographs, films, maps and other documentation from the many decades of Andrásfalvy’s career and research, revealing also his methods of researching traditional music and dance.

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Meeting of traditional Moldavian Csángó ballad singers – Klézse/Cleja, Romania, October 24, 2015. Singers arriving from more than 30 Moldavian Csángó communities were from pre-school age to elderly traditional singers. The event was supported by 4 different organizations. This writing also draws attention to the ongoing, though seemly losing struggle to maintain the Csángó Hungarian language, traditions and culture in this area, where there is and has been a great deal of pressure to assimilate into the otherwise Romanian society in the area. By Péterbencze Anikó.

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New recording: Téka Együttes – Ritka Magyar I. / Fonó FA375-2 Traditional music from villages in Transylvania’s Mezőség region. The record gets its name from the “solo legényes type men’s dance of the region known for its richly complex rhythmic motifs…though improvised, it closely adheres to the phrasing of the accompanying melodies…” The band: Soós András – violin, Kalász Máté – violin, Tárnoki Beatrix – voice, Hegedűs Luca – 3-stringed viola, Lányi György – 3-stringed viola, Havasréti Pál – cello, double bass.

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Reviews – Hungarian World Music. Three recent recordings are recommended: Zűrös Banda (Fonó 2015), Buda Folk Band – “Saját gyűjtés” (Fonó 2015), singer (in Csík Band) Majorosi Marianna’s solo record – “Szerelmesnek nehéz lenni” (Fonó 2015). By Rácz Mihály – langologitarok.blog.hu 2015 Nov. 27.

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Bartus Józsefné Szandai Teréz (Herencsény, Hungary 1931–2015) was a traditional story teller, singer and informant on peasant religious beliefs and customs of Hungary’s Palóc Region, where she lived her entire life. She was recognized as Hungarian Master of Folk Arts in 2002 and recipient of numerous other awards. Géczi Hegedűs Sándor (1935–2015 Rév/Vadu Crişului, Bihar/Bihor County, Romania) was a traditional story teller and important ethnographic informant. He was recognized with title of Master of Folk Arts in 2012. By Magyar Zoltán.

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The Pozsony/Bratislava based professional folk dance company Ifjú Szivek is 60 years old. On November 7th, 2015 the group celebrated with a grand gala performance at Hviezdoslav Theatre in Pozsony – the same place where the group gave its first important presentation in 1958. Ifjú Szivek is a Hungarian dance company dedicated first of all to Hungarian folk dance traditions in Slovakia and other parts of the Hungarian language region. Artistic director of the gala performance and company director is Hégli Dusán. Leader of the band: Koncz Gergely. Review and congratulations by one of the group’s founders, dance researcher Takács András.

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Reports and basic information on three existing folk dance research groups and university programs: Hungarian Ethnochoreological Association; a dance research program offering BA and MA degrees within the Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology department at the University of Szeged in Hungary; Choreomundus – the European international university program offering MA degree in dance as knowledge, practice and cultural heritage. By Felföldi László, Kukár Barnabás Manó and Varga Sándor.

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New CD: Tükrös Band: Erdők, vizek zenéje [Music of the forests and rivers] (2015 Music Hungary Zeneműkiadó Kft. FECD062) Traditional music – the most beautiful melodies – from Transylvania’s Maros and Küküllő regions. The band: Halmos Attila – violin; Koncz Gergely – violin; Árendás Péter – kontra; Liber Endre – kontra, cymbalom; Lelkes András – double bass

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Black-Red Dance. This tribute to the Transylvanian village of Szék/Sic reminds us that musicologist Lajtha László went to Szék in 1940 and ‘41 to collect traditional instrumental music. We are also reminded of the unmarried girls from Szék who were sent to Kolozsvár/Cluj to work as servants for wealthier Hungarian families where they worked until they married. On their days off the girls would meet the other Szék girls working in Kolozsvár at a certain park to talk and dance. There was no music, they weren’t allowed to sing in public in Hungarian, so they hummed the music and danced together. They are remembered in a poem by Hungarian poet Kányádi Sándor, who observed them in the 1960s and 70s. By Széki Soós János.

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Traditional cuisine of Finnugor language relatives – part III. The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra is a federal subject of Russia with a population of 1.5 million. The Khanty and Mansi people native to the region are known collectively as the Ob Ugric people. Local languages, Khanty and Mansi, are distant relatives to Hungarian and part of the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric languages. Hungarian ethnographic researcher and linguist Ruttkay-Miklián Eszter whose husband is Khanty, tells about Khanty traditional cuisine – a mainstay of which is boiled meat which is removed from the liquid and eaten separately, then one dips bread in, and eats the left over liquid. By Juhász Katalin.

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The early Hungarian folk dance movement – social ideology or national culture? The study is broken into the following sections: Questions and problems for folk writers/The pearly bouquet movement (1930s). Includes extensive notes. By Barta L. Tamás.

By Sue Foy