Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
Building Bridges between Hungarian Archival Resources and Modern Technology with Fulbright Support
History/Political Science1. Kovács Ilona. Közös történelmünk forrása, a Bethlen gyűjtemény korszerű, modell értékű feldolgozása az Amerikai Magyar Alapítvány könyvtárában A Bethlen gyűjtemény az amerikai magyarság, s egyben a magyarországi történeti kutatás egyik legjelentősebb forrása. Feltárása és hozzáférhetővé tétele önismeretünk és múltunk kölcsönös megértésének nélkülözhetetlen eszköze. A közös történeti források széleskörű hozzáférésének biztosítása érdekében a magyar Fulbright Bizottság az Amerikai Magyar Alapítvány anyagi, az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár szakmai támogatásával 1997-ben ösztöndíjat alapított. Az ösztöndíjas időszak számos területen rendkívüli lehetőség a két ország szakmai és kulturális kapcsolatainak építésében, új kutatási eredmények felmutatásában és a résztvevők szakmai és emberi fejlődésében. Az előadás a gyűjtemény kutatási jelentőségének, tartalmi értékeinek és szerkezeti felépítésének bemutatása mellett ismerteti a Society of American Archivist által javasolt, a digitális technikát előkészítő és az amerikai könyvtárak körében széles körben használt feldolgozási módszer (EAD, DTD) alkalmazását a Bethlen Gyűjtemény feldolgozására. Ez a példa modell értékű módszerré válhat mind az amerikai magyar, mind a magyarországi archivális gyűjtemények feldolgozása számára.
2. Deák Nóra: A kontinenseket összekötő digitális technológia alkalmazása a Bethlen gyűjtemény internet hozzáférésében 2007/2008-ban a Fulbright Bizottság által támogatott projekt segítségével egy közel tízéves folyamat fontos állomása valósulhatott meg: a gyűjtemény fizikai elhelyezése és a fondjegyzék elkészítése után számítógépes adatbázis létrehozása. Erre a célra az Alapítvány rendelkezésére álló és már bevezetett nyílt forráskódú Archivists’ Toolkit információarchiváló szoftver szolgált. Ennek segítségével megtörtént az amerikai magyarság történetére és kultúrájára vonatkozó jelentős elsődleges források feldolgozása és hozzáférhetővé tétele.
2. Deák Nóra: A kontinenseket összekötő digitális technológia alkalmazása a Bethlen gyűjtemény internet hozzáférésében 2007/2008-ban a Fulbright Bizottság által támogatott projekt segítségével egy közel tízéves folyamat fontos állomása valósulhatott meg: a gyűjtemény fizikai elhelyezése és a fondjegyzék elkészítése után számítógépes adatbázis létrehozása. Erre a célra az Alapítvány rendelkezésére álló és már bevezetett nyílt forráskódú Archivists’ Toolkit információarchiváló szoftver szolgált. Ennek segítségével megtörtént az amerikai magyarság történetére és kultúrájára vonatkozó jelentős elsődleges források feldolgozása és hozzáférhetővé tétele.
Building Community and International Scope at the Méra World Music Festival
Music/FolkloreThe Méra World Music Festival grows out of a spirit of community awareness and activism that has marked this part of Transylvania for centuries. Through interviews with founder/managers of this festival, an examination of the program and layout, and discussions with participants and townspeople this study explores the development of this festival, choices behind its offerings, and its relationship to community activism throughout the area. I will also evaluate the festival’s support of its stakeholder participants--performers, musicians, dancers, artisans, local businesses and households, pulling apart local and global elements of the organizers’ moniker “glocal.” Méra is a central community of the Kalotaszeg region, a prosperous farming area known for its traditional dance. The festival itself is a grassroots effort inspired by the dance group Kalotaszeg Néptáncegyüttes as part of the Kalotaszeg NTE. It is a generational triumph with organizers near thirty. From its start in 2016, Méra has offered a stage to top musicians, singers, and dancers of the Hungarian folk music revival (this year Csik Zenekar, Romano Drom, Ferenczi György, legényes competition finalists) and folk groups from other parts of the world (Sirani Guevara from Mexico, Dikanda from Poland). Performances are followed every night by jam sessions and dance parties (táncház) featuring local masters from Kalotaszeg’s neighboring regions and revival band members. It draws participants from traditional music/dance camps all over Transylvania, who party into the night with locals. As the festival grows it includes multi-lingual interviews, museum shows, lectures, and film screenings and a regional market.
Building Culltural Ties between Hungary and the U.S. by the “Singing Youth Movement” Launched by Lajos Bárdos
Music/FolkloreLajos Bárdos – composer, conductor, professor of the Franz Liszt Music Academy – was born in 1899 and became an early member of the boy scouts movement in Hungary. He joined the troop of the Verbőczi Gimnázium – his high school – when he was 13 years old. Later the scout troop published different folksong collections for the entire scouting movement. In 1921 he composed the “Tábortűznél” campfire song, which is now known worldwide. (Its text was translated into many languages, including Hebrew and Japanese.)
In 1926 the Hungarian Scouts Association published the ‘101 Hungarian folksongs” collection edited by Lajos Bárdos (with the foreword by Zoltán Kodály) which became the musical bible of the young Hungarians and made possible the widespread popularity of folksongs among scouts in Hungary. Bárdos became the musical leader of the scouts.
Later in 1934 he established the “Singing Youth Movement” which had followers outside the borders of Hungary, even in the United States. Schools in the New Brunswick area and of many other parts of the U.S. organized these joint singing events and concerts. They performed Hungarian folksongs and enjoyed the experience of singing together. This movement – which remains active today – helped to make Kodály’s dream of “Singing Hungary” become true.
The works of Lajos Bárdos are still popular worldwide including the United States. Thanks to Bárdos and many other composers the Hungarian cultural ties in music remain very active and vibrant.
In 1926 the Hungarian Scouts Association published the ‘101 Hungarian folksongs” collection edited by Lajos Bárdos (with the foreword by Zoltán Kodály) which became the musical bible of the young Hungarians and made possible the widespread popularity of folksongs among scouts in Hungary. Bárdos became the musical leader of the scouts.
Later in 1934 he established the “Singing Youth Movement” which had followers outside the borders of Hungary, even in the United States. Schools in the New Brunswick area and of many other parts of the U.S. organized these joint singing events and concerts. They performed Hungarian folksongs and enjoyed the experience of singing together. This movement – which remains active today – helped to make Kodály’s dream of “Singing Hungary” become true.
The works of Lajos Bárdos are still popular worldwide including the United States. Thanks to Bárdos and many other composers the Hungarian cultural ties in music remain very active and vibrant.
Bűn és bűnözés kontroll mint magyar-amerikai kultúrkereszteződés
History/Political ScienceA műhelyvitán való hozzászólásom az amerikai-magyar kultúrkereszteződés szempontjából szemlélteti a bűnözés és bűnözéskontroll ismérveit, megnyilvánulási formáit, megvalósulását. Számot ad esettanulmányok bemutatásával a magyar bűnözők amerikai tevékenységéről mint például a Markó- féle maffia Los Angeles, San Francisco területén való bűnözéséről. Más bűnszervezetek Amerikába történő infiltrációjáról. Bemutatja a bűnüldözési tapasztalatok átadásának folyamatát, intézményi kereteit, különösen az FBI nemzetközi egységének hazai működését, az ILEA oktatási eredményeit. Számot ad az ún. három csapás elméletének és más amerikai jogintézmények magyarországi bevezetésének alakulásáról.
BURDOSHÁZ AMERIKÁBÓL: Balogh Balázs néprajzkutató nyomában
Cultural Studies/ArtsA film a magyar emigránsok nehéz életét mutatja be egy pennsylvaniai magyar bányásztelepülésen, Vintondale-ben, az ott összegyűjtött tárgyi emlékeken és a rekonstruált burdosházon (bányász férfiaknak fenntartott személyenkénti félnapos ágybérletet nyújtó panzión) keresztül. A település egykoron jelentős lélekszámú magyar lakossága elsősorban a Bereg megyei Bátyuból származik. Bagu Balázs falutársaival az agrárnyomor elől tántorgott ki Amerikába, majd a nyugat-pennsylvaniai bányavidék világtól elzárt kis telepén éjjel-nappal az aknákban görnyedve, centet centre rakva vásárolt egy burdosházat. A világgazdasági válság következtében a bánya bezárt. A lakosság többsége nem tudott visszatérni a szülőföldre és szétszóródott. A film egy családtörténeten keresztül – mint cseppben a tengert – igyekszik bemutatni az amerikai magyarok első nemzedékének életvilágát.
Captured by Stereotypes – Representations of Refugees in Contemporary Hungarian Literature
Language/LiteratureThe lecture attempts to interpret the literary representations of refugees in contemporary Hungarian literature. The refugee crisis of recent years is not the central topic of Hungarian literature, but it can be found for example in the texts of Sándor Jászberényi, Zsuzsa Selyem, Ottó Tolnai, Krisztina Tóth, and Dénes Krusovszky. The refugees show up in the works in different ways. In some of them, migrants are background elements; in others, they have a more significant role, but we can see them as strangers, as the manifestation of Other throughout. The reader sees the refugees through the narrator's or the protagonist's eye. The migrants seldom have a voice. Based on the theories of stereotypes and strangeness, the work deals with the issues such as migrant, stranger, border crossing, refugee literature, migrant literature. Furthermore, the lecture compares the analyzed texts with the relevant pieces of world literature.
Capturing an Oral Tradition on the Page: Notations of Ornamentation, Variation, and Individuality in Hungarian Folk Singing
Music/FolkloreCreating transcriptions of source recordings is both a science and an art - and the detailed transcriptions of Hungarian folk songs created by Hungarian ethnomusicologists provide invaluable material for historical understanding, theoretical analysis, and vocal study of these songs. What other styles of notation could serve different functions: capture new elements of the songs, demonstrate the variation and improvisation, or provide a more visually representative or easier-to-follow guide for today’s many folk singing students? With complex but stylistic ornamentation, rubato and ‘uneven’ timing, differing vocal timbres, and other fluctuating and flexible elements specific to regions and song types, this diverse oral tradition can be represented on the page in many ways. I will present a few examples of notational strategies developed through experience with folk singers’ rehearsal techniques without sheet music or with limited music-reading skills, contemporary composers’ use of modern notation and graphic scoring, and Hungarian folk music scholars’ knowledge of transcription methods appropriate to this music. As folk singers often must know to embellish skeletal notations or are daunted by transcriptions that are unnecessarily complicated and counterintuitive (and in fact create their own alternatives), these tools may aid in practical daily ways. But as I bring out important elements intrinsic to Hungarian folk singing they may also shed light on conceptual changes in our approach to folk music and its notation. As it bonds Hungarians and folk music enthusiasts around the world, how we conceptualize, visualize, and notate this music is a pressing issue in the ongoing continuation and development of this special heritage.
Catholicism / Orthodoxy and Domestic Violence in Eastern European States
Cultural Studies/ArtsEastern Europe’s religious historical perseverance has come into conflict with the changing role of women. Influence from the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Catholic Church have direct and indirect political influence in Eastern Europe. Strong influences still exist for the subjugation of women into family roles and fierce pressure from women’s organizations has caused a backlash from the political apparatus. This backlash exacerbates the inequality of women. I will do an in depth comparison of Hungary and other emerging democracies through the lens of international human rights norms. How will a country hold onto its identity while adapting to ever changing societal demands?
This paper will be a comparative study on domestic violence in Eastern European countries and their adherence to stated UN norms. I will look at the issue of gender identity, with an emphasis on religious influence towards societal behavior. This paper compares the compliance of Hungary with newer Eastern European states through the lens of domestic violence.
This paper will be a comparative study on domestic violence in Eastern European countries and their adherence to stated UN norms. I will look at the issue of gender identity, with an emphasis on religious influence towards societal behavior. This paper compares the compliance of Hungary with newer Eastern European states through the lens of domestic violence.
Catholicism, Women and the Nationalist Movement
Cultural Studies/ArtsThis research looks at Hungary and its current use of Catholicism in relation to Women and the Nationalist movement. Catholicism and Gender equality are interrelated. Catholicism as a state religion promotes traditional family values. The Roman Catholic Church teaches religion in public institutions in Hungary, interlacing traditional gender roles with the Nationalist movement and creating roadblocks toward women’s equality. Hungary’s concordats with the Vatican and the Istanbul Convention are in conflict when addressing women's human rights. In addition, the promotion of a moral authority blurs the separation of church and state making it difficult for a secular society to blossom. The Catholic Church in Hungary, wanting to establish political power and rationalize the Nationalist movement to solidify that power, conflicts with women’s equality and arguably, with democracy.
Celebrating 100 Years of Hungarian Cleveland’s Iconic St. Emeric Church Building
Cultural Studies/ArtsSt. Emeric Church is often one of the first places people associate with Hungarian Cleveland. It is home to the city’s last Hungarian Roman Catholic parish community and is also known throughout Northeast Ohio as a Hungarian cultural center that houses the Cleveland Hungarian School, the Hungarian Scouts, and the Cleveland Hungarian Scout Folk Ensemble.
Organized in 1904, St. Emeric Parish recently celebrated the centennial of the dedication of its church building on September 7, 2025. To mark this major milestone, the parish published a commemorative book that both examines the history of the church building and presents a thorough catalog of the statuary, murals, stained glass windows, and other liturgical furnishings and their provenance. Drawing on historic maps, newspaper articles, and archival documents featured in the book, this presentation will trace the parish’s journey from its humble beginnings in a converted building on W. 24th Street to its grand Gothic second church lost to eminent domain, and finally to its third (and current) home, which has served Hungarian Catholics on the West Side of Cleveland for the last century.
The research undertaken for this book uncovered several inaccuracies regarding key events in the life of the parish, some of which have been repeatedly reported since the 1940s. Based on these findings, an appeal will be made to reexamine non-scholarly institutional histories with primary source materials.
Organized in 1904, St. Emeric Parish recently celebrated the centennial of the dedication of its church building on September 7, 2025. To mark this major milestone, the parish published a commemorative book that both examines the history of the church building and presents a thorough catalog of the statuary, murals, stained glass windows, and other liturgical furnishings and their provenance. Drawing on historic maps, newspaper articles, and archival documents featured in the book, this presentation will trace the parish’s journey from its humble beginnings in a converted building on W. 24th Street to its grand Gothic second church lost to eminent domain, and finally to its third (and current) home, which has served Hungarian Catholics on the West Side of Cleveland for the last century.
The research undertaken for this book uncovered several inaccuracies regarding key events in the life of the parish, some of which have been repeatedly reported since the 1940s. Based on these findings, an appeal will be made to reexamine non-scholarly institutional histories with primary source materials.
Central Europe’s Position in International Science and Innovation Policy
Science/EconomicsThe international situations and crises developed in recent years have proven that no single model, sector, or organization can answer all challenges, be they global, regional, or local. Based on experience, the wisest solution is to create a flexible multi-layer system that can
quickly react to new influences. Moreover, its ability to adapt minimizes losses resulting from the transition.
One of the most effective models for dealing with scientific, economic, and social challenges is the creation of a Science Park (STP) or an Area of Innovation (AOI). The structured and integrated management model can channel and represent the needs of all actors of the Multiple Helix, such as higher education, business actors, governments, and society.
Unique cooperation strives for collaborative solutions instead of a traditional competitive mindset, thus resulting in win-win situations that develop a knowledge-based economy. Central and Eastern Europe and Hungary can adapt the achievements and know-how of successful STP-s and AOI-s in Europe and the United States to shorten the learning curve and boost the development procedure. The Science Park is a mindset, a community space, a scientific and research center, and a business model capable of connecting people, institutions, and research centers worldwide. As a pioneer in Hungary, Óbuda University has created a hybrid development and governance model that has not existed before.
In Hungary, upon the Association of Science and Technology Parks initiative, a national program was launched in 2018, within which 11 universities in 14 cities will create their Science and Innovation Parks.
quickly react to new influences. Moreover, its ability to adapt minimizes losses resulting from the transition.
One of the most effective models for dealing with scientific, economic, and social challenges is the creation of a Science Park (STP) or an Area of Innovation (AOI). The structured and integrated management model can channel and represent the needs of all actors of the Multiple Helix, such as higher education, business actors, governments, and society.
Unique cooperation strives for collaborative solutions instead of a traditional competitive mindset, thus resulting in win-win situations that develop a knowledge-based economy. Central and Eastern Europe and Hungary can adapt the achievements and know-how of successful STP-s and AOI-s in Europe and the United States to shorten the learning curve and boost the development procedure. The Science Park is a mindset, a community space, a scientific and research center, and a business model capable of connecting people, institutions, and research centers worldwide. As a pioneer in Hungary, Óbuda University has created a hybrid development and governance model that has not existed before.
In Hungary, upon the Association of Science and Technology Parks initiative, a national program was launched in 2018, within which 11 universities in 14 cities will create their Science and Innovation Parks.
Central Europe’s Future as Planned by Kálmán Kánya
History/Political ScienceAs a result of the peace treaties that followed WWI, Interwar Europe and Central Europe can be characterized by political isolation and confrontation. Apart from this, however, the need for regional and international cooperation was also detectable regarding economics. This cooperation was observable both within informal and formal frameworks.
The study aims at presenting the Hungarian proposals for Central European cooperation between the two world wars. It also targets to contextualize relevant ideas of Kálmán Kánya, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Kánya-folder has recently appeared from a Berlin archive through the Hungarian historian, Imre Tóth, and it content has not been made publicly available yet.
The study aims at presenting the Hungarian proposals for Central European cooperation between the two world wars. It also targets to contextualize relevant ideas of Kálmán Kánya, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Kánya-folder has recently appeared from a Berlin archive through the Hungarian historian, Imre Tóth, and it content has not been made publicly available yet.
Challenges and Educational Methods Used at a Summer School for Hungarian Scouts
Education/Social SciencesAt its inception Hungarian Scouting movement was based on the British model, established by Lord Baden Powell. It has been refined and may be considered highly successful in character building methods for young individuals.
The paper describes my six years’ experience in developing a successful program of Hungarian Scouts Summer School in Fillmore, New York. The curriculum was used both for simply education students and to develop future Scout Leaders. The many challenges included one interesting factors, namely, the student and staff were from different communities around the globe. The program, combining my European experience in education and my research, furthermore implementation of a program utilizing the Baden-Powel learning systems, the result of the developed program may be considered highly successful.
The paper describes my six years’ experience in developing a successful program of Hungarian Scouts Summer School in Fillmore, New York. The curriculum was used both for simply education students and to develop future Scout Leaders. The many challenges included one interesting factors, namely, the student and staff were from different communities around the globe. The program, combining my European experience in education and my research, furthermore implementation of a program utilizing the Baden-Powel learning systems, the result of the developed program may be considered highly successful.
Challenges and Perspectives of the Roma Heroes Educational Methodology in Hungary
Cultural Studies/ArtsThe presentation aims to discuss the questions, the structure, and the practical application of the Roma Heroes Educational Methodology in the Hungarian higher education. The methodology has been developed by the Independent Theater Hungary, in co-operation with three European theater companies, Rampa Presentina (Italy), The Roma Actors Association – Giuvlipen (Romania), and C. para La I+D Independiente Del Teatro Profesional En Andalucía (Spain). The goals of this methodology are to make students familiar with and discuss the diversity, challenges and values of Roma dramas, their heroes, and the Romani communities in Hungary and across Europe. The concept of heroism in the methodology is emphasized, whereby the stories presented to the students are discussed within the framework of heroic journeys instead of victim narratives. This new approach is innovative for two reasons. It responds to and challenges stereotypical representations of Romani communities in the Hungarian and international media where Romani people are portrayed as violent, vulgar, and uneducated, and are generally linked to prostitution, poverty, and crime. In doing so, it aspires to support Romani students in improving a positive racial identity. The questions that the presentation seeks to answer are: What instruments are available for this methodology to provide practical advice and course development suggestions for Hungarian university lecturers? How can university lecturers finalize group-specific professional plans for each seminar? What aspects can be enforced in the practice of theater education?
KEYWORDS: educational methodology, Roma dramas, Hungarian and European Roma communities, heroism, pedagogy, positive racial identity
KEYWORDS: educational methodology, Roma dramas, Hungarian and European Roma communities, heroism, pedagogy, positive racial identity
Challenges in a Multicultural Society through the Work of Kálmán Mikszáth, Pál Závada and Péter Huncik
Language/Literature“Pluralism” is a recently popular term, as the heterogeneous nature of most societies and nations becomes recognized. Writers seek to come to terms with this old/new phenomenon in various ways. In 19th century Hungary, it was a given: while ethnic and national minorities existed, society was still organized along lines of class and status rather than ethnicity or race. Emigration and immigration were not studied on the personal level. In the 20th century the effect of the movements of masses of people focused more attention on the pluralistic societies which emerged. In this paper I propose to examine three authors and their responses to this pluralization. Kálmán Mikszáth saw little difference between his Slovak and Palóc characters, treating them as equals only differentiated by class or wealth. Pál Závada, on the other hand, seems to have more of a nationalistic agenda, yet in the final analysis it is not an important factor in the tale of family mystery and tragedy in Jadviga Párnája. Péter Hunčik’s Határeset explores the effects of border changes and national versus ethnic loyalties, or the interplay of the two, among people who previously did not think of their neighbors in such nationalistic terms. Only with outside pressure do neighbors begin to perceive neighbors as alien.
Changes in the Function of the Public Educational System in the Long 19th Century: Industrialization and Alphabetization
Science/EconomicsIn this paper, the identification of a period is to be meant by industrialization. It is a period stretching from the 1780’s to World War I, in which the first great wave of industrialization swept through the European economies and which György Ránki called on analogy ”the long 19th century”. The process of alphabetization is considered the subject of inquiry have in its relationship to economic development gathering speed with industrialization in order to confirm or to modify such optimistic conceptual assumptions that most often have never been tested against empirical probings and that dominate the literature according to which successful economic achievements in the period in question were preconditioned on the high-level training of the population (labor-force) and that there was an unequivocal positive correlation between the process of industrialization and the increase in the educational level of the population.
Changing Times, Perpetual Tradition? Generational Narratives of Folk Music Interpretation in the Hungarian Táncház Movement.
Music/FolkloreOver the last fifty years of the táncház movement, hundreds of thousands of folk music and folk dance enthusiasts have come into daily contact with folklore through the táncház method and the Hungarian model of revival. Over the past decades, it has become clear that the narratives of revival are constantly changing as time passes, domestic and international social processes change, and the known folklore material expands and folklore interpretation methods change.This process generates a number of interpretive differences between the generational cohorts that make up the movement. These discourses permeate the public life of the revival, generating many disagreements and debates, but also providing a good opportunity for research. The aim of my paper is to provide a diachronic overview of the generational narratives of folk music interpretation in the dance music movement, the musical trends that have shaped the revival from time to time, the methodological issues raised by the changing environment, and the responses to them.
Child and Family Benefits in Hungary to Halt Population Decline: 1965-2020
History/Political ScienceHungary faces a significant population loss based on the long-term demographic forecast. Firstly, this paper present the continuing low level of Hungarian fertility, as well as the marked loss of population due to emigration during the period of post-socialist change between 1989 and 2020. Secondly, it discusses the role the government’s family policies play in halting fertility decline before 1989 in the demographic post-transitional period of 1960-1980 and in the past thirty years since 1989. Thirdly, it particularly aims to highlight the impact of the new family policy since 2010, the reverse redistribution of resources from poor to the better-off families, which did not result in the growth of birth rates. The new family benefits possibly further contribute to the existing polarization of Hungarian society without altering the Hungarian demographic data. Briefly, the paper also compares the recent changes in family policies in Poland, Hungary, and Romania since 1990.
Childless in Nők Lapja
Cultural Studies/ArtsLiterature across various disciplines, as well as geographical and cultural borders, suggests that women without children, particularly those who have chosen to be child-free, often find themselves portrayed negatively in media. In this essay, a part of my PhD research, I contribute to this scholarship, examining representations of women without children in Hungary. Hungary makes for an interesting study, given the nation’s history of low fertility rates and reproductive and family policies. During communist control, various reproductive and family policies were created to encourage women to procreate. Hungarian women’s reproductive choices were curtailed—sometimes eliminated—during periods of intense pro-natal policy and they were politically pressured and cajoled into motherhood. After the regime change in 1989, party leaders blamed women’s workforce participation for the nation’s shrinking population and subsequent problems. Women in Hungary continue to face political pressure concerning their reproductive rights and in 2011, the new constitution included language that threatened Hungarian women’s access to abortion. In light of this history, my project examines how Hungarian women without children have been, and continue to be, represented in Hungarian society. For my study, I use the popular women’s magazine Nők Lapja, from 1989 to present, as a barometer for the dominant representations of child-free women in post-socialist Hungarian society, contextualizing the content of the magazine within the historical, political and cultural history of the country. This essay presents the working results of my research.
Children Philharmonic at the Foot of Hargita
Music/FolkloreTo understand a nonpareil as the Children Philharmonic, I decided to travel to Szentegyháza, and meet Haáz Sándor. The "Fili" has always represented for me a natural miracle. Still, as for every miracle, a cluster of specific conditions, an immense amount of work and commitment had to merge; first to create it, then to keep it vibrantly alive, for more than 40 years now.
- The place: a small town, Szentegyhaza, at the Hargita mountains' foot, with a culturally homogenous community, with the ideal number of 7000 members, which – however with no music school - is suitable to create and supply with always-new members both the choir and the orchestra.
- Haáz Sándor, a very good music teacher – maybe even more than that - who created the Philharmonic in 1982 and leads it ever since. He was the spark and the one who takes care of the fire.
The main effort is directed to building a community - a true society of „philies”- with singing, playing, performing folk music, preserving the best of the whole of folk traditions. The approach is syncretic: the Philharmonic weaves through everyday life, it is part of the festivities, it breathes together, and collaborates with local societies. The members not only rehearse and give concerts, play festivals at home and abroad, or even overseas, but also know how to build typical székely houses and estenas together, plant pine trees, collect folk songs, organize camps for furniture painting, participate in the village tourism.
Once a „filis”, always a „filis”. Once a member, the parents’ aspiration is that their child also follows on their path.
In May 2022, on the festivities celebrating their 40th anniversary, five generations played concerts together, in front of plenty of enthusiastic audiences.
The maestro and his Szekely-dressed pupils became undoubtedly a treasure of the regional and national Hungarian culture. They became our heritage.
- The place: a small town, Szentegyhaza, at the Hargita mountains' foot, with a culturally homogenous community, with the ideal number of 7000 members, which – however with no music school - is suitable to create and supply with always-new members both the choir and the orchestra.
- Haáz Sándor, a very good music teacher – maybe even more than that - who created the Philharmonic in 1982 and leads it ever since. He was the spark and the one who takes care of the fire.
The main effort is directed to building a community - a true society of „philies”- with singing, playing, performing folk music, preserving the best of the whole of folk traditions. The approach is syncretic: the Philharmonic weaves through everyday life, it is part of the festivities, it breathes together, and collaborates with local societies. The members not only rehearse and give concerts, play festivals at home and abroad, or even overseas, but also know how to build typical székely houses and estenas together, plant pine trees, collect folk songs, organize camps for furniture painting, participate in the village tourism.
Once a „filis”, always a „filis”. Once a member, the parents’ aspiration is that their child also follows on their path.
In May 2022, on the festivities celebrating their 40th anniversary, five generations played concerts together, in front of plenty of enthusiastic audiences.
The maestro and his Szekely-dressed pupils became undoubtedly a treasure of the regional and national Hungarian culture. They became our heritage.
