MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Under the direction of its Artistic Director ZOLTÁN ZSURÁFSZKY, the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble, known as “SPIRIT OF HUNGARY l848, Revolution and Roots in Dance and Music,” because its commemorates the spirit of the l848 Hungarian Revolution against the Hapsburg rule and celebrates the vibrant and energetic folklore dances of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin, will be presented on Thursday, November 1st at 7:30 P.M. at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View, California, for only one night.
Every nation is proud of its history and culture regardless of how old its history may be. Hungary celebrates its history in dance. It started since the year 896 – widely believed to be the year when the Hungarian (Magyars) settled into this part of Europe rested within the Carpathian Basin- and during its over a thousand year plus history, the Hungarian Nation has constantly fought against invaders. leading to too many revolutions, to list here.
The REVOLUTION l848 Dance
In the SPIRIT OF HUNGARY 1848. The dances remind us of the year when Hungarians were living under the Austro-Hungarian rule of the Hapsburg Monarchy and revolted against it. The Revolution was sparked by young intellectuals in Pest, on March 15, 1848, who believed they were entitled to a just treatment from the Austrians. This Eventually led to a nineteen month long war and bloodshed resulting in a defeat by the Hungarians, who for eighteen long years suffered under the Austrian retribution. But the Hungarians won at the end when in l867, they signed a Compromise Treaty with Austria which gave the Hungarians most of their demanded rights.
"The dances in SPIRIT OF HUNGARY l848, gives the audience a grimse of the spirit of that significant historical period through music and dance in a sort of culture snapshots of the times." says Mr. MAGYAR in an exclusive interview with CULTURAL WORLD BILINGUAL.
KALMAN MAGYAR
Mr. KALMAN MAGYAR , is a Classical, jazz and folk musical educated violinist with an extensive performing experience. He is the founder of The Continental Dance Orchestra (l995) the leading Hungarian wedding band in the United States, and also helped built ÉLETFA HUNGARIAN FOLK MUSIC BAND into a World’s Treasured asset of world’s music, He is a composer who has arranged musics for other Hungarian and Balkam Performing groups and has appeared live in Radio stations WNBC television in New York City. His recordings (He plays organ, piano, and violin) can regularly be heard on various radio stations around the world.
And he continues: “In our program, we are presenting Hungarian Folk Dancers which are unique, in a sense, that Hungary has done extensive research in collecting folk music and folk dances Hungary has very exciting folk music and fold dances which is interesting because the folk dances and the folk music has been scholarly corrected in Hungary since the beginning of the Twentieth Century, therefore, everything has been recorded and documented. What this means, is that our culture can be recreated, and we are able to present the different styles of Hungarian dances, which are identified clearly by the regions by which each one of the dances is coming from."
"Due to the fact that before the Twentieth Century the villages and the conclaves where people live were very much separated from each other, their dances and their music developed regionally, in each area, therefore , it is very interesting to see how people dance differently or similarly from each other."
"The, Hungarian music is also very unique,very specific, and very authentic because the dance, the music was developed in an specific areas, however, the instrumentation (the instruments playing the music) are almost the same. But the melodies are different."
Strings, clarinet and Keyboard instrument orchestra
"Some times the melodies are very simple, but other times they are fast and more complicated. We also have older type of music depending on what region we are presenting."
"Our program includes a thematic program which commemorates the revolutionary spirit of the Hungarians. Specifically, we have a very big revolution in l848 with Hungary against the Hapsburgs’ Empire, and this revolution was a very spiritual event for the Hungarians because this is where we started to formulate our national identity, and also we formulate our culture to be specific in this area. So, the first part of the program, SPIRIT OF FREEDOM, commemorates this phenomenon."
"The second part of the program, SPIRIT OF THE SOUL shows more the spirit of the Hungarians reflected on the folklore."
Hungarian folk dancers.
"This part is for folk dances and folk singing specifically. The program is very exciting, very versatile and includes those dances and songs which are different. It shows the differentiation of the dance dialogues the Hungarians have, it also shows the colors of the Hungarians folk costumes in its different formats. And although the music and the dancing will always go together, in the second part of the program the audience will see most of the very colorful costumes, very colorful dances which are unique and specific to an specific region."
SPIRIT OF HUNGARY l848 Revolution and Roots in Dance Music will be presented for one night only on Thursday November 1st at 7:30 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041. For information call 650-903-6000 or to order tickets go online to MVCPA.COM.