Legacy

Songs and dances from Csík county

Presentation: 28 November 2017.

Director-choreographer: Zoltán Varga
Music Editor: László Kelemen
Dramaturg, costume designer: Beáta Lőrincz
Erzsébet Györfi and Orsolya András,
Katalin Rigmányi and Katalin Sándor
Music by Attila Mihó and friends

"...the Székely songs are jewels shining in the ancient fire [....] From the Székely songs and our other old melodies more or less close to them, the picture of a unified Hungarian musical language is slowly emerging, a monumental style, polished hard by old tradition, which, if we pick it up from its pieces and fit it into one, could be the trigger of great development." ( Zoltán Kodály)

One of the most important and, one could say, one of the most beautiful products of the first quarter of a century of the Harghita National Szekler Folk Ensemble's professional existence is the programme entitled Heritage - Songs and Dances from the County of Chik. The show is entirely original, made for the ensemble, made to measure, because who could present the dances and songs of this wonderful region more authentically than those who are born into it and live in it day by day, carrying it in their blood, in every cell of their body, in their soul and in their thoughts.
Heritage premiered on 28 April 2010.
The production, which is made up of nine structural units, draws on, selects from, and arranges the significant moments of life as they have been handed down from generation to generation, condensing them into a unified whole. The songs of Erzsébet Györfi and Orsolya András, the vocal soloists, together with prose quotations, form the backbone of the show, which is linked with fateful naturalness to the dances of the region - Csík, Gyergyó, Gyimes - performed with the wild virtuosity of the region.
The show is directed by choreographer Zoltán Varga. Beáta Lőrincz participated in the creation of the show as dramaturg and costume designer.
The music for the show is taken from early 20th century and contemporary collections by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. The musical editor of the Heritage is László Kelemen, composer, folk music researcher and director of the House of Traditions in Budapest, originally from Gyergyóditro.
He will be accompanied by Attila Mihó and his fellow musicians.
In a fast-changing, fast-paced world, people blinded by ephemeral glamour tend to forget their own treasures. It must be put in front of them to remind them. Day by day they must be shown, held up as tablets of the law to be kept and cherished. And they must be shown to the whole world, so that others may appreciate them. This is our heritage, and this is the purpose of this programme, which has been restored after almost eight years with the support of the National Cultural Fund: the Heritage - Songs and Dances from the Chisinau County.
It will be presented on Tuesday, 28, 29, Wednesday and Thursday, 30 November at the Municipal House of Culture in Csíkszereda.