Feketetó / BTF 2018

Featuring: Erika Demeter, Rémusz Eötvös, Ágnes Herczku – voice, Harangozó Prize-winning dance artists, folk dance students of Hungarian Dance Academy (head of department: Gyöngyvér Hortobágyi), children dancers of Bartina Folk Dance Association (artistic director: Julianna Matókné Kapási), musicians of Etnofon Music Company

Music: Károly Cserepes, Ferenc Kiss

Music director: Ferenc Kiss

Lyrics: Robert Balog

Set: Edit Zeke

Choreographers: János Appelshoffer, Gábor Mihályi, Tünde Rémi, Miklós Végső

Stage adaptation by: Jolán Foltin, Eszter Novák

Director, choreographer: Jolán Foltin

Negreni (Feketetó, “Black Lake”) is a small village in Romania, where a national fair has been held every autumn since the 19th century. In a multi-ethnic country, which is shared by Romanians, Hungarians, Roma, Jews and Saxons, it was natural that the fair should also be a meeting point of cultures.

Until the end of 20th century, musicians would bring along their instruments. It was enough to take a walk through the fair to enjoy the music of different ethnicities, with mutual influence being a very real, rather than virtual, experience.

“What Feketetó as a symbolic space means for me is the equal value of cultures: they connect, rather than divide, us. And it may be easier to respect and accept an ‘alien’ culture if you can see your own face in it.” (Károly Cserepes)