III Czango Festival in Poland

The Czango Festival in Poland maintains and revives the traditions of Poland and Hungary through cultural exchange. We create relations, friendships between supporters of traditional cultures of many nations, through the shared experience of its magnificence, fun, relaxation. This year we are celebrating III Czango Festival in Poland.

Within the circle of the Carpathian culture. Festival of Polish and Hungarian dance houses.

This time we are presenting the heritage of the Carpathian peoples more widely, hence the participation of many Ukrainian artists. The enthusiastic experience of the participants of the festival meetings of the previous editions allows us to believe that we will meet on 13-16 October 2022.

Time: 13.10.2022 (Thursday)
Place: Klub Paszcza Lwa, Gdańsk

Time: 14-16.10.2022 (Friday-Sunday)
Place: Artus Court, Toruń

What can you expect from this year’s festival?

This year’s edition is full of various attractions and events free of charge and partly paid – apart from workshops and dances, we invite you to concerts, exhibitions of traditional handicrafts, rafting on rafting boats combined with a programme in the open-air museum in Wielka Nieszawka. We will be hosting a large group of artists from Hungary, including in particular Mária Petrás, the most famous folk singer and ceramic artist of the Czango (Hungarian: Csángó) region, and Róbert Kerényi, an exalted flutist and documentarian who started the Czango dance house in Budapest in 1988. The melodies of the Carpathians will also be introduced to us by violin virtuosos Sergey Ochrimchuk, Olena Yeremenko (for the second time at our Festival), Witek Broda, Mateusz Niwiński and Gergely Sámsondi Kiss. Dances from various parts of the Carpathian Mountains will be taught by Előd Molnar, Kata Reiner and Piotr Jop, and songs by Pavel Ivan and Farkas Gyulai.

„Maintaining traditions in everyday life is important – it brings nationalities together – in addition, mixed areas such as that inhabited by the Changs and the entire Carpathian region help us to understand humanity and set an example of how to live in peace and harmony. You can find everything in folklore: every nation has its history deeply inscribed in its cultural heritage. We want to bring out these riches and use them to enrich our lives, our health and our hearts” – explain the festival organisers from the Aeris Futuro Foundation and the Szépszerével Band.

The music of the Hungarian Czango (Csángó) tradition is unique – you will find medieval melodies, gypsy rhythms, Jewish, Balkan and even Polish. An advantage of Csángó dances may be the fact that most of them are circle dances, so no partner or partner is needed, and the steps are usually simple, although the tempos are sometimes very fast.

Festival of Polish and Hungarian dance houses

In Poland, we are witnessing a burgeoning love of traditional folk culture among big city dwellers. The inspiration came from Hungary, where the dance house movement (táncház) started more than half a century ago. The Czango Festival in Poland is a good example of the flourishing of the dance house movement and, at the same time, of traditional culture: we dance, make music and sing together. The fusion of temperaments and the explosion of joy in making music and dancing together with Polish artists have generated ideas for the next edition of the Festival.

„Our dream is also to draw new people into this circle, into this atmosphere, so that they too can feel the positive emotions that we experience while already immersed in the beauty of traditional culture” – the organisers add.

Environmentally friendly solutions for events is our tradition

Joanna Mieszkowicz, as part of the Aeris Futuro Foundation, has been co-creating the Green Events programme since 2009 – we promote pro-environmental and pro-social innovations in the organisation of events and try to implement them ourselves when organising events. These ideas also guide the organisers on the Hungarian side – the Szépszerével band.

As part of the Czango Festival, among others:

  • All concerts and dances will be with live music, without an artificial sound system, i.e. they will be unplugged.
  • We will avoid air conditioning, unhealthy artificial lighting, unnecessary printing and waste generation.
  • We rely on land-based public transport, carpooling, and locally also cycling and walking.
  • We choose event venues that are well connected to different parts of the city, the region and Poland.
  • We focus on local food, without harmful chemicals, meat-free.
  • We present and support the culinary heritage – you won’t find products of international brands here.
  • We support grassroots artistic and environmental initiatives – we cooperate with NGOs.
  • Showcasing the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities.
  • We unite nations and generations in the name of common values.

Who is behind the III Czango Festival in Poland?

About the organisers

from Poland: The Aeris Futuro Foundation, headed by Joanna Mieszkowicz, founder and long-standing President, has been implementing projects to protect and promote cultural and natural heritage for more than 15 years. We are particularly close to the traditional culture of Poland and Hungary, which is why, as of 2019, we have organised more than a dozen meetings in the form of dance houses (táncház), including two editions of the Csángó Festival in Poland. In Poland, we are witnessing a burgeoning love of traditional folk culture among the inhabitants of large cities. Inspiration came from Hungary, where the dance house movement began more than half a century ago.

from Hungary: the Szépszerével band, headed by Gergely Sámsondi Kiss and Farkas Gyulai, has been running a dance house on Budapest’s Gellert Hill every Wednesday since 2008. They learnt about music and folk customs through their own experience, as they are apprentices to village musicians mainly from Transylvania (Erdély), now an area of Romania and once the Principality of Hungary. Unfortunately, most of the indigenous artists are no longer alive, hence the even greater value for the participants here in Poland – the opportunity to touch living history.

Main Sponsor: Wacław Felczak Foundation, Budapest

Co-organiser: Artus Court in Toruń, the best venue for artistic events in the heart of the Old Town

Partners:

Media patron: Pismo Folkowe

Contact:

Joanna Mieszkowicz
Director of the Czango Festival in Poland
joanna.mieszkowicz@gmail.com
+48 693 589 391

More informations here and here.

You are warmly welcome!