For the first time in the seventeen-year-long history of the Serketánc tabor, there was a presentation of Polish traditional culture. The gathered Hungarian audience received us very kindly, and both adults and children eagerly joined in our dance games. “Participating in the whole tabor was an amazing experience,” commented the artists who prepared the Polish programme and participated in other tabor events.

Community building

“Thanks to these six days on the tabor, These six days of the tabor made us feel part of the
community,” explains Joanna Mieszkowicz, director of The Csángó Festival on the Polish
side, project coordinator and dance teacher, accompanying on the drum for the oberek that
crowns the party. “One of the organisers said in farewell that we are now part of the family,
and another asked if we would like to come back. Our answer is, of course, yes, and we very
much hope for further support for our activities, as without the support of people of goodwill,
working in various institutions, we cannot nurture and promote intangible cultural heritage
effectively enough.” Farkas Gyulai, co-organiser of the Festival on the Hungarian side, lists
the most important aspects for him: “maintaining contact and symbolic unity as a group,
enriching each other with music, and the sense of togetherness and courage shared by
Hungarians and Poles.”

Bratanika and friends

Joanna Mieszkowicz invited talented artists full of passion for Polish and Hungarian
traditional culture to present traditional Polish dances and dance games, chants and
melodies. They performed together under the name of Kapela Bratanika i Przyjaciele.
Bratanika was formed when three soul mates came together, united by their passion for the
Csángó and Polish culture: Farkas Gyulai, Magdalena Olkiewicz and Piotr Kluczek. They met
at the Csángó Festival in Poland – the only festival in the country which presents the rich
traditional Polish and Hungarian culture. Each member of the band plays in multiple line-ups
and is open to collaborating with friends, with whom they enjoy playing and dancing. “I am
delighted that the Festival is bearing fruit and that, thanks to the Polish embassy in
Budapest, we had the opportunity for an artistic and educational revisit with our Hungarian
friends,” admits Joanna Mieszkowicz.

“Awesome atmosphere, there are amazing people, beautiful music all around, you can hear
violins, flutes, bagpipes, gardons all the time. I enjoyed it very much. I hope to come back

here next year with a similar initiative, but with more people,” reveals Kasia Barankiewicz, the
youngest and very talented musician and singer, who, together with her family band, won the
audience award in the prestigious national competition named Stara Tradycja.
Another winner of this competition, Przemek Ostrowski, sums it up this way: “I am delighted
to have participated in the tabor in Hungary; it helped me to develop musically as well as
culturally. I had the great joy of learning about the Czango culture from the inside by
participating in dance and music workshops, but the greatest joy was representing the
traditional musical culture of Poland and teaching the Hungarians to dance oberek. The
Hungarians loved it and after the two-hour programme, they were left unsatisfied.” As a
trained singer, Przemek delighted the Hungarian audience with a lyrical ballad.

“I find it enjoyable and useful beneficial at the same time, since I had a great time and at the
same time I learned a lot and that’s what I’m most happy about, it was great,” says
Magdalena Olkiewicz, a multi-instrumentalist and doctor of linguistics. Magda explained and
presented to the assembled audience the phenomenon of the Polish oberek, which features
micropolyrhythm.
“I was around people who know what it’s all about and feel the music and dance – you don’t
have to pull them by their arms and legs by force,” – describes Piotr Kluczek, mainly a
violinist, but also plays viola, hoop drum and bass. “Here it just went smoothly for both us
Poles in the csángó dances and the Hungarians with the Polish pieces. They were catching
on just as quickly, despite the ‘weirdness’ of the pulse on three, which they are not used to.
Some have mentioned to me that they find oberki difficult to understand musically, completely
unintuitive because of this polyrhythm. I, on the other hand, think that their music can be very
fragmented, varied and very virtuosic, especially that of Gimesz, where non-obvious rhythms also come in. I think oberek music can match the amazing melodies from Gimesz. Each of us
has something to learn from the other. I would like to go to Romania one day – to the Gimesz
and Moldovan regions, and I hope more Hungarians will come to visit us thanks to us.”
“And I would like to organise a rolling stock tabor in my region myself,” – adds Przemek,
inspired by the Hungarian tabor. “Just like the last evening at the tabor, I would like to make a
big bonfire, gather musicians and lead chango dances around the fire. What else appealed to
me was its family-oriented, grassroots and casual, flexible yet well-organized and solid
nature. Plus the delicious cuisine with traditional dishes.”
“I learnt to play the koboz, although I had never done anything with any guitars before, the
koboz came through for me – it was something new and inspiring,” – Peter adds. “Flora taught
me the basics, especially the right hand movements, which were new to me, while the other
koboz teacher, Olivier, had interesting methods to help me play at tempo with the band.
Playing with other musicians in the so-called in-between time was always available; we
played both csángó and polish music. Despite the obvious language barrier we managed to
understand a lot, and with a lot of willingness to communicate, hand waving and the goodwill
of a few people with good English skills, we succeeded in understanding a lot.”
“I am happy that my projects contribute to stimulating civic and artistic activity, creativity and
international cooperation in the name of shared values such as dialogue, peace and beauty,”
Joanna emphasises.
“The other thing that appealed to me was the last evening,” says Peter, “Dancing in a circle
around a bonfire several times taller than me. The fire is a strong symbol of humanity with
deep traditional roots that bring the whole community together.” And Przemek adds – “The
combination of the two gave a sense of kairos – that experience of stopping the world for the
here and now”.

Photo: Music, dancing and singing were accompanied by a presentation of Polish
publications promoting traditional culture, such as Pismo Folkowe and Muzyka Odnaleziona,
as well as local products: Ostrowskie honeys, F. Kesler oil made from organic rapeseed,
bread made from the flour of the Brotherhood of Wandering Passionists and amber liquor.

About the Serketánc csángó tabor

The ‘Serketánc’ community has been active since 2009, focusing primarily on promoting the
culture of the Csángó Hungarians of Gimesz (Hungarian: Gyimes) and Moldova (Hungarian:
Moldva). Since their inception, they have organised week-long summer music camps every
year, complementing the instrumental weekends held throughout the year.
The week-long summer camp regularly attracts 250-300 people, of whom around 100
participants – including many young people and children – learn to play a variety of
instruments such as oboe, flute, violin, drums, clarinet or brass instruments. Learning to play
instruments is complemented by dance and singing lessons, art classes, puppet theatre,
professional art programmes, concerts of various musical genres and, of course, dancing
until dawn, providing the opportunity to practice the skills acquired during the day. The
organisers pay special attention to the children’s musicians so that they can show off their
talents.
“Each time we invite a significant number of guests, mainly from the Csángó regions of
Gyimes and Moldova. This has two objectives: on the one hand, we want to learn from them

primarily music, but also folk crafts, dance, gastronomy and values, and on the other hand,
we want to convey to them that their knowledge is important and valuable, and that they are
still in high demand,” the organisers explain on their website ambrozsoky.moldva.hu. The
content leader is Róbert Kerényi, an artist who performed at the 3rd Csángó Festival in
Poland and was awarded the prestigious Hungarian Heritage Prize in 2024. The beautiful
venue is hosted by Ildikó Nagy-Bozsoky and her large, largely adult, brood of children. The
rolling stock programme is always very rich, and all details and beautiful accounts of the
rolling stock can be found at the aforementioned address.

Thanks

For detailed information please contact: Joanna Mieszkowicz, project coordinator, Aeris
Futuro Foundation, email: joanna.mieszkowicz@gmail.com, tel.+48 693 589 391.

Editor: Joanna Mieszkowicz
Language proofreading: dr Magdalena Olkiewicz