On the spot – Folk Music Department A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

The televised folk music and folk dance talent show The Peacock first broadcast in 2012 directed the attention of the entire country onto the many talented young people dealing with folk traditions. Around 2000 applicants with 360 productions were received from all Hungarian-speaking areas for the competition promoted by MTVA, Duna Television and the Hungarian Heritage House. Encouraged by the success, Hungarian Television broadcast the second series in 2014, while this year organization of the ‘fledgling peacock’ is underway. Perhaps insufficient emphasis was given in the programme to the fact that the Liszt Academy’s Folk Music Department played an active part in the professional work of the competition. Several of the teachers of the department also worked on the show: from assessing the pre-qualifiers right up to professional coaching of young artists making it into the final. Nearly two-thirds of the competitors came from students of the department. They are the ones showcased in this concert, showing off their enormous talent and knowledge through a selection of the finest in Hungarian folk music. Although the media people have wrapped the show in modern packaging, the fundamental idea is not new. When, from the early 1950s, the mobilizing force of the folk song began to ebb, despite all encouraging signs to the contrary, Hungarian Television organized a national folk song competition in 1969-1970 entitled Fly, Peacock. This triggered the second great wave of folk music movements. These are the words of Bálint Sárosi: ‘Initially there was a mass nostalgia for the tradition of music that not long ago had been thriving: older singers were reminded of their youth; the generation of youth, grandchildren, were both surprised and moved to experience what beauty and interests grandparents (possibly living under the same roof) are aware of; and that there is not only folk melody singing in school, but also that in which it is refreshing to take part in.”