Hungarian Conservative

On the last day of Carnival, we share the thoughts of education scientist Mária Bajzáth, founder of a pedagogical storytelling workshop, on the role of masks, the magic of tales, and the community-building and community-preserving power of the festival.

‘I strongly believe that we have to shake people up to make them feel Hungarian…That is why the stakes are as high in Hungary as they are here in America.’

The first documented piece of Hungarian music dates back to the 11th century, thus recorded melodies have been an important part of Hungarians’ lives for a thousand years.

Béla Bartók, one of the greatest musical geniuses of the 20th century, and his friend, another world-renowned giant of Hungarian music, Zoltán Kodály undertook together their major endeavour of national significance—collecting and publishing the full corpus of Hungarian folk songs.