From the River Tisza, over Oceans, to Lands Afar

“My heart and soul, inherit the legacy…”

Music, verse and prose – a virtual remembrance of the 101st anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, and a celebration of the National Day of Unity, featuring renowned Hungarian performing artists from the United States of America, Canada and the Carpathian Basin

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2021. június 5.

  • Los-Angeles 2 PM
  • Toronto 5 PM
  • Budapest 11 PM

Tickets: on the Extrahungariam website.

Info: 949-351-2116 (USA), 647-242-7164 (Canada), E-mail: info@extrahungariam.ca

Net proceeds will be donated to the Transylvania Foundation

Program

Artistic Director: Tímea Antal, The Hungarian Heritage Foundation of Southern California

Program Co-ordinator: Gábor Vaski, The Extra Hungariam Foundation and The National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada

Greeting and Remarks: Árpád János Potápi, Chairman of the Committee of National Cohesion

Performers

Carpathian Basin

  • Zsolt Dánielfy, Mari Jászai Award winning actor – Csokonai National Theatre, Debrecen
  • EDDA Művek, eMeRton- and Fonogram Award wining rock band
  • Három Királyok – György Derzsi actor and director, Koppány Kovács, lead singer in the Rómeó Vérzik band, and Imre Vadkerti of the Kormorán band
  • Ismerős Arcok, Péter Máté and Pál Teleki Award winning band
  • Fruzsina Pregitzer, Mari Jászai Award wining actress – Zsigmond Móricz Theatre, Nyíregyháza
  • Kinga Újhelyi, Mari Jászai Award wining actress – Csokonai National Theatre, Debrecen

Canada

  • Attila Fias, composer, jazz-pianist – Victoria
  • Béla Köntés freelancer poet, Gábor Finta composer and the Ottawa Hungarian Choir – Ottawa
  • Kodály Folk Dance Ensemble – Toronto
  • Áron Molnár, presbyterian reverend – Montréal
  • Livia Polyák, reciter, narrator – Vancouver
  • István Savanya, poet, musician – Calgary
  • Scola Cantorum – Toronto, virtual choir. Conductor: Imre Oláh, Producer: Szilárd Hronyecz
  • Gábor Vaski, tárogató player, reciter – Toronto
  • András Wéber, cellist and Róbert Horváth, pianist – Toronto

United States of America

  • Ágoston Palkó Attila, presbyterian reverend – Ontario, Kalifornia
  • Demeter Zsolt, reciter, narrator – Phoenix, Arizona
  • Kárpátok Folk Dance Ensemble – Los Angeles
  • Marianna Kovács, reciter, narrator – Orange County, Kalifornia
  • Tünde Ilona Krasznai, pianist, and the School of Hungarian Artists – Fairfield, Connecticut
  • Éva Polgár, pianist – Los Angeles
  • Györgyi Tarján, actress – Los Angeles
  • Members of the Sándor Szoboszlai Hungarian Theatre of South California: Erzsike Kiss, soprano, Zoltán Bátori, Rita Faulkner, Ilona Finta, Ilona Vanda Finta, István Orcsik, Anna Reeves, Kinga Tóth, Tímea Antal, performing artists
  • The No. 49 Árpádházi Boldog Erzsébet Scouts and No. 8 Juliánus Barát Scouts – Los Angeles
  • Vadrózsa Kindergarten and School – Orange County, Kalifornia

100 Years Since Trianon

Even if the COVID-19 pendemic containment measures stop us from coming together to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragic event, we can be still be together in spirit. Just like 100 years ago, at 4:30 PM (10:30 local time) on June 4th the bells will toll in every Hungarian village, voicing the horrible news once again. Let us all listen to all 100 seconds of itbell together. Let us tell the World that even if all “winning sides” proclaim this day a national celebration of their own, and viral pendemics are muting our sorrow, for us, this day shall remain covered by a black veil!

COVID19 in Transcarpathia

posterThe National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada has organized a fundraising campaign to support Transcarpathian Hungarians during this difficult time! The Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association will receive the funds as they are responsible for the purchase and distribution of essential medical equipment, including the protective equipment necessary for health care workers and the Hungarians community at large.

Please help our Hungarian brothers and sisters, by donating money for essential protective devices such as medication, masks, and ventilators.

Contributions can be made on this page of GoFundMe.com.

COVID-19 doesn’t wait! Transcarpatian Hungarians need help now!

Classical Music Shaken, Not Stirred

a Felicián Kalmus concert

organised by the Extra Hungariam Foundation.

With the collaboration of the NAHC, the concert is partly in support of the Hungarian minorities in Ukraine.

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Besides the greatest classical pieces, Felicián’s concert encompasses movie soundtracks, folk songs and compositions of his own.

Everything he plays is soaked with his own characteristic style which opens the heart towards classical music with ease.

Felicián guides his listeners into and through a very colourful musical world. He combines the classical and electronically generated sounds and elements effortlessly, and he always brings his cello in the forefront at the exactly right time.

During summer of 2018 his very first album entitled “Great Great Grandma” appeared revealing his daring adaptations of well known Hungarian folk song motifs. The motto of the album is: “My great-great grandmother’s songs in my world”.

Canadaian Tour 2019

  • October 25th – Halifax
  • October 26th – Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre
  • October 27th – Csillagösvény Association, Montreál
  • November 1st – Mindszenty Hall, Windsor
  • November 2nd – Toronto
  • November 3rd – Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
MNA Magyar Nemzetpolitikai Államtitkárság
HU Bethlen Gábor Foundation

Virtual Hungarian Theatre in the Diaspora

Terrific news!

The Foundation for Hungarian Theatres has initiated a new program that records and preserves the best of Hungarian Theatre. Encouraging access to these recordings, the project allows these productions to reach remote sites and locations where the public has been so far deprived of the magic of theatre.

theatre maskThe project has been put on track in 2017, and the selection is made by an Advisory Board formed by theatre managers and theatre professionals of note. The recordings are made in HD quality, and in accordance with the laws for intellectual property and copyright, and are conducted by theatre directors of the calibre of István Márton and Tamás Zilahy.

The Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has purchased the distribution rights of several recordings and is putting them at the disposal of the Hungarian communities across North-America. At the moment, five shows are becoming available to the Hungarian community centres, with English subtitles and in high resolution. We hope that the management teams of the Hungarian community centres will get in touch with the Hungarian Embassies and Counsulates, will organize the showing of the plays, and the community members will join for the virtual tour of one of Budapest’s leading theatres, enjoying a sample of their work!

We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Foundation, its creators, and we thank the Washington and Ottawa embassies for initiating this program that nourishes the souls and rejuvenates our shared treasure, our native language. This endeavour cannot occur often enough since most of us – taking summer holidays in “the old country” – encounter significantly reduced levels of theatre activity during our visits. These virtual theatre soirées answer a real need and will be a perfect complement to the efforts of most community centres to host as many theatre productions on their stages as possible.

“If one steps into a capital (city) and would like that nation to reveal itself to his eyes, all he has to do is step into one of its theatres. Actors are guardians of the mothertongue, and the nation lives through its language. Should the nation foster a widely cared for network of playhouses, Transylvania would not be neglected by its performing geniuses.”

Historian László Kőváry, About Szeklerland (1842)

We second this implicit motion here, on the distant shores of the Big Waters, as well. Thanks again!

Fight for Freedom

Theatrical play

Written by: Rozália Brestyánszki Boros

Cast:

János Arany and everyone else: Béla Kálló actor from Szabadka
Sándor Petőfi: Péter Lóránt Tóth wayfaring reciter of fine poetry, educator

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Playtime: 60 min, in Hungarian

Near documentary drama. Based on the friendship of two of the brightest stars of the Hungarian fine literature, János Arany and Sándor Petőfi, the play depicts events that give us an insight into the hottest era of the Hungarian history surrounding the revolution and fight for freedom of 1848-1849, as well as the personality of the two poets.

Thanks to the support of the Hungarian National Advisory Board and to the organization of the Hungarian Education Association of Vajdaság (Voivodina, Serbia), by end of December 2018, the piece was played on stage in 30 locations of Délvidék. The actors are hoping to present the play in many more locations in the Carpathian Basin.

The premier took place on the 31st of May 2018 in the VM4K Studio of Szabadka.

Canadian Shows

March 2019:

  • 8th – Parameter Club, Toronto, ON
  • 9th – Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre, Ottawa, ON
  • 10th – Csillagösvény Association, Montreál, QC
  • 12th – Dartmouth, NS
  • 15th – Kossuth Hall, Cambridge, ON
  • 16th – Mindszenty Hall-Hungarian Cultural Centre, Windsor, ON
  • 17th – Roman Catholic church, Hamilton, ON
MNT The recitals in Délvidék are supported by the Hungarian National Advisory Board.
StudioArt The Canadian tour is supported by Studio Art association. The tour is organized by the NAHC.
Toronto – Ottawa – Montréal – Dartmouth – Cambridge – Windsor – Hamilton
KMOSZ

NAHC’s Protest against Ukraine’s Intimidation of Hungarians

The National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada (NAHC) strongly condemns the Ukraine’s continued series of aggressive, discriminatory and oppressive measures against its Hungarian minority population in Transcarpathia (Zakarpattia Oblast).

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin recently issued a statement (September 21, 2018) and warning to the Hungarian government following an incident in which the Hungarian consulate in Berehove (Beregszász) was secretly filmed issuing legal Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens while warning the recipients to not inform Ukrainian officials. The Ukrainian government has threatened to expel the Hungarian Consular if action is not taken. This move by the Ukraine contravenes its international obligations, its own laws on dual citizenship and sits in direction opposition to Ukraine’s desire for further western integration. Subsequently, the Ukraine made good on it’s threat and expelled the Hungarian Consular, forcing the Hungarian government to respond by expelling one of the Ukraine’s Consular.

The Ukraine continues to intimidate and threaten Hungarians in Ukraine from exercising their right to Hungarian citizenship and to promote, celebrate and protect Hungarian culture, language and traditions.

The NAHC believes that Hungarians in Ukraine are increasingly compelled to protect their Hungarian heritage and legal rights in a hidden manner given the anti-Hungarian rhetoric from Kiev and the increasing number of anti-Hungarian statements by government and local officials; coupled with acts of vandalism in Hungarian inhabited areas of Ukraine. The oppressive tone of Ukrainian officials reveals a troubling and threatening environment for Hungarian minorities.

Hungary and Ukraine have already resolved all issues relating to Hungary’s citizenship law which allows individuals with Hungarian heritage to apply for Hungarian citizenship and a passport. To raise this issue now, displays hypocrisy and a violation of European and international laws regulating the treatment of national minorities. The NAHC stands with the Hungarians of Transcarpathia, and across the Carpathian Basis, in expressing a deep desire for the Ukraine to put an immediate stop to ethnically-based hatred and intimidation towards Hungarians and other national minorities and to protect the rights of individuals who are law abiding citizens of the Ukraine and of Hungary.

As the Ukraine enters an election cycle the NAHC calls of the Ukrainian government to use this opportunity to ensure that the Ukraine maintains its path to European integration and to create an inclusive Ukraine that respects the rights of all citizens. Both Hungary and the Ukraine share a common history in many respects, and it would be a step backward if the Ukraine chose a path of nation building that creates an atmosphere of hatred, oppression and ethnic division. The NAHC also calls on the Ukraine to refrain from expelling Hungary’s rightful representative in Berehove. To do so would create a dangerous precedent and dampen Ukraine-Hungary relations.

The NAHC is committed to protecting the rights of all Hungarian minorities and will continue to petition and speak out when acts of discrimination are perpetrated towards Hungarians anywhere. It is our hope that the Ukraine will chose the right path to reconciliation.

If You Only New…

a concert by the Hungarikum Ensembleplakát

  • musical poems
  • Hungarian folk songs
  • own compositions
  • songs praising God

The Hungarikum group has been performing for over seven years, during which its repertoire has grown continuously. Hungarikum translates old folk songs into our present day lives, uses own compositions and arrangements to give momentum to our thoughts, nourishes our souls with divine songs, and highlights the literary text when adapts poetry in a musical framework.

The instruments include – guitar, benjitar, ukulele, mandolin, Irish bouzouki, flutes, and mesmerizing vocals.

They feel it in their bones that traditions oblige. Their unique sound is modern and archaic at the same time. Their credo is:

“Present the song, don’t abuse it”

What this really means to say is that they love singing for what the songs mean to them, and not for showing off themselves. They make their presence felt in this machine dominated world, and that’s important.

jelvényHungarikum web page
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Concerts

2018 September

  • 21 – Kossuth Hall, Cambridge
  • 22 – Mindszenty Hall, Windsor
  • 23 – RC Church, Hamilton
  • 27 – Parameter Club, Toronto
  • 29 – Ottawa Hungarian CC
  • 30 – Presbyterian Church, Montréal

Hungarikum

jelvényKMOSZ címer The Canadian tour is sponsored by Studio Art, and it is organized by the NAHC: Cambridge – Windsor – Hamilton – Toronto – Ottawa – Montréal