The publication can occupy the attention of the little ones for a long time.
Children can learn about the Hungarian folk melodies and musical instruments of the Carpathian Basin in the recently published musical book, Kodály és a cifra palato. Author Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky, dancer and soloist of the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble, spoke to the Krónika about the purpose of her latest and previous volume, the storybook that was realized with the cooperation of folk art, including folk songs from Kalotaszeg and Székelyföld.
"I wanted to bring Hungarian folk music a little closer to the children, since you can't start musical education early enough. In the country of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, not much is said about how much we owe them, for how much they saved future generations with their conscientious research and collection work.
Although everyone in the world knows their name, their classical and composer work, their activity as a collector of folk music is not sufficiently emphasized. In addition, I wanted to provide a little help so that the children could get to know themselves a little. In the first volume, Bartók takes the little forest birds around Hungary, where they go to Rábaköz, Palócföld, Szatmár, Hortobágy, Southern Great Plains, Sárköz," said the author.
Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky's second volume takes us even further: the book Kodály és a cifra palato already presents the Hungarian folk instruments of the entire Carpathian basin.
– In the first volume, the framework of the entire tale was provided by the song Hásadozid a túcsök, which is one of Béla Bartók's collections. I attached a cute little story to this, according to which the cricket and the mosquito girl are about to get married, but there is no band yet. The forest birds promise that they will learn to play music for the wedding, and ask Béla Bartók for help in deciding where to go. They receive a map from him and learn to play different instruments in the above-mentioned landscape units, and then at the very end the band assembles and the well-known note is played - the author spoke about the beginnings, who
wanted to find the same frame story for the second volume, but it was difficult to find a Kodály collection with child-friendly lyrics, aimed at both boys and girls, and easy to sing.
"In the end, the choice fell on a Hungarian folk song beginning with the Cifra palato, for me, the cifra palato also had an underlying meaning about how much folk art and knowledge of our own traditions can color our everyday life and how much more it can make our lives. The story also begins with a problem: the forest animals find an empty house in which all kinds of music is playing, not just Hungarian folk music, and Zoltán Kodály, who is on a trip there, tells the little birds to go to places where the most beautiful Hungarian flowers live, because they know the most beautiful folk songs," said the author, who based this story on floral motifs because, according to the basic concept, the stately palace at the end blooms.
"That's how I searched for the settlements and landscape units in the Carpathian Basin where floral motifs are the most dominant in decorative art. This is how I selected the settlements of Somogy, Kalocsa, Matyóföld, Székelyföld, Kalotaszeg, Moldva, Felvidék, Délvidék. I thought it was very important that, for example, even a small child in Budapest knows that Hungarian songs can be heard hundreds of kilometers away from the Hungarian capital. In this way, I also tried to sneak in a little sense of belonging," he explained the circumstances of the book's development.
The newly published volume has 19 buttons, each of which can be used to listen to 15 seconds of music with lyrics.
– While I sang the first volume, for the second one I definitely wanted the folk songs to be performed by prominent singers in the "voice" of the given ethnographic landscape.
I dance in the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble, so I invited my colleagues from the Highlands - Zsombor Juhász, Dániel Csicsmann and Sándor Juhász - and my colleague Benedek Attila Székely to sing, as well as Sára Veronika from the Gyimes, Eszter Pál from the South Carpathians, Young Master of Folk Art Award winner, the winner of "Fölszállott a Pava", Anna Csizmadia and Balázs Mezei from Kalotaszeg. At the same time, we recorded the songs with the orchestra of the Hungarian National Dance Group, whose conductor is Gázsa István Papp, born in Cluj. In this way, each melody is played in such a tasteful locale that the children can feel the authenticity. Of course, the children can also get to know the instruments most characteristic of the given regions, such as the accordion, tarogató, violin, koboz, gardon, clarinet - Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky revealed the secrets of the workshop.
The newly published volume is surrounded by great interest, it was recently the only storybook on the Libri bookstore's hit list.
"It is the result of a fantastic collaboration in the Carpathian Basin, because with the combined power of sounds coming from so many different places, this house is finally colored and turns into a charming palace. It makes me very happy that Transylvanian folk songs are also sung in Budapest, Carpathian melodies permeate the playgrounds, kindergartens and schools," said Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky, who means a lot to her when she sees that mothers don't give their children mobile phones , but this book is printed by the little ones.
"I also received feedback that they can leave the child alone with the book, for example, while the mother is cooking in the kitchen, she can hear what the child is doing in the living room because the music is playing. The music book can occupy the attention of children for a long time, even from the age of zero, but any age group can learn from it. "Blessed with a wonderful imagination, the illustrator Anna Kis drew the most characteristic motifs of the given landscape, sneaking in such small details that one could really look at this book for hours," he added.
Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky said that the third book is already coming together in her head and a fourth is also planned.
"Currently, however, I would like to see the feedback on the first two volumes, translate them into even more foreign languages, and deliver them to even more places in the world. It is now available in English, German and Japanese, and a Turkish version is also in the works. I hope that this way we can spread to the wider world how wonderful and diverse the Hungarian cultural treasure is," he added.
Cover image: Lilla Tapolczai-Zsuráfszky also tried to sneak a sense of belonging into the new volume
Source: Kronika.ro/Cseke Csilla
