Táncház Revival

Hungarian Music

Course 1 · Chapter 6 · The Táncház Revival

In the early 1970s a group of young people in Budapest began to hold evenings at which village dances were taught by dancers and played by live musicians, with the audience joining in. This was the táncház (dance house) movement. It took the music that Bartók and Kodály had recorded and made it a living social activity, and it became one of the most influential folk revivals in Europe. This chapter follows how it began, who made it, what it changed and why it has lasted. Names and dates are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

How It Began

The first dance houses

The first táncház is usually dated to 1972 in Budapest, organised by young dancers and musicians, among them Béla Halmos, Ferenc Sebő and Sándor Timár (check the names and the exact date). The idea was to learn village dances directly, with live music, in an informal setting.

The sources

They drew on the recordings and films made by folk-music researchers, and on visits to villages, especially in Transylvania, where older village traditions were still active (check; Chapter 4). Some older musicians were brought to Budapest to teach.

The setting

Hungary in the 1970s was a one-party state with a relatively liberal cultural policy compared with some neighbours, and a state-supported folk-culture programme. The movement grew in this space (check how far the authorities supported or constrained it).

The Format

  • Teaching and playing. A dance-teacher shows the steps, a small band plays village-style music (violin, viola, double bass, sometimes cimbalom or other instruments), and the group dances together.
  • Regional styles. Programmes include dances from several regions, such as Szatmár, Mezőség and Kalotaszeg, each with its own steps and music (check the regions and the names).
  • Not a stage show. The point is participation, so the audience are the dancers, and the musicians play for them.
  • The singing. Songs, laments and ballads were also learned from older singers and from archives.

Groups and Singers

Name (check each)Note
Sebő Ferenc and the Sebő EnsembleEarly leading musicians of the revival.
MuzsikásFounded in 1973; became the best-known group, touring widely and recording with artists including Márta Sebestyén (check).
Márta SebestyénSinger of folk songs, known abroad for her work with Muzsikás and for the song on the soundtrack of The English Patient (1996; check).
Hagyományok Háza (House of Traditions)A state-supported institution for folk-culture education and archives, founded in the 2000s (check).
Revival or invention? The dance house is a revival, but not a copy. Village dances were learned by city people in a very different setting, the repertoire was selected and sometimes simplified, and the bands performed for a new audience. Scholars of folk revivals ask how far such a movement preserves a tradition and how far it creates a new one, and for the táncház the honest answer is both (check the scholarship). That a village tradition continues in a changed form is not a failure.

Recognition and Spread

  • The táncház method. In 2011 UNESCO recognised the táncház method of teaching folk music as an example of good practice in safeguarding intangible heritage (check the year and the wording).
  • Transylvania and beyond. The movement spread to Hungarian communities in Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere, and to Hungarian diaspora groups, linking communities across borders (check).
  • Festivals and camps. Annual gatherings, such as a large dance-house festival in Budapest, bring musicians and dancers together (check).
  • Jazz and cross-over. Some musicians combined folk material with jazz and other styles, as in the work of Hungarian jazz players who drew on village tunes (check; this feeds into Chapter 9).
A British comparison Compare the English and Scottish folk revivals of the 1950s and 1960s and the later ceilidh and folk-club scenes (check the dates). The Hungarian movement is unusual for its emphasis on dance and for the way it brought rural players into a city youth culture.
Check the details Dates, founders' names, group histories and the role of the state are from general knowledge and are discussed in the scholarly literature on folk revival. Verify against Hungarian ethnomusicology, the House of Traditions and band histories before quoting anything.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Describe how a táncház evening works and explain why its format differs from a concert of folk music.

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Exercise 2

Trace the line from Bartók and Kodály's field recordings to the táncház movement, naming the steps in between.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Write a short paragraph answering the question "Is the dance house a revival or an invention?", with evidence for both sides.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • Start: first táncház in Budapest, 1972 (check)
  • Format: a teacher, a village-style band, an audience who dance
  • Names: Sebő, Muzsikás (1973), Márta Sebestyén (check)
  • Recognition: UNESCO good-practice listing, 2011 (check)
  • The caution: a revival changes what it revives