Description
Despite the fact there are many private collections, a collective archive developed particularly for the cultural intangible heritage of Hungarian minority in Romania is still lacking. The Hungarian minority in Romania has specific folk dance and music which is ethnologically of great importance. The Hungarians living in Romania have adapted the ”Táncház” method that is well known and recognised, and also included in 2011 in the UNESCO list; thanks to this there are collections of thousands of hours of folk music and dance. Many of these collections have been sold and are now in private hands. The Association of Hungarian Folk Dance from Romania preserves the remaining collections which are still accessible by gathering, archiving, digitalising, cataloging and publishing them. The proposed project’s target audience is the Hungarian minority in Romania, more exactly the folk dance ensembles and cultural entities which have the aim to preserve and revitalise traditional inheritance. The Project’s general objectives are to conserve the cultural intangible heritage of the Hungarian minority in Romania with the help of XXI century technologies and the distribution of traditional folk culture to the wider public.
Summary of project results
The first target, the conservation of the cultural intangible heritage of the Hungarian minority from Romania with the help of 21st century technologies was a hundred percent achieved by processing and digitalizing 251 hours of folklore audio materials and 634 hours of folklore video materials, because initially, there were no such processed and digitalized materials at all. The second target of distribution of traditional folk culture to the wider public was achieved by creating a documentation and archiving centre, represented by the folkmedia.ro website in three languages, where 203 hours of folklore video were published. A DVD collection of 30 DVDs containing the same material was realised and distributed free of charge to 120 cultural organizations and institutions in Romania and abroad. The main beneficiaries of the project are now able to search, study and enjoy any time pieces of their own intangible folk heritage (music, choreographies, pictures), which was hardly accessible before this project, now being open to the wide public. The implementation of the project resulted in an immediate change for folk dancers and musicians both in Romania and abroad. Based upon the feedback at the audience meetings, the database of the folkmedia.ro is used as a teaching aid by folk music and folk dance teachers, by professional folk dance groups, choreographers and as a research site by ethnographer students and professors.
Summary of bilateral results