III. ECHOES OF OLD SLAVONIC SONGS UNDER THE KRALOVA HOLA

TELGART

OCTOBER 17-19, 1997

Our trip to Telgart began on Friday at 2 p.m. Vladimir beside me, as a reporter, took also Claudia. You have already read some articles she wrote. Our first stop was in Slovak National Museum in Martin, because Vladimir wanted to get some postcards to be mailed to members for Christmas. The second break we took in Liptovska Teplicka. It is a beautiful village under the north side of Kralova Hola surrounded by mountains on all sides. At the end of this village there is a new great hotel Dolinka with fantastic restaurant. We wanted to have a dinner there, but unfortunately the hotel was booked for a conference on Agro-tourism and by a performing folk group from Liptovska Teplicka. Thanks to Mrs. Gabriela Bohuncakova, Vladimir’s friend from the summer festival held here, and the head of the cultural center in Liptovska Teplicka, we were finally seated for dinner. As the night began to fall we started to be tired. When we reached Telgart it was 8 p.m. We were sleeping in the house of the Vladimir's friend Mr. Pavol Handula. He was very attentive and in twenty minutes we were ready to go sleep. I am very happy that my dream came true that night. I slept under the original Slovak down quilt-duchna. Next day-Saturday-after having a good sleep and breakfast we went to the spring of the river Hron, the most sung about river in Slovakia, where the opening of the festival took place. In spite of the fact that the sun was beautifully shining, the air was incredibly cold. All the participants were welcomed with large shot vodka for starters and great goulash. After everybody’s arrival they started to sing the beautiful songs. This program took half an hour.

In the afternoon at 2:30 PM we went into Greek-Catholic church in Telgart. Mons. Reverend Bishop Jan Hirka said some words to all that were in the church. A group Kyrillomethodeon from Bratislava-the capital city of Slovakia, opened the program. Their first song was "Vivat Jesus Christ." After their nice singing the other folk groups started to present themselves. For example: Vernar, Hajicek from Chrenovec-Brusno, Brezno, folk group Poracan from Porac, folk group Sliacanka from Liptovske Sliace, folk group from Celovce, Kycera from Cierny Balog, Porublanka from Ruska Poruba, folk group Barvinok from Kamienka, Zavacan from Zavadka nad Hronom, Teplican from Liptovska Teplicka, Kojsovan from Kojsov, folk group from Plachtince-Pribelce, group from Cerovo, folk group Hora from Rejdova, Hrusov and Telgart.

In the evening at 6 PM the second part of the program started in the House of Culture in Telgart. It was named "The songs of forests, meadows and villages." Participants were same like in the church however they sung different songs. At 7 PM there was a short break for dinner. After the break we could see "The ballad about Mary's wondering." It was made according to a Christmas song "When Virgin Mary was wondering from Rome." The life of Virgin Mary was described and also the birth of her son. This program was presented by 20 members of the folk group Sliacanka from Liptovske Sliace. After this marvelous ballad we saw the performance named: "Korene kultury Hontu (The roots of Hont's culture)." These were the wedding songs and wishes. We saw the groups from the villages: Cerovo, Celovce, Plachtince, Hrusov, Velky Turovec. Hont is not very well known area of Slovakia. In Hont there are tiny villages and few members' families. They are interested in their land and working on it. Third week of August there is a folk festival in Hrusov now in its third year.

At 9:30 PM started the last part of the program - The Gala concert. It presented 13 best groups from the all evening. As the first we saw the ensemble Kyrillomethodeon from Bratislava. They sang two songs. The next were folk groups Barvinkok from Kamienka, Poracan from Porac, Porublanka from Ruska Poruba, Sliacanka from Liptovske Sliace, Kycera from Cierny Balog, Kojsovan from Kojsov, Zavacan from Zavadka nad Hronom, Teplican from Liptovska Teplicka, Vernar and Telgartcan from Telgart. The beautiful evening was over at 10.30 PM The conductor thanked to Ing.Viliam Gruska, also the mayor of the village Martin Mekel and to all the participants. In spite of being late we didn’t feel like go to sleep. So we went to the small local pub, owned by Vladimir’s friends that used to live in Vancouver, where we met many nice people. We had a great time till early morning.

On Sunday at 8 AM there was a Holy Divine Liturgy in Greek-Catholic church celebrated by Mons. Most Reverend Bishop Jan Hirka. Through the mass many participating groups were singing beautiful Slavonic songs again.

The mass was followed by trip to Mount Kralova Hola where all participants sung many old national Slovak songs. Later on in the day, during gala lunch, following groups received the Crystal Echoes trophies for 1997: Hrusov from Hrusov, Barvinok from Kamienka, Porublanka from Ruska Poruba, Sliacanka from Liptovske Sliace, Vernár from Vernar, Podenky-Kojsov from Kojsov and Nitra.

I would like to end my article with the nice words of the conductor: "thanks to the songs we can express our emotions. The songs also help the people to rest after their work."

In conclusion, I want to thank to all people who prepared this nice program, but also to all participants. Thank you and see you next year.

Yours Maria

Maria Rybarova
Hollého 5
972 01Bojnice
Slovakia

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Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 6, No. 1, Spring 1998
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1998 
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