Worlds collided this week at the Magyar Zene Háza. Not only did an American folk band play there, but the same night Hong Kong-based Knack Cordial Folk Group dropped in as they visited Hungary through their “Napkelettől Napnyugatig” tour.
Legendary ensemble leader Kenneth Tse organized and choreographed the tour, in collaboration with Philidor Institute, Friends of Hungary Foundation, the Hungarian Folk Embassy, Fonó Budai Zeneház and I Dance Hungary‘s Mihály Rosonczy-Kovács. Artistic design was provided by Jenny Ching. The group’s roughly two-week tour took them all over Budapest – their most recent performance at Saint Stephen’s Basilica. They also had a chance to collaborate in Tihany with the Timár Együttes and Júlia Kubinyi.
Tse was very happy to join the evening concert and táncház with his group, and took the opportunity to network among some of the notable attendees there – icons Kálmán and Judit Magyar and Anna (Panni) De Cheke Qualls of the Hungarian Folklife Association. Tse’s students joined the dances, including Chrisopher Czy, who danced the kalotaszegi legényes. Amazingly, he “commutes” to Knack Cordial’s rehersals from Singapore. Others from Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Photo credit: Kenneth Tse.
