New York pulsed with the rhythms of the Balkans, spotlighting Hungarian performers

The two-day Golden Festival, which wrapped up in the early hours of Sunday, drew thousands of revellers. Over 50 folk bands rooted in Balkan traditions—many based in the US—took to the stage, including Washington’s Szikra Banda and New Jersey’s Holdvilág. Most sets exploded into vibrant táncház dance sessions, turning the venue into a whirlwind of feet and fiddles.

Noel Kropf, one of the festival’s founding organisers, told the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) that he and his American mates launched it back in the mid-1980s to give their community a stage. What started as a grassroots gig has blossomed into the nation’s biggest Balkan music extravaganza.

Magyar musicians stealing the show

He added that while most organisers are still American, they actively rope in diaspora communities from various nations. They pour special effort into passing the torch of Balkan musical heritage to the younger crowd. Hungarian folk music wasn’t on the original bill, but for years now, Magyar musicians have been stealing the show.

Emese Prandovszky-O’Donnell, leader of the Washington-based Szikra Banda—a fiery mix of Hungarian and American players—shared with MTI that their band first rocked the festival about a decade ago. The crowd laps up their csángó Hungarian folk tunes with open arms and huge gratitude; its infectious energy charges up listeners, dancers, and musicians alike.

Among the dazzling lineup were ensembles dishing out Greek, Turkish, Macedonian, North Macedonian, Bulgarian, Roma, Armenian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Albanian, and Eastern European Jewish sounds.