SZANY

I was born in Szany and christened in this church. As the song goes: “The three-spires of Szany can’t be seen, there are the waves of the Rába all around”.

Feri Szentes greets me with a bouquet of flowers and a poem he wrote for this occasion. The tall and lean, 80-year-old Feri reminded me of his grandfather, Miska Szentes, from whom my father, Kálmán Kokas, as a young man, learnt the dances and songs of Szany. These were taught to the singers and dancers of Szany every night and I was toddling there among them as a baby. At the age of fourteen, I then danced with them. 

I was past the age of 60 when the people of Szany invited me to teach at a celebration commemorating my father. So I went and taught the children of Szany to play musical games, to rejoice in music, and to listen to music from the bottom of their hearts. My teaching was recorded on video-tape by Erika Fleck. Here are some of the scenes from that special occasion.