Sára Ferenc and his partner Varga Zsuzsa arrived in the Ghimeș area when most were emigrating. The reason for them moving in was, in Feri’s account, a musical recording. It was the ancient melodies collected by Kallós Zoltán and brought to life by Zerkula and Vakk Mihály that first enticed him here. Their clandestine and adventurous forays in the 80s were then followed up by more regular visits in the 90s, and from ‘95 onwards they were the ones enriching Ghimeș.
The Sáras had heard and caught sight of the values the values that most of the older inhabitants of this region were about to abandon and replace. And they have worked to ensure that others have the opportunity to experience these values as well.
Among the 15,000 Csángós in the Ghimeș area, almost everyone knows or has heard of them. There isn’t a Ghimeș family today whose children haven’t been taught how to dance and to sing by them. In the span of nearly 30 years, several thousand Ghimeș youths have relearnt the ancestral motions and melodies. Ensembles have been formed thanks to them. Coordinated by Ferenc, several hundred dancers and musicians had the opportunity to showcase and promote quite possibly the most archaic music, dances and folk costumes in the Carpathian Basin abroad. Preserving and handing down this treasured culture was closest to their heart. And they did so with credibility.
The dancers and dance groups who wanted to learn genuine Ghimeș dances and songs regarded Feri and Zsuzsi as masters. They can not only show them the movements, but the other profound aspects that underlay them. This required the 30 years of experience that the former young Hungarian “golden-spurred” dancer and dance pedagogue had attained.
Sára Ferenc was awarded the Gold Cross of the Hungarian Cross of Merit in 2014, and in 2021, he received the Martin György Prize. In 2023, The Hungarian Cultural Society of Transylvania (EMKE) awarded him the Kallós Zoltán Prize for the preservation of folk culture and their decades-long work in preserving heritage values. His work has made many of us today into caretakers, preservers and aficionados of Ghimeș Csángó culture both in the country and abroad.
(based on a tribute by Molnár Szabolcs)
May you rest well, Feri. Thank you for the lessons and for all you have given us!