Best of Budapest & Hungary

Spend a full day under the spell of Serbian heritage at the free and family friendly cultural festival PONT, on October 11th, part of the Liszt Fest series. You can learn about culture while crafting, playing and dancing along, following the festival’s DIY spirit.

Sweeping melodies and relentless rhythms are center stage: you can try bodymusic, the emblematic kolo dance, listen to mesmerizing Džumbus Trio or get blown away by the trumpet king Bojan Krstić and his Orkestar.

October 11 sees a day dedicated to Serbian culture; its enchanting music and dance, motifs and myths. PONT festival, brought to you by Hangvető and Liszt Fest International Cultural Festival, presents the ‘wonders of the world’ in playful, family friendly format in the leafy park of the National Museum. Each year, the festival focuses on a different region or country, and offers its cultural treasures, UNESCO-listed items among them, to taste, try and enjoy. Music features heavily in this year’s programme, including everything from blasting brass to sweetly meandering memories.

First and foremost, it’s a day for the family: festival favourites include an animation workshop, a very productive and age-segmented DIY section all themed around Serbian folk art; topped by a body music workshop and dance house teaching the basics of all-Balkan ring dance, kolo. It is one the UNESCO-listed traditions showcased at PONT, along the art of the gusle -  a stringed instrument used to accompany epic poetry.

As the day filled with wonder inches closer to evening, the pace quickens: Branka Básits and her Džumbus Trio render Southern-Slavic songs in a skilled and intimate arrangement , followed by the kolo dance house by grandmaster László Halász and his band. A much-needed warm-up before PONT goes full-blast, and the trumpet king himself, Bojan Krstić steps on the stage accompanied by his partners in brass.