The UK’s only free weekend-long festival to celebrate the music, dance, culture, food and drink of the legendary region of Transylvania has gone online.
Góbéfest was due to take place across Manchester’s Cathedral Gardens and Exchange Square during the last weekend in June. Now Góbé At Home brings a taste of Transylvania to your living room.
Three days of events from the heart of eastern Europe (Friday 26-Sunday 28 June) will include live streamed workshops, dance performances and an encyclopedia of music, spanning folk, jazz, classical, opera and pop.
From noon every day, join home cooks, top chefs and street food stars as they spill the foodie secrets of Transylvania, sharing hard to find recipes for hard to pronounce dishes including langos and kürtöskalács.
Crafty folk are invited to try their hand at Hungarianembroidery or intricate gingerbread decorating, whilst prime movers can pick up some new steps from Góbé At Home’s Transylvanian and Romanian dance workshops.
Festival favourites Mátyás Király Zither Ensemble have played at every Góbéfest since 2017 and they return on Saturday 27 June, performing this time from their home town of Kecskemét in Hungary.
Last year’s headliners, speed-folk-freak-punk outfit Bohemian Betyars, are also back to round off Saturday night’s lineup.
Other musical highlights include an exclusive Góbé At Home set from Transylvanian pop royalty Ildikó Keresztes, Michael Cretu Trio, Szentegyháza Children’s Philharmonia and popular folk rockers Transylmania, whilst the Celtic tones of Rioghnach Connolly and Ellis Davies (Honeyfeet) demonstrate how much the two cultures share musically.
Workshops run Friday-Sunday 12-2pm, it’s dance from 2-4pm and then live music and DJs from 7pm-12am every day.
Góbéfest was established in 2017 to celebrate the little-known culture and traditions of the Székler people – a minority group of ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania, which is part of Romania. A Góbé is a friendly word for a ‘crafty Székely’.
You can stream Góbé At Home for free from the Gobefest website (gobefest.com), Facebook page or on YouTube.
