BEIRUT: The galloping melody of Czech folk music spilled out of the Assembly Hall at American University of Beirut Tuesday night in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the peaceful movement that overthrew Czechoslovakia’s Soviet regime.
“We’re here to commemorate the many changes that came in 1989,” said Svatopluk Cumba, Czech Republic’s ambassador to Lebanon.
“It was a university movement that in a few days brought down the administration.”
The Slovakian ambassador to Lebanon and Syria Ivan Surkos shared the night’s introduction with Cumba, as the two countries that separated in ’93 reunited for an evening of traditional music and dance.
In the spirit of honoring both nations, the primarily string ensemble – rounded out with a Czech bagpipe, clarinet and xylophone – came from Southern Moravia, a region nestled on the Czech Republic’s border with Slovakia and Austria.
The Danaj Cimbal Group performed a spirited montage of traditional folk songs occasionally accompanied by a soloist or male duet, and all the performers wore traditional green outfits.
Measures of mournful ballads turned to upbeat staccato and then into heady crescendos that transported the auditorium, packed with hundreds of guests, to the lush open fields of central Europe.
Interspersed with the folk tunes were less-traditional dance routines by Czech dance troop Carovne Ostrohy, which in English means the “magic spurs.”
The dance troop combined traditional elements of Czech and Slovakian dance – such as folk costumes, hair ribbons, using props such as sticks, stomping and clapping – with more contemporary details.
The first dance of the night remained traditional until a breakdancer in black joined the dancers dressed in folk garb. The dancers also performed a hybrid dance to the Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On” dressed in black studded outfits. The modernized dance turned suddenly back to its roots with couples dancing traditional ballroom Polka.
Underscoring the event was a message of peaceful revolution, which both Cumba and Surkos stressed in their speeches.
Alluding to the civil war in neighboring Syria, both reminisced on the non-violent protests that led to the fall of Czechoslovakia’s authoritarian government. The Velvet Revolution followed the October 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and a harsh crackdown on a peaceful student demonstration in Prague of that year.
Both Danaj and Carovne Ostrohy have staged award-winning performances. Danaj won a laureate at a prestigious International Folklore Festival and two of its star members have likewise won awards in the area of folk music.
The dance troop came to Lebanon from the United States, where they perform annually in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. This summer, Carovne Ostrohy also performed during the London Olympics.
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