Góbéfest at Cathedral Gardens

Góbéfest, Manchester’s original international urban folk music and dance festival, is back at Cathedral Gardens this September.

Góbéfest was established in 2017 to celebrate the little-known culture and traditions of the Székler people – a group of ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania, while showcasing the practices and folklores of other cultures from across Europe. Music is at the festival’s heart, but dance also plays a major role, along with workshops, activities and food and drink from around the Carpathian Basin.

This year, organisers Beat Bazaar Projects have curated a great musical line-up. Joint Friday headliners for the indie event, which turns eight this year, are gypsy folk band of the moment and Preston’s finest Mobius Loop, and klezmer and Balkan music supremos She’Koyokh. Saturday’s headliner is eight-piece central European folk outfit Magyar Banda, fronted by virtuoso Jr. Béla Szerény, who also performs with the legendary Márta Sebestyén.

Other acts playing across two stages for the three day event include Koszika & the Hotshots, Vulva Voce, Karolina Wegrzyn & Banda, Csjilla, Réka-Kata Regián & Szabolcs Horváth, Solymosi Duo, Seamus Og and  Izzie Walsh, with more local and international acts still yet to be announced.

The Sunday at Góbéfest is traditionally free, and remains so this year, with much of the action centred around Dance. UK-based dance groups will share the stage with troupes from Poland, Ukraine and Hungary this year. And if you feel like getting involved yourself, you can learn the steps of the Csárdás, a traditional Hungarian folk dance which starts out slowly and ends up very fast!

Independent food and drink traders will be serving up favourites from around the Carpathian Basin, from giant pans of goulash, to the fried flat breads known as lángos and Transylvanian barbecued chimney cakes. Alongside craft beer, there will also be a Hungarian wine stall, a cocktail bar and a palinka (Hungarian fruit brandy) bar.

And it’s a great festival for kids, too, with plenty of free activities on offer in a dedicated family tent. Think music and dance workshops, arts and crafts, and storytelling from award-winning children’s author Oliver Sykes.

In the words of event organiser Ottilia Ördög, herself a Székely, now settled in UK for almost 30 years and working as a cultural leader:

“You have heard all the mysterious myths and legends, now come and experience the magic of Transylvania, right in the centre of Manchester.”