Although the object is certainly visually attractive, its dominant feature and its carrier of emotion is the music. Not for the first time in her work, the artist plays Roma halgató, a cosmopolitan musical genre that is the quintessence of Roma strength and trauma, and with which Roma people around the world still identify. Roma halgató is the plaintive undercurrent of many foreign songs, and of more than one "national" folklore.
Rigová's Christmas halgató is presented in a stirring interpretation by Kamil Polakovič, founder of the band City Boys. Rigová’s tree is a tribute to this respected, recently deceased Roma artist, and is an invitation for Roma people to enter the "Slovak national" space. Thus, following a year of ministerial purges, the Slovak institution resounds with a Roma voice – and that is exactly right!
Folk song: Apostles
Arrangement: Pavel Šindler
Interpretation: City Boys band, Trnava (Kamil Polakovič, Peter Mako, Jarko Irdza, Mário Kubišta, Milan Borák, Milan Borák Jr (Vajo), Peter Bango, Drahos Bango, Ján Rigo); 2003
Curator: Petra Hanáková
You will find the tree in the entrance hall of the SNG until 5 January 2025.
