Lucnica and Local Ensembles Perform at Slovak Community Evening in Sydney

Sydney, 13 October (TASR-correspondent) - The Slovak community in Sydney met at the Czech and Slovak community club on Tuesday for an expatriate evening featuring performances by the Lucnica folklore ensemble, local folklore ensemble Stonozka (Centipede), and the music band Kukabura, with the event attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) and Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) as part of their working trip to Australia.
        The Centipede folk ensemble currently has some 30 members across three age groups: children, teenagers and adults. "We practice every Friday. We aren't professionals, so we learn as best we can. We really enjoy it and are happy to keep our culture alive," Claudia Holy told TASR. Along with Darina Karell, she dances with the ensemble and also trains its other members. "We started out dancing in the ensemble as children, and now we've taken it over," explained Holy.
        The Kukabura band performed Slovak folk songs at the event. "We taught people the songs by printing booklets with the lyrics and handing them out so they could sing along with us. And, 15 years later, these people still sing with us when we perform at various events," said Viliam Benc, who plays bass in the band. The band has seven members, including a sound engineer and a Czech accordionist. One of its members is 22-year-old Patrik, who was born and raised in Australia and is getting to know his parents' culture in this way.
        Simkovicova thanked Slovaks living abroad who speak Slovak to their children and teach them Slovak songs, dances and traditions. "As culture lives within us, in people, and we are the only ones who can pass on our culture in this way [...] It's incredibly important that we don't forget where we come from and where our roots lie, wherever in the world we may live. If we lose our identity, we lose ourselves," she said.
        Blanar also praised the active members of the Slovak community, describing their work as cultural diplomacy. "I personally greatly appreciate the fact that our compatriots preserve their traditions, above all their mother tongue. They also promote the language at a school they've set up. We're trying to support these activities through the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad. I've also brought some textbooks, exercise books and school supplies for the school, while the culture minister has also provided some kind of support for these folk ensembles, whose members carry out these activities for free, simply because they cherish their traditions," stressed Blanar.        
        The head of Slovak diplomacy will continue his working visit on Wednesday (14 October) with a programme in Sydney, including a visit to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the Slovak stand at MOVE Australia 2026. He'll travel to the Australian capital Canberra in the afternoon.