Bújj, bújj, zold ág is a Hungarian folk song which based on folk traditions. My earliest memory of this song is from my childhood. My parents and other family members sang for me. Later I also introduced to this song when I attended to playschool. The teachers used this tune to teach music rhythm and memorizing songs. As I grow up, I taught this piece first to my cousins’ children than when I was trained as a teacher. Thankfully, this folk song is a base of the Hungarian music education, so I do not think it will die out.

Folk songs generally have a simple text and form, and they are associated with the lives of people. They are also often having a socially significant message. Traditionally they are passed between people through an oral tradition but there is musicologists like Kodály and Bartók who collected and recorded these folk songs. A folk song can be associated with a particular political or social movement, for example Ha én rózsa volnék. This song written by János Bródy and sang by Zsuzsa Koncz. The lyrics were embedding the possibility of multiple interpretations but in reality, it was criticizing the communist regime. This song with other similar pieces became so popular, that they turned the increasingly crowded events to implicit protests.

Bújj, bújj, zold ág has a short melody and contains 14 bars. The song has two phrases with a repeated section in the second part from bar 9-12.

Bújj,bújj,zöld ág,

Zöld levelecske…

Nyitva van az aranykapu,

Csak bújjatok rajta.

Rajta, rajta

Leszakadt a pajta,

Benn maradt a macska.

Reference

Hegyi, M., 2021. Bújj, bújj zöld ág (Gyerekdalok és mondókák, rajzfilm gyerekeknek). Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hO9K5xdmYo&gt; [Accessed 5 February 2021].

Bródy, J., n.d. életút. [online] Brody.mediastorm.hu. Available at: <http://brody.mediastorm.hu/elet.htm&gt; [Accessed 5 February 2021].