Miklós Both receives Ukrainian state award for folk music research

Miklós Both, composer, ethnographer, and Director General of the House of Traditions, has received the Ukrainian state award ‘Amber Heart’ (Бурштинове серце). The honor was bestowed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha for his significant contributions to supporting Ukraine on the international stage.

The award recognizes Both’s decade-long research and cultural mediation work through the Polyphony Project. This international research program systematically documents Ukrainian traditional music, specifically polyphonic village singing cultures. The project has created a freely accessible online archive containing thousands of field recordings, melodies, and texts, preserving repertoire that might otherwise be lost.

The award was presented by Sándor Fegyir, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Hungary, during a ceremony on August 24 marking the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. The event also included the unveiling of a statue of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in a park in Budapest’s VII district.