Kliment Ondrejka

PhDr. Kliment Ondrejka, CSc. was a Slovak musicologist, ethnologist, and university lecturer. He specialized in ethnomusicology and dance folklore. He focused on researching, collecting, and documenting folk dances, games, and customs, and also worked as a choreographer.

He studied at Charles University in Prague, where he also danced in the State Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances. After transferring to Comenius University in Bratislava, he studied ethnography and history and danced in Lúčnica.

From 1970 to 1985, he initiated, together with Elena Medvecká, a collecting movement titled Ku prameňom krásy a poznania (To the Sources of Beauty and Knowledge), from which the 14-volume publication Deti deťom (Children for Children) emerged (1974–1990), publishing collected children's rhymes, games, amusements, and folk customs. Kliment Ondrejka also collected more than 40,000 Slovak folk proverbs.

From his rich publishing activity, we can mention: Systematika pohybu a jej aplikácia na odzemkové motívy (Systematics of Movement and Its Application to Odzemok Motifs, 1969), Tradičné hry detí a mládeže na Slovensku (Traditional Games of Children and Youth in Slovakia, 1976), Ľudové divadlo, hry a zábavy v slovenskej ľudovej svadbe (Folk Theatre, Games and Entertainment in the Slovak Folk Wedding, 1997), and as a co-author, he contributed to the creation of Slovenské ľudové tance (Slovak Folk Dances, 1991). In 2002, he published Malý lexikón ľudovej kultúry Slovenska (Small Lexicon of Folk Culture of Slovakia).

Kliment Ondrejka paid special attention to the cultural memory of his native village, Liptovské Sliače. “Thanks to his efforts, Sliače probably has the most thoroughly documented history of folk culture. In 1999, the Director General of the National Enlightenment Centre awarded him the D.G. Lichard Medal. In 2001, the village of Sliače granted him honorary citizenship.” (In Sme kultúra, February 23, 2011)

He published: Krátky slovník nárečia slovenského liptovskosliačskeho (Short Dictionary of the Slovak Dialect of Liptovské Sliače, 1997), and Slovník stredoslovenského nárečia z Liptovských Sliačov a okolia s pôvodmi a hniezdovaním slov (Dictionary of the Central Slovak Dialect from Liptovské Sliače and Surroundings with Word Origins and Nesting, 1998).

Kliment Ondrejka collaborated with several folk ensembles and groups, including the Liptov Folk Ensemble from Ružomberok and SĽUK (Slovak State Traditional Dance Company). He was the author of numerous dance and play choreographies.

He was also a long-time collaborator of the National Enlightenment Centre and a member of the program committee of the Folklore Festival Východná (1994–1997 and 2000). He contributed as a program author in Východná in the years 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2000. As a scriptwriter for folklore programs, he also worked for television, radio, and film.

In addition to scientific publications, Ondrejka released several collections of Slovak fairy tales and legends. From a young age, he recorded storytelling narratives, proverbs, song lyrics, greetings, games, weather lore, and other forms of folk culture in his native village. He later artistically adapted them. These include: Rozprávanie spod Salatína (Tales from beneath Salatín, 1972), Poviestky spod piecky (Little Tales from the Hearth, 1977), Zlatý vábnik (The Golden Lure, 1979), Poďte, deti, medzi nás (Come, Children, Join Us, 1980), O Tytíkovi (About Tytík, with V. Marčok, 1980), Povesti a zvesti z dolín stredoslovenských (Legends and Tales from the Central Slovak Valleys, 1982), Ja som dobrý remeselník (I Am a Good Craftsman, 1987), and Čo rozprával sváko Vajda (What Uncle Vajda Told, 2000). He published many fairy tales and proverbs, especially in Slniečko and other magazines.

He lectured at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava.