Sültü Band

Sültü play nothing but the authentic folk music of the Csángó people – a Hungarian minority living in Romania – of Moldavia and Gyimes, learned from old Csángó masters. The band recreates the atmosphere of these enchanted regions week by week at the dancehouses, concerts, family events and cultural festivals. The voice of Angelika Szilágyi, a Csángó from Csík village, lends further authenticity to their performance. If you would like to get to know the real Csángó music, dance the dances from Moldavia and learn beautiful archaic folk songs, look up, follow and meet Sültü band.

CONTACT: benkoand@gmail.com / +36 20 471 7990

Zagyva Band

Over the past fifteen years, Zagyva Banda has become a decisive representative of the Hungarian Táncház movement. The band was brought up with the Táncház Method which is recognized by UNESCO. Zagyva is currently one the most active folk music bands in Hungary. They play authentic folk music from the Carpathian Basin, but they also deal with the culture of other nationalities living in the area. They are especially solicitous for cultivating the traditions of Galgamente, since the members’ family roots stem from here. In 2011, at a competition organized for violinists playing traditional Hungarian folk music, the band’s first violinist, Gellért Boda won the bronze medal. Following that, they published their first CD. In 2012, they started recording a CD-series in which they work upon the music of different ethnographic landscapes. They are currently working on the third disc. In 2015 the members organized a live concert that is available on CD and DVD as well.

CONTACT: zagyvakoncert@gmail.com

Rozsdamaró Band

The name Rozsdamaró comes from a friend, and means „rust remover”. Rust refers to the crackly, archival recordings we use to learn the style and original sound of the village bands of old. We started playing together in the year 2000 in Szeged, released our first album in 2004 with the title „Then and Now” (Egykor és Most), and received the Young Artist of Folk Arts award in 2005.

KONTAKT:


Korinda

The mission of Korinda is to authentically interpret the traditional folk music of the Eastern edges of Hungarian speaking language areas. The band’s founders gained the basics of their musical knowledge from chapters of Szeged’s folk music scene: members of Mentés Másként Együttes, and András Hodorog, Moldavian shepherd’s flute virtuoso. They played a significant part in creating Korinda’s unique style of sound. The band strives for a simple and clean representation of the music learned from original recordings and informants, while continuously seeking opportunities for individual interpretations and unique expression.
Although the band’s main musical direction is that of Moldavian Csango folk music, their repertoire also comprises the Hungarian and Romanian ethnic ballads of Ghimeș, Burzenland, Székely Land and Bukovina. They regularly return to Moldavia and Transylvania to collect and research music, as it is their conviction to establish and foster personal relationships with older village musicians who are still alive.

CONTACT: korindaband@gmail.com / +36 30 602 1733

Helga Debreceni-Kis

In addition to mastering and transmitting authentic folk music, I find it important to explore
all the possibilities given by the citera. I find it very important and consider it my purpose, to convince people that the citera is a very technical instrument, that has its place on stage, at festivals, and that isn’t exclusive to folk music, but can be used in anything, from jazz to classical music through blues! This is what we are trying to achieve with my duo, ZitheRandom. I have participated in several folk music contests where I earned several prizes, Golden Peacock, Golden qualification. I consider being one of the finalists of the Fölszállott a Páva folk music and folk dancing talent show to be my greatest achievement.

CONTACT: debreczenikishelga@gmail.com

Aranyalma páros

With our instruments and songs we recall the times when people still understood the language of birds, could taste the sunshine in a brunch of grape, knew the order of feasts, could cry and rejoice together and could recover by the power of music. We play music taken from the animating source of Hungarian folk tradition and following the noted days of the year to children and adults. We sing about God, love, wine, valour, Hungarian homeland, human fate, death and resurrection. Our performances and dance-houses reflect the recent and distant past of musical culture and the thinking of eastern nations. We ask for help from our tales, our folk dance treasure and from silence as well.

CONTACT: aranyalmazene@gmail.com

Ritka Band

Ritka Band – ritka meaning „rare” – started in September 2017 and has 4 permanent members: Alinka Blumenschein, Petra Ecsedi-Oláh, Boglárka Szilágyi, Borbála Teszáry; current and former students of the Liszt Music Academy. They play and perform authentic Hungarian folk music from carefully selected sources. Apart from dancehouses, they regularly accompany Bihari and Bartók Folk Dance Groups, and increasingly concentrate on their own releases.

CONTACT: ritka.zenekar@gmail.com / +36 20 350 6745

Pengetős Trio

The long-lost cousins – the zither, the tambourine and the kobza – meet in the music of Pengetős (Plunking) Trio and they have a lot to discuss. The Trio’s repertoire is absolutely unique thanks to the previously unknown consonance of these three instruments. The band reconstructs and remakes folk music heritage to its own image with an open mind, creativity and humility at the same time.

CONTACT: berta.alexandra@gmail.com / +36 20 491 6837 

Magos Folk Band

The Magos Folk Band from Budapest is a band playing authentic Hungarian folk music, first of all tunes from Transylvania (Kalotaszeg, Mezőség, Székelyföld) and present day Hungary (Szatmár, Dunántúl). It was founded in March 2008, the recent line-up, however, was formed in the summer of 2017.

The members of the band are:
ENYEDI Ágnes, Young Master of Folk Arts, Junior Prima Award – voice
SOÓS Csaba, Young Master of Folk Arts – violin
KOVÁCS Márton, Junior Prima Award – violin
ÉRI Márton – violas
ENYEDI Tamás – cimbalom/Hungarian dulcimer
PRIHODA István – double bass, cello
SALAMON Soma, Young Master of Folk Arts, Junior Prima Award – accordion, flutes

Our aim is to study and convey the traditions of folk music while preserving the original tone. Some of us work as teachers at several music schools.
Authentically performed folk music compilations can be heard at our performances, where the influence of the musicians and singers living in the actual region/village can also be observed.
We often take part in field work in Transylvania, and aim at including the acquired musical experiences in our music, then acquaint the listeners with the traditions of the given region.
Apart from accompanying dance ensembles we regularly organize concerts and dance house events both inland and abroad.
In 2011 we won FolkBEATS – an authentic folk-and world music talent show. Thanks to this success we participated in a 5-week 26-concert North-American tour in 2012, where we held concerts and dance houses for Hungarian communities in the US and Canada. In 2014 we got into the semifinals of the famous talent show ’Felszállott a Páva’, where we had the opportunity to perform in television programmes. In 2017 we managed to obtain the ’Halmos Béla’ grant, which enabled us to make our CD titled ’Forgatós’(Authentic Hungarian Folk Music from the river Sajó area to Székelyföld).
Our compilation ’Magosan….’ was awarded the ’Nagy Páva’ label in a competition launched by the Hungarian Heritage House in 2018.
We consider Csiszár Aladár, the lead violinist from Magyarpéterlaka to be one of our greatest masters, thus no wonder that there is no Magos concert without music from Péterlaka.

About the ‘Forgatós’

During the recent years we have devoted our attention to understanding, acquisition and
stylistically appropriate interpretation of music related to diverse regions of Székelyföld, as well as the villages along the rivers Sajó and Maros. We have compiled several line-ups that present the unique beauty of folk music belonging to these rural areas.
We  take our audience on a journey starting from the river Sajó area through Székely-Mezőség and Felső-Maros area to Udvarhelyszék and the area of the river Nyárád hoping that by the end of this ’roaming’ everybody will feel like dancing a ’Forgatós’.

CONTACT: enyeditom@gmail.com / +36 30 437 7540

Kalász Band

The band was formed in January 2017. The first task they faced was releasing their debut album called ’Dúzs 2017’. As we listen to the result we can see that they succeeded and they even went against usual standards. They prioritize the rawness, the movement, the strong dynamics and the freedom of music.

CONTACT: kalaszm@gmail.com // +36 30 410 0780