Parapács

The word parapács means nifty, down-to-earth, well spoken fellow in Transylvanian dialects. The musicians we grew up listening to were all such nifty fellows, and they inspired us to start a band in 2007. When Gábor Dragony on first violin joined us in 2010 the Parapács recipe was ready, we made our base in Tornalja (Slovakia) and started to collect music in the surrounding Uplands and in Transylvania, where we could learn the craft of honed village musicians. We won „Peacock”(Fölszállott a Páva) talent show in 2012 in the category folk ensemble, and released our first album Bëbocsātlak featuring authentic music from the Uplands in 2014. Bálint Tárkány-Kovács joined our ranks on the cimbalom in 2018. Playing with the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zoltán Kocsis at the “Only from a pure source” (Csak Tiszta Forrásból) concert in 2015 was one of the proudest moments of our career so far.

CONTACT: vojtisanyi@parapacs.hu / +36 30 692 1908

Naszály Band

Members of Naszály met under Naszály Hill, studying in the conservatory in Vác. They play authentic Hungarian folk music as a band since 2013; accompany various dance troupes (Kincső, Kis-Csepel and Lenvirág Folk Dance Groups) and play at dancehouse events. As we regard it our mission to show and pass on our folk music heritage to younger generations, we like to play in schools and kindergartens, as well as play for a wider audience at cultural and gastronomic events dedicated to this tradition. We present Hungarian folk music abroad, be it for the Hungarian communities across the border, other European countries or even overseas. Teaching folk music is among our future ambitions.

CONTACT: naszalyzenekar@gmail.com //
Czaier Péter +36 30 402 2494 // Horváth Balázs +36203292595

Arató Band

What distinguishes our band are the female first violinist, Luca Réka Tóth, and the tireless diligence with which we learn, research and play folk music. We set up our band in 2009 to play authentic Hungarian folk music, and try and capture the musical essence of each region. Village musicians, revival artists and our own drive guide us on the way. Apart from playing together, we teach music, organize events and make field recordings. Concerts at dancehouses, at MUPA – Palace of Arts, at parties, weddings and marches bear witness to the band’s skill. We are keen to show Hungarian folk music to audiences at home and abroad. You can find our music on Youtube and the recordings of the Dancehouse series. Our violinist received the Junior Prima award in 2018.

CONTACT: rekatolu@gmail.com

Borsa Band

We practice various professions, but folk music is part of our everyday lives since over a decade. During our studies of classical and church music the musical heritage of Moldavia has become increasingly important. Our first ad hoc gig was followed by regular dancehouses, so we had to find a name: we came up with Borsa. We eagerly study recordings and grab every chance to meet people from Moldavia. We tell folktales within and outside of the border, we play at dancehouses in Piliscsaba and Budapest.

CONTACT: borsaegyuttes@gmail.com / +36 20 282 0248

Bajkó

Ensemble Bajkó was founded in the spring of 2013, in Budapest, by three hearty, music lover youngsters from the countryside. The membership of the group was burnished constantly. Balázs Horváth joined the ensemble in 2016, Csaba Weingart in 2017. The most important cohesive force of the formation was friendship and the mutual demand for achieving musical excellence. Folk music is a dominant part of their lives. For them, collective music making is of most importance moreover, they strive to keep the treasures of folk music from the Carpathian Basin in their original form.

CONTACT: bajkozenekar@gmail.com // +36 30 569 39 38

Török Tilla

The multi-instrumentalist Török Tilla and her band are frequent guest performers at folk and world music festivals overseas and also in Asia. They form an unique musical unity that interfuses Hungarian folk elements and the music of ancient steppe people.

CONTACT: toroktillaofficial@gmail.com / +36 70 320 0976

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 

Eszterlánc

Since its foundation, the musical band, Eszterlánc, has been playing the traditional folk music of the Transylvanian Heath (Mezőség). Eszterlánc has produced seven albums so far based on the musical traditions of three villages of the region. Császár Attila coordinates the work of the band, which is ultimately based on his tours of the Transylvanian Heath.

CONTACT: csaszi.eszterlanc@gmail.com / +36 30 619 3013