festivals in hungary: cozy ones

just after the bigger ones, there are three quite similar happening in the three corners of the country. if you are around hop in. they are more familiar, people are more opened for new connections, beer is much cheeper, ticket prices are lower (a daily is around 20 euros). in the north-east corner, the capital of the famous wine region, Tokaj has the hegyalja festival. the main attractions are Katatonia, Juliette & The Licks, Adam Freeland and N.O.H.A.. four days, 9th-13th of July.
on the west side has another on the coast of the big lake Balaton, but it's on the north side in the youth camp of Zánka. the balatone advertises itself with RZA from the wu tang clan, beatsteaks and the real mckenzies. 24th-27th of July.
the third is in Szeged, next to the serbian-romanian border. szin - youth days of szeged - is the oldest music festival in hungary held since the '60s. this year, you can have joy with Morcheeba and several hungarians. at the end of the summer, 27th-30th of August.

and one more, a unique one. it's more an open air goa party, but for four days, 6th-10th of August. the ozora located in the middle of the country, in a hilly region, just in the nature.

not too late for festivals

although, there's one within a week. yeek, that means it's really summertime. you don't need to stuck in 36 celsius in the city. i mean, you have to come here to see the pool above the Gödör club and drink some bottles of beer in the park or just to see the panorama from the fishermen's bastion. but, maybe, in the summertime you would prefer the festivals. let me introduce some.
the big ones.
first of all, the sziget at the beginning of august (12-18). the biggest name from hungary in this scene. it's really a huge happening on an island, not very far from the downtown of budapest. so you can even stay in a tent or in a hostel in the city. on last.fm, you can see a quite long list with the performing artists. but the festival last for six (plus two pre) days.


if you buy the tickets (online) a daily one is 32 euros, the weekly ones are for 120 (without camping) and 150 euros. cheaper than roskilde, hm?


second is volt (2-5 july !). right next to austria, and not very far from bratislava. so you can use those airports and probably it's way easier to get an international ticket to those capitals. and the lineup: manu chao, the offspring, cypress hill, exploited. four days for 60 euros if you buy it in advance (70 at place). daily ticket is 24 (28) euros.

the electronic one is the balaton sound (10-13 july) with massive attack, fatboy slim, goldfrapp and many hungarians, of course. the place is just next to the lake balaton, you can swim in it. best for the hot summertime with bit of hangover. tickets for 28 (36) euros and passes for 70 (85) euros.

there'll be a next post with the cozy, smaller fests. i just need some sleep now. cheers.

Esclin Syndo in Kultiplex

yeeey, we are back. for a bit. i hope.

i'm here to recommend you a concert and of course, the place where it'll be.
the band is Esclin Syndo. not the most famous one, not in the whole world, and also not in hungary. so they are quite friendly, maybe you can play csocsó (table soccer) with them after the gig. the style according to their hompage is quality music, '80s electronics, metal riffs, hip-hop drums, a charing voice, experiment. probably they won't get a bigger audience than hundred people, but it's going to be one and a half hour stomp. i choosed them, because they are a kind of unique thing from hungary: great music.
yep, and a place is also great, alternative snug. like the well known szimpla. also the base of an art cinema and the headquarter of the first and most known (ex-)pirate radiostation, the tilos. and it's a sad story, because it has to be closed in february due to immovable estate things about the local government. but till that it's the time for loads of free concerts. like the one i told you. remember: kultiplex.

and the date is: 15th of february.
adress: kultiplex, 1092, Kinizsi utca 28. (map)
esclin syndo: web, myspace
kultiplex: myspace

music for every night

i would like to teach you a very important word: ingyen. it means for free. the second word would be olcsó. it means cheap. now i will recommend you concerts ingyen or olcsó.

today, tuesday:

if you like folk music, but you prefer it for free and in a non-touristical way, you have to go to the pótkulcs (map), a small, but cozy and warm place, today berkó ensemble is playing, and you can count with dancing! listen to their music on their webpage.


ian siegal (A) will play also for free at gödör klub (map) from 9 pm. he seems to play blues and stuff.

i would recommend also budapest klezmer band at hilton dominican garden, but it costs 4900 huf (20 euro).


tomorrow, wednesday:

our favourite 30y will play from 8pm at zöld pardon (map). the entrance is 100 huf as usually, it really means 0,40 euro. if you wanna know something about hungarian alternative rock, you have to see them. and they are from pécs, the european cultural capital in 2010. that city is better in music than budapest.

grab the deck party at tűztate (map). i don't know anything about the music, but you have to see the place, it's in a dirty, old factory building and it's very cool. and it's also for free. if you prefer reggea, come here today, monday. love alliance special.

bryan adams for free

every year, on the 30th of june, there is a big concert with an international star on the stage - for free, organised by t-mobile. the date is because their phone numbers begin with 06-30. (and hungarians write the dates like this: 2007. 06. 30. we mix up everything, like the names: surname first!)
this year that star will be bryan adams, the canadian singer, but i think that who will be the main reason of the crowd is rúzsa magdolna, last year's 'megastar' singer contest's winner. she participated this year in eurovision with this song. i like the most her performance with lajkó félix, a genious musician from last summer. this one was also amazing, a song from the serbian movie 'time of the gypsies'. she sings in hungarian and in serbian in this song, too, because she's from serbia's hungarian part.

the technical parts now:
the concert begins at 6 pm, and bryan adams probably will be on stage at 8.30.
the place is '56-osok tere (square of the 56-ers; map), you can get here by the yellow (#1) metro. just follow everybody. there will be some changes in the public transport, for example the yellow metro and the trams #1 and #6 will circulate until 00.30. and the crowd will be huge!

party people - zöld pardon

where to party on monday? well, i would recommend you zöld pardon (map and details) again. the concert is a lot of fun - if you speak hungarian. cause the sarcastic hip-hop band, the "belga" will be on scene from 8pm. but it's too early to party anyway, so you can catch the disco-part from 10pm. two stages, young boys and girl, what else do you want?
at this place tuesday is for rock, i'm not good in it, but the performer will be "guilty parties", a rage against the machine tribute band. enjoy, if you love this.
buuuut! on wednesday! the one and only "neo" will give the music under your feet. 8 pm again, don't miss it! an old but forever green song from them is "ranbo 13". they are in the electronic industry, as you can hear it.
thursday is also good, "heaven street seven", alternative soft indie or something like that, i'm really bad in these style-things, but whatever. i would recommend you the song "south america". you can come here if don't like kasabian. but if you do... man... then you should definitely go to the kasabian concert that time. but this deserves a new post. and i will tell you how to enjoy it if you don't have the money for the entrance ticket. stay tuned.

Balkan Fanatik concert

the longest summer festival - this is the slogan of zöld pardon (green pardon), a nice open-air place next to the danube. there are live concerts every day from 20:00, and the entry fee is just 100 ft (0,4 eur)! after the concerts you can dance on two different dancefloors.
you already missed the best concert of the week, which was pál utcai fiúk (PUF), but maybe it's not very interesting for foreigners - they are already history, you know.
but i can recommend friday's balkan fanatik. they mix balkan and hungarian folk music with electronic styles, well it's quite interesting.

so, 8th of june, 20:00, zöld pardon, balkan fanatik (map).
you can get there by tram #4, 6, the stop is called "petőfi híd, budai hídfő", it's in the bank of the river, so you can sit down staring the water while you drink your cheap wine or beer before the concert.

Athe Sam!

here we are! this is the meaning of the title, and this is the title of next week's gypsy art festival (4th-10th of june). the place is gödör klub (club 'hole') in the very center, erzsébet tér (just next to deák tér, where all the metro lines meet; map).


there will be many concerts, exhibitions, some cinema and theater during the week. the aim of the festival is not just entertaining, but to show everyone how talented they are.
my personal tip is váradi roma café (tuesday) with a special fusion of pop, jazz, funky and - of course - gypsy music; the number one szakcsi új magyar gypsy jazz (wednesday) with the world-famous szakcsi lakatos béla, and parno graszt (friday). i don't know them, but i'm really excited about their concert: brasilia essenthia from brasil! they play on saturday. these are just some names from the programme (unfortunately it's in hungarian, but just go to gödör klub any time during the week after 6 pm), but i'm sure that all of them will be an excellent show - from jazz to hip-hop.
the entry is free, the location is very nice in my favourite square with a lot of green and fountains, and if the weather is good, the concerts will be open-air until 10 pm.