Budapest Ragtime Band concert in Kassan – Zemplén Festival 2022 – ATEMPO.sk
On Saturday, August 20, 2022, from 7:00 p.m. a Budapest Ragtime Bandthe Hungarian representative of traditional American jazz gives a concert in Kassa, in the Thália Theater, a 31. Zemplén Festival in the framework of
The entrance fee is 7 euros. Everyone is warmly welcomed by the organizers, the Csemadok Kassai Municipal Election. The event will be held in compliance with the current precautions.
More than half a hundred programs await visitors at the Zemplén Festival – there will also be a location in the highlands
The band
József Széki – vocals, percussion
Tibor Antal – violin
Sándor Csárics – trumpet
Krisztián Csapó – vocals, trombone
Varga Tivadar – piano
Ferenc Gayer – bass player, bandleader
János Weszely – drums
THE Budapest Ragtime Band, perhaps the most patinated ensemble of Hungarian traditional jazz life. It was founded in 1980 by artists who graduated from the college or Music Academy. In addition to nurturing the traditions of ragtime, their goal is to present, keep alive and popularize other traditional American musical genres among the domestic audience.
Ragtime was an extremely popular musical genre in North America from a few years before the turn of the century until 1918. Classic ragtime is associated with the name of Scott Joplin, the son of a former slave, who was also called The King of The Ragtime by his contemporaries. Joplin and other great composers originally composed their works for the piano; the Budapest Ragtime Band initially re-arranged these pieces for its own line-up. Over time, the repertoire has been greatly expanded and enriched, partly with his own style, humorous renditions of popular melodies of classical music (Strauss’s Blue Danube waltz, Hacsaturján’s Sword Dance, Monti’s Csardása, Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, etc.), and on the other hand, with his operettas and dance music, with his fun, gag-studded voicing. An indispensable element of their concerts is gaiety, fun – i.e. the “show”!
Their “home” is the Óbuda Társaskör, but they also give a lot of concerts at home and abroad, nearly 150 per year. They especially care about the musical education of children, which is why with their youth programs – together with the Hungarian Philharmonic and its predecessor – they have been regularly visiting the country’s primary and secondary schools for thirty years and shaping the musical taste of the young students – fulfilling a kind of cultural mission.
BRB members consider it important to maintain contact with Hungarians across the border. With their concerts, they have been active participants in the cultural life of Hungarian communities since the beginning of the nineties.
He has already produced a dozen recordings (three LPs, nine CDs), and their latest recording contains only arrangements of Hungarian evergreens – typical of the Budapest Ragtime Band.
In 2020, the double bass player Ferenc Gayer, the leader of the band, received the Péter Máté Award.
ATEMPO.sk