The city’s latest music festival, the purely vocal Budapest A Cappella Festival – featuring music versatile in space, time and genre – introduces exciting international productions and the very best from Hungary. The program will be organised by Hangvető on June 17-19 at the Várkert Bazár Öntőház courtyard as part of the Dunapest (contemporary all-art festival).
The newest pearl of the Budapest music festival portfolio, the Budapest A Cappella Festival offers easy summer entertainment, including the Georgian polyphonic men’s choir, stories sung from Zimbabwe and Finnish folk hop.
The event was launched last year to create traditions, and this year – by popular demand – will be extended both in terms of time and program. This year it lasts three days, and as well as Hungarian performers the international ensembles will be staged.
The Finnish Tuuletar, for example, stands as clear proof that a Finnish tradition close to nature can also develop into something really cool and urban. Four girls, four strong personalities, will bring the impressive mix of beatbox and Finnish folk to the festival.
If you ever had the good fortune of listening to Bulgarian polyphonic songs, you know exactly how special and pervasive these melodies are, being both close to our hearts and attractively different. Abagar truly and giftedly represents this, featuring the magnificent voice of the young singer.
The music of singer and composer Vusa Mkhaya – being of Zimbabwean origin and living in Vienna – expresses the joy of singing. The songs are about the “ubuntu” ideology, based on human virtues and communities, in the broadest sense. Sometimes the music emerges from the darkest moments of the country’s recent history, however the concert features the joyful and liberating experience of music.
Alaverdi arrives from Georgia, bringing the miracle of polyphonic songs. The unique tune and melody of Georgian polyphony – acknowledged by UNESCO – guarantees the extraordinary experience, staging men in folk costumes delivering a great show, often with vocal jokes.
Kongero delivers the purified elegance for which Swedes are known. Four female voices merge with faultless accuracy, offering an insight into sweet and sometimes melancholic Swedish folk songs.
Mamadou Diabate will be the star featured on the last day. Diabate, originating from Burkina Faso and living in Austria, is the modern master of West African music traditions going back to the 13th century. He introduces Sambla and Tusia music traditions as well as his own – award-winning – compositions using an instrument resembling the xylophone.
The Hungarian representatives of the a cappella genre will also be staged, including the excellent pop formation Fool Moon. Audiences are charmed by the joyful and swinging presentation of pure pop sung by male voices.
Jazzation (pictured) has been the representative of high-level a cappella singing in Hungary for more than ten years. The three female and two male voices are capable of ruling the stage individually, however in a choir their expressive power is multiplied. Be it jazz, folk music or pop, Jazzation entertains the audience with a highly refined and valuable production.
Romengo earned great merit already at the opening gala of WOMEX15 brought to Budapest by Hangvető, where the magic voice of Mónika Lakatos and the authentic Vlach music earned them the admiration of the international music world. Following plenty of work, international acknowledgement and many tours abroad, they still play with modesty and credibility but the effect of their music remains overwhelming.
Dunapest is a contemporary art and urban festival to be held on June 16-19 in Budapest, at locations along the river Danube, in co-operation with Budapest Municipality. Further to offering high-quality entertainment, the festival targets promoting cultural dialogue and inspiring co-operation, raising attention to connections between the Danube and cities alongside.
