Hungary - The Centre & Southeast

 Before heading to the southeast of Hungary we stop at the town of Szentendre (St. Andrew) just north of Budapest, where we meet the tambura led band Söndörgő.  They consist of brothers Áron, Benjamin and Salamon Eredics, their cousin Dávid and Ábel Dénes.  Their signature instrument is the Hungaro-Serbian tambura and their lively style is quite different to other, generally fiddle-based traditional music of Hungary.  There music takes heart from the Eastern European folk canon including from Serbian, Macedonian, Turkish, Jewish and Gypsy traditions.  Here's a tune from their 2016 album Live Wires called Marice:

In a similar vein and also from Szentendre, the Vujicsics Ensemble play tambura led tunes representing the music of the Croatian and Serbian minorities living in Hungary.  They've been going since the 1970's and named themselves after their inspiration, Hungarian composer Tihamér Vujicsics (1929-1975).  Here is one of their tunes played on the streets of Szentendre called Valpovo:

Heading pretty much to the centre of Hungary we arrive at the city of Kecskemét, where János Csík and his Mezzo Band hail from for something altogether more chilled.  They describe their style as coffee house and I can imagine chilling in a café with some of their vibe playing along, blending Hungarian folk with cool jazz.  Here's a tune by them called Ülök a kávéházban, which features on their 2019 album Szép a Tavasz, Szep a Nyár:

Singer/songwriter Bea Palya was born in 1976 in the town of Makó near the Romanian border.  In her early years she was influenced by Hungarian folk songs, Bulgarian, Jewish and Gypsy music following her own mixed ethnic roots.  Later she also got into acting and started developing her own style incorporating elements of jazz and world music.  Here's a song from her latest 2020 album Élet called Igen:

Heading up north again we get to the town of Karcag, where folk singer and ethnographer Irén Lovász was born in 1961.  Her first solo album Világfa appeared in 1995 and 1999 at the request the Hungarian National Museum to be used as the background music to an archaeological exhibition of the millennium on the Hungarian conquest.  This track called Páva features on this album:

We'll finish our tour of Hungary next time in the northeast of the country.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.