Light music is an integral part of Hungarian cultural history, including the period beginning in the 1960s, also referred to as the Rhythm Era. In these decades, legendary bands like Illés, Newton Família, Omega, Hungária or even Kex and Sirius laid the foundations of Hungarian rock, blues and jazz. Of course, that era has inspired many artists since, with a series of documentaries and records exploring these decades, the latest of which, for example, Hungarian Music House celebrates the era of Hungarian pop music before the regime change with a fascinating thematic exhibition.
At the beginning of December, Kepes Kronicak and the Petofi Cultural Agency published the book History of Hungarian rocks The first volume of a two-part comic book series, which also serves as a kind of comic book illustration of the aforementioned period, as well as They wrote the song for us! For the exhibition. On the one hand, because the exhibition's curator, Béla Szilard-Jaworski, is responsible for the editorial work and introduction to the volume, and it is also displayed in front of the recently opened Pop History Myths Wall and on the other hand, because the comics also deal with the same period as the exhibition. At least half of it is because the authors divided the four decades into two volumes – the first containing the history of the 1960s and 1970s.
The project's art director is Attila Futaki, one of Hungary's most sought-after comic artists, who has previously drawn Percy Jackson comics for Disney, and whose work has been published in France and America. He was joined by Csaba Szabó and Zoltan Fritz as painters. The former published his first independent comic in 2020, while the latter has already won the Alfabéta Award (this is the award given by the Hungarian Comics Association to the best Hungarian comics). The story is written by Mihaly Kantor, who, according to the imprint, publishes film and video game columns (his book has not yet been published).
Source: History of Hungarian Rock – Able Records
The story tells the life of a fictional character, Károly Balači, who lives his youth in the 1960s, going to concerts in various cultural centers of Budapest or the Farkert Bazaar known as Ifipark, thus accompanying the life of legendary bands from the beginning, such as Metro, Illés, Bergendy Eyüttes or Beatrice. Or Hobo Blues Band. Carxi's story is a classic coming-of-age story, with no novelty or excitement, but for that reason, the reader can at least easily imagine themselves in his place. Regardless, the volume attempts to narrate in detail the heroic era of Hungarian light music, however
It's often difficult to follow where we are now due to a plot that sometimes narrates, sometimes gets carried away with events, and sometimes entangles itself in its own lives, as well as a plot that attempts to show gang history intermittently by jumping around in time.
There are interesting stories and anecdotes in the book. For example, the history of the Scampolo band, in which Sarolta Zlatnay and Gabor Presser also participated, or the tragic life path of Béla Radix. But through Carex, we can experience the 1973 Diosgir rock festival known as Miskolc Woodstock, which was mired in scandals, the rise and fall of Kicks and Sirius or Beatrice's first moments as a disco band.
However, the many things to tell, the years and changes of members, and, in short, the encyclopedia-sized amount of information crammed into the story, as well as the obviously secondary drafting work, unfortunately greatly reduce the readability and enjoyment of the story. Size, which has almost the effect of a Wikipedia page. An abundance of information isn't necessarily a problem in comic books, but here the focus seems to have shifted a bit.
It was a particularly interesting and exciting artistic decision to split the story visually, as the 1960s story was drawn by Csaba Szabó, while the 1970s story was drawn by Zoltán Fritz. After Szabo's realistic, line-drawn portrayal, Fritz's rough, almost cartoonish style is a sharp change (especially since you have to get to know the characters again), but the reader soon realizes: both of their techniques work well, they are talented and experienced illustrators.
Source: History of Hungarian Rock – Able Records
That's why it's sad that there are so few exciting visual solutions in the volume. Some half-page or full-page drawings, like Fritz's drawing of space rocks or LGT's drawing, use the comic book's toolbox to color the story. The covers at the end of the volume, and the contemporary street scenes of Szabo, as well as the blocks depicting the Nepstadion and the Budapest Sports Hall, which introduce the story, illustrate the story with the ability to both provoke and assist many, many sentences at the same time. To put it in historical context (especially for people like me, who mostly read from accounts of parents who know their age).
if History of Hungarian rocks He would have been more daring in this rich, exciting and important period, he would have dealt with the story more freely, and he would not have imposed the imaginary thread so much. Everything But instead he would have focused more on the cartoonists, he told us, and we might have had a more fun comic on our hands. The volume is therefore more like an illustrated textbook, but with the addition of the history of the 1980s and 1990s, it can still serve as a very important and epoch-making reminder of the history of Hungarian pop and rock music.
Mihaly Kantor, Csaba Szabó, Zoltan Fritz: A History of Hungarian Rock – '60-'70
Able Records, 2023, 6900 HUF
