On December 29, 2023, the venue for the double album show will be the Fonó Budai Music Hall, as it is well known to fans of medieval music. Burgundy dragon In addition to his latest album, those interested can also get acquainted with the debut disc of Alexander Petrovics Koktél. We spoke with László Selma and János Fabi, Bordeaux Sarcany musicians, about the famous event.
Medieval music is not one of the dominant genres in Hungary, and few of it represent a trend – it is true that there is not much demand for it from the public. One representative of this style is Bordo Sarkani from Debrecen, founded in 2010, which defines itself as a medieval rock and roll band. We asked kubzus singer László Selma and violinist János Fabi what that means.
How is rock and roll made in the Middle Ages?
Bordeaux Sarcany members came from different directions. The band's dreamer, Roland Dijkmann, started with classical music, then experimented with almost everything from progressive rock to psychedelic rock, and Ernie Kiss traveled the road from folk to heavy metal, and even pop music not far behind drummer Miklós Szuki . Janus and I are folk musicians. I was invited to join the foundation band when I was still a high school student in my zither class
– He recalls the beginnings of László Szlama, who at that time imagined medieval music as a kind of polished harp and lute music, but then in the first rehearsal he completely absorbed this genre.
So the musicians all added something of their own musical world to the classical melodies of the Middle Ages, and thus was born the medieval rock and roll of Bordeaux Sarcany, which is played, in addition to violins, bagpipes, zithers, flutes and drums, on authentic period instruments such as
- The cubo, the cistern, the medieval pipe, the recorder, the lute, and the mandocello.
The formation repertoire, which represents a unique dance interpretation and fusion of medieval Hungarian and European songs, as well as the soundscapes of rock and world music, was initially dominated by early musical arrangements, and then gradually moved in a direction of its own. notes, blending more and more rock elements into the traditional soundscape.
13 years – 16 countries – 13 bands
Thanks to the change in direction, the troupe, which initially performed mainly at castle games, Renaissance carnivals and other traditional events, now regularly performs in many clubs, festivals, dance halls, and is even invited to Western Europe, where the genre Music is very popular. Most famous.
In the interior and in the Carpathian Basin, folk music flourishes, but in the West, it goes back to medieval sources, and there are many orchestras similar to ours in Germany and France. Perhaps because they had sheet music and other written sources that survived from those times, they were able to preserve folk music better, thanks mainly to Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály.
Laszlo Selma explains the reason for this phenomenon. “This year we also gave concerts in Austria, France, Norway and Germany, and in the past 13 years we gave concerts in 16 countries,” adds János Fabi.
They are also frequent guests at Moldavian Csangó dance halls, which are very popular among young people. To their great pleasure, clubs and cultural centers are increasingly hosting dance halls and popular music programs – we learn from László Schlama, whose band Bordo Sarcany is not the only one:
I really like to try myself and my instruments in many different styles, and I happen to play music in 13 configurations at the same time. Today, this number has decreased significantly, but even now I have a few bands besides Bordeaux Sarcany, e.g. Shepherd Snowthe Moon Song Day Or the Budapest folk duo.”
New album, double disc offering
Bordeaux Sarcany's debut album A World tree It was published in 2010 and then in 2013 practicalin 2018 The girl and the dragonAnd in 2021 The twentieth. Historian of the century He follows. the most recent, Burgundy dragon 5 Their titled album will be presented on December 29, 2023 at the Fonó Budai Music Hall.
The new disc is similar to the previous one in many respects, but here eight of the eleven songs are his own compositions. Our most exciting, progressive and longest song is ' Burgundy dragonIn which we not only sing about our philosophy, but we also summarize the events of the past years. Next to it is the song of the medieval troubadour Troubadourt, or a World tree I would like to highlight the additional version of our success
László Szlama presents the new disc.
At the record show concert, Bordeaux Sarcany's backing band will be Aleksandar Petrović Cocktail, who was not chosen by chance, as János Fabi also plays the violin in the popular music group created in 2020, which mainly plays covers, as the two musicians do The other two. Guitarist Marton Timar and drummer Gerjo Okos were playing music in Bordeaux Sarcany.
Alexander Petrovics' cocktail could even be called a Sándor Petőfi splash – János Vábi takes the floor. -We just finished our first album, so we're having a double album show at Phono.
They will make America dance
As we learned from the musicians, 2024 also promises to be eventful for Bordeaux Sarcany: they will film clips of the NKA grant they won this year and embark on a national tour. The opera house will play again next year Carmina Burana Performance, continuing the concert series established by the Hungarian Philharmonic, within which medieval music and instruments of the era are presented to hundreds of students. They also received an invitation from the United States, and they are confident that they will be able to respond to the request.