Index – Culture – Retro is cool, and there’s proof of it

While listening to oldies couldn’t have been declared cool a few years ago, in 2023 it can easily be done. This type of music is experiencing its second heyday, so in each festival there is a place for those local – or even foreign – artists whose songs almost everyone hears from abroad and who can hire the company well. In this year’s Sziget, on the Stereo Stage, party-goers have the opportunity to enjoy the music of singers they might have listened to most in their youth.

The venue has a long history, the first time festival-goers could meet something similar was in 1998, when Z + Stage was the ace – where, among others, Back II Black, Ladánybene 27, Hooligans, Quimby and Junkies could Hit the horses -, as well as the Sziget beer tent, dance song festival. The latter hosted singers who got to know each other through the Dance Song Festival, a music competition organized by Hungarian Television between 1966 and 1994. Among them were, for example, Rezs Soltész, László Aradszky or Sarolta Zalatnay, who were all returning guests at the festival.

Since 1998, the dance song festival tent has been a must in Sziget, which also operates alongside the Hungarian Musical Theater, with many performing from Hooligans to Black Train to Dopeman, but the former is perhaps the closest to the feeling of life that festival organizers are currently trying to get through. through the stereo stage. If we take a look at the stages the festival has gone through since its inception, and who the performers were, it is easy to see that at first they tried for years to treat the faces they met at the Dancing and Singing Festival separately from those. who had a greater influence on popular culture at the time, and as a result were not confusing with their predecessors. At the very least, it would have looked really strange if, for example, the Black Train had been János Koós’ backing band.

Cool retro again

To keep the two worlds from coming together, between 1999 and 2007 a separate pop stage was added to the dance festival tent, where the same Hungarian artists returned year after year, including Eva Sebrgy and Dolly Roll. Looking at the lineup at the time, there were almost no new names, just a few each year, but the old guard remained. György Korda and Balázs Klári, for example, first gave a concert in Sziget in 2002, followed by nine more performances in the following years, while Majka and Dopeman took the stage for the first time at the festival in 2003. From the very beginning, the organizers of Sziget made efforts great to be able to respond to trends in a timely manner, so perhaps it is no coincidence that in 2006 Mega dance It blew up on TV2, and was given a separate stage at the festival the same year, where the Toth brothers, i.e. Gabe Toth and Vera Toth, as well as Danny Torres, performed – and the year before that, festival-goers could attend Megasztár’s live concert.

It is interesting, however, that in 2006 there was a dance festival tent next to the TV2 Megadance Pop Stage, but at that time there were only tribute bands – that is, local bands playing hits of world-famous bands. By the way, these formations coexisted with well-known performers for a long time, but for understandable reasons they finally got their own stage in 2013. Today, it is strange to think that in the 2000s even Hip-Hop Boys, Kosmix or Andras Ksonka were Just isolated acts, while today the stereo stage can only be considered for them – not that after all these years this is no longer a sufficient honor. The dance festival tent was finally named VOLT Terasz in 2009, and the MR2 Stage was created, with only Hungarian artists, but while former dance festival stars entertained the audience in well-known past bands (including Quimby, Vad Fruttik, and Irie Maffia all played, 30Y, Kispál and the badger and Kistehén) music.

After that, the organizers managed the two stages for a long time, trying not to combine modern and new music with songs of the past, but in 2014 they finally united them: this is how the Hungarian stage appeared – Petőfi Rádió VOLT Terasz, on which all retro artists disappeared together. Halot Beans, Wilhello, Bye Alex and Sleep appeared, as well as Majka and then Curtis, so there was no demand for singers who appeared during the Dance Song Festival due to the large and fresh music palette at the same time. The ice was broken in 2019, when the venue, then called Petőfi Rádió – Telekom VOLT Színpad, was changed to Sláger FM Színpad and, among the performers, could have the same performers as in the beginning. Pa-dö-dő, Animal Cannibals, Bon-Bon, or even Back II Black got another chance. Although Sziget was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sláger FM returned in 2022 and was again a great success. Especially György Korda and Klári Balázs, back in Sziget after 20 years, who were so curious that if there had been a chandelier in front of the stage, people would have hung on it too – which in itself meant that it was a clever move by the organizers after four years of Giving them another chance to the old hitmakers.

Sandy has not gone out of fashion yet

This year, concerts begin on the stereo stage after the last program from the main stage, so music fans can have a blast here after world stars. By the way, unlike last year, the stage was set up a little differently, it was a little larger than usual, which is a big plus for the artists who perform there. Among the performers of this year, there are those who will not be on stage for the first time on the island, so not only the listeners, but also the nostalgic people will be full of nostalgia during the minutes of the concert. Animal Cannibals will perform on the island for the seventh time, while Krisz Rudi will perform for the third time, Erika Zoltán said yes to the invitation for the first time in 30 years, and LL Junior, Peter Sramek and Viktor Varga will be the first to entertain festival-goers on the island of Ubud.

On the first day of the festival, Szandi opened the Stereo Stage, where a smaller crowd, mostly only Hungarians, was waiting for her. The singer received a standing ovation and was clearly enjoying the fact that festival-goers were still buying her songs, some of which are 30 years old – like Calm down, doctor. Although the speaker only had thirty minutes at his disposal, he tried to make the most of it, even having the party crowd sing along to him and hand out pictures as gifts. The word can be a hearts in love or the Lamour Teenage songs, it was easy to get on the nostalgia train. But it was more difficult to get off of it, so it was clear that those gathered wanted more Szandi. By the time they had just warmed up their vocal chords, the party was already over. After the singer, Kevin Case, known from X-Factor, took to the stage, and in the coming days, festival-goers will be able to hear from two of the X-Factors, including former winner Alee and recent winner Berni Solyom.

(Cover photo: Szandi on Sziget Stereo. Photo: Karip Tímea / Index)

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