The new Making Tracks podcast is here!
Featuring the amazing Söndörgö, live from their home town Szentendre.
Presented by Colin Bass.
Adventures in Well-Travelled Music
30 Oct 2015
29 Oct 2015
Q&A with Söndörgö
Your music focusses on the tambura (a mandolin-like plucked lute) – can you tell us more about the instrument?
This instrument, the tambura has come from Turkish Persian roots but what we use now is very much related to Hungary. Back at the beginning of the 20th century a Hungarian instrument maker tried to make a tambura sounding like a gypsy violin - trying to have a similar sound but in a picking style.
Now this tambura is a very famous instrument, widely used in parts of Serbia and even more in the Southern part of Hungary, and along the Danube river where Serbian and Croatian people live in Hungary. Hungarian people are now also starting to use this instrument because it goes well with any kind of music, both Hungarian and Balkan styles. It is especially common where we come from, the town of Szentendre (also along the Danube, about 20km from Budapest) as this town is home to the biggest Serbian community since 300 years ago, so this culture is very much at home there.
We also use this instrument because of our family – our father is also a musician so we grew up with these instruments always around the house and we just had to pick one up, and try and do something. Especially me, as I play the lead tambura or tamburitsa: I was 5 when my father bought me a tambura. It was a master’s instrument so he told me, this is your instrument, but you can’t touch it yet, we will put it on top of the cupboard and you can only touch it if there are musicians around from our ensemble who can show you how to use it. So I was always very interested in this, eyeing up the instrument on the top of the cupboard.
So it’s worked out pretty well: my father told me he didn’t want to push us to become musicians, we could just do whatever we liked. But me and my two brothers we all became musicians so my father knew pretty well how to get us started.
You play in your band with your two brothers, a cousin and a school friend - how does it feel to play in a band with your closest family?
In a way it’s a very good thing, especially musically. We don’t have to have words to know what the other wants to do on stage, or just musically thinking, so it’s a very good way. On the other hand it can be quite hard too. I am the oldest brother, then there is the middle one, my brother Benjamin, and the youngest one, Salamon, so it’s not easy sometimes but anyway it has worked very well. We have a special relationship not just because we are a family but we also spend most of our time together, so it can be really hard for others, the other parts of our families. We are touring a lot, we are playing a lot, so we spend much more time together than we do with our wives or children. So it’s not easy from this perspective, but it is working pretty well on stage, I do think so!
There is more family history, your father is a very well-known musician too.
My father is a member of a famous band called Vujicsics, this name comes from a man called was Tihamér Vujicsics. He was the biggest collector of Southern Slavic music in Hungary. He was of Serbian background, but not just a folk music collector, but also a composer, and a pupil of Zoltan Kodaly. He then went on a trip to collect folk music in Asia and his plane crashed and he died, so my father and his brother and some others decided to take on his name and continue what he started.
My father grew up in Pomáz, a town very close to Szentendre, where also lots of Serbian people live. So they started to play for dances and other community events, started playing in a natural way, and then this became a stage performance because they also studied classical music at the academy. But they decided to do just this, trying to arrange this folk music for stages and concert halls, and this is what we try to continue. For us when we think about our father and his ensemble, they are the biggest masters, or biggest idols for our music.
So your music is primarily dance music. Can you describe the dance that goes with it?
It a style of circle dance called kolo (which means round dance). The Southern Slavic tradition is one of couple dances, but with many people in a big circle, and it has asymmetric rhythms – it looks like it is very easy but it’s not. It looks like – oh they just take a few steps, one after the other – but it’s not like that, it’s not so easy to keep up with the music. We started playing for dances when we were young, when we started the band, we were playing for dance houses, and also the local community events around Szentendre and the surrounding country side.
What does the folk scene in Hungary look like today?
I think the scene is really strong, and today a lot of young people are involved with folk music and dances. Hungary is a special place for folk music - it has a very strong tradition. Sometimes it’s too strong – you have to open the borders a bit and sometimes the folk music borders can be too big sometimes. But it is very good that there are lots of young bands doing the folk thing, not just Hungarian folk music but also Balkan music in general is going strong.
We also teach, myself I teach at the Music Academy, I teach the tamburitsa so I have some students who are really talented and I’m really happy that people are getting involved with it and trying to be professional with it. So it becomes not just music for the dance house, it’s about getting to international stages too and about rethinking this music.
What would you like to leave the UK audience with on this tour?
That’s a hard question…. maybe it’s about the energy of what we can do on stage. I think this music has very very special energy, and live it is a totally different experience. Listening just from a CD or recording is really not anything like the experience it can be live. People keep talking about how our brotherly connection is working on stage, and again it’s a special thing – people like it when they see how much we like what we do. So it’s not like, OK, we are professionals and doing this tour for a living – we love to play, and we love to show to the audience what we feel when we play. Sometimes we joke about this – that we enjoy even more than the audience what we do on stage… it’s funny but true!
This instrument, the tambura has come from Turkish Persian roots but what we use now is very much related to Hungary. Back at the beginning of the 20th century a Hungarian instrument maker tried to make a tambura sounding like a gypsy violin - trying to have a similar sound but in a picking style.
Now this tambura is a very famous instrument, widely used in parts of Serbia and even more in the Southern part of Hungary, and along the Danube river where Serbian and Croatian people live in Hungary. Hungarian people are now also starting to use this instrument because it goes well with any kind of music, both Hungarian and Balkan styles. It is especially common where we come from, the town of Szentendre (also along the Danube, about 20km from Budapest) as this town is home to the biggest Serbian community since 300 years ago, so this culture is very much at home there.
We also use this instrument because of our family – our father is also a musician so we grew up with these instruments always around the house and we just had to pick one up, and try and do something. Especially me, as I play the lead tambura or tamburitsa: I was 5 when my father bought me a tambura. It was a master’s instrument so he told me, this is your instrument, but you can’t touch it yet, we will put it on top of the cupboard and you can only touch it if there are musicians around from our ensemble who can show you how to use it. So I was always very interested in this, eyeing up the instrument on the top of the cupboard.
So it’s worked out pretty well: my father told me he didn’t want to push us to become musicians, we could just do whatever we liked. But me and my two brothers we all became musicians so my father knew pretty well how to get us started.
You play in your band with your two brothers, a cousin and a school friend - how does it feel to play in a band with your closest family?
In a way it’s a very good thing, especially musically. We don’t have to have words to know what the other wants to do on stage, or just musically thinking, so it’s a very good way. On the other hand it can be quite hard too. I am the oldest brother, then there is the middle one, my brother Benjamin, and the youngest one, Salamon, so it’s not easy sometimes but anyway it has worked very well. We have a special relationship not just because we are a family but we also spend most of our time together, so it can be really hard for others, the other parts of our families. We are touring a lot, we are playing a lot, so we spend much more time together than we do with our wives or children. So it’s not easy from this perspective, but it is working pretty well on stage, I do think so!
There is more family history, your father is a very well-known musician too.
My father is a member of a famous band called Vujicsics, this name comes from a man called was Tihamér Vujicsics. He was the biggest collector of Southern Slavic music in Hungary. He was of Serbian background, but not just a folk music collector, but also a composer, and a pupil of Zoltan Kodaly. He then went on a trip to collect folk music in Asia and his plane crashed and he died, so my father and his brother and some others decided to take on his name and continue what he started.
My father grew up in Pomáz, a town very close to Szentendre, where also lots of Serbian people live. So they started to play for dances and other community events, started playing in a natural way, and then this became a stage performance because they also studied classical music at the academy. But they decided to do just this, trying to arrange this folk music for stages and concert halls, and this is what we try to continue. For us when we think about our father and his ensemble, they are the biggest masters, or biggest idols for our music.
So your music is primarily dance music. Can you describe the dance that goes with it?
It a style of circle dance called kolo (which means round dance). The Southern Slavic tradition is one of couple dances, but with many people in a big circle, and it has asymmetric rhythms – it looks like it is very easy but it’s not. It looks like – oh they just take a few steps, one after the other – but it’s not like that, it’s not so easy to keep up with the music. We started playing for dances when we were young, when we started the band, we were playing for dance houses, and also the local community events around Szentendre and the surrounding country side.
What does the folk scene in Hungary look like today?
I think the scene is really strong, and today a lot of young people are involved with folk music and dances. Hungary is a special place for folk music - it has a very strong tradition. Sometimes it’s too strong – you have to open the borders a bit and sometimes the folk music borders can be too big sometimes. But it is very good that there are lots of young bands doing the folk thing, not just Hungarian folk music but also Balkan music in general is going strong.
We also teach, myself I teach at the Music Academy, I teach the tamburitsa so I have some students who are really talented and I’m really happy that people are getting involved with it and trying to be professional with it. So it becomes not just music for the dance house, it’s about getting to international stages too and about rethinking this music.
What would you like to leave the UK audience with on this tour?
That’s a hard question…. maybe it’s about the energy of what we can do on stage. I think this music has very very special energy, and live it is a totally different experience. Listening just from a CD or recording is really not anything like the experience it can be live. People keep talking about how our brotherly connection is working on stage, and again it’s a special thing – people like it when they see how much we like what we do. So it’s not like, OK, we are professionals and doing this tour for a living – we love to play, and we love to show to the audience what we feel when we play. Sometimes we joke about this – that we enjoy even more than the audience what we do on stage… it’s funny but true!
15 Oct 2015
Next tour: Söndörgö in November
SÖNDÖRGÖ : Band of brothers in celebration of Hungarian roots
Building from delicate filigree patterns of intertwining strings to dazzling displays of furious fingerwork, Söndörgö (say: shoen-doer-goe) bring a vigorous virtuosity to their fresh interpretations of Hungarian folk music. At the core of their sound is the tambura, a mandolin-like instrument in many sizes, embellished through multi-instrumental skills on assorted wind instruments and accordion. The band got together in 1995 when brothers Aron, Benjamin and Salamon teamed up with cousin David and high-school pal Attila. They've been honing their impressive musicianship ever since, gathering international momentum over five albums – the latest aptly titled 'Tamburocket' - and perfecting the art of bringing audiences to their feet with simply brilliant acoustic folk music.
“their music sparkles with virtuosity and foot-tapping joie de vivre” (Evening Standard)
“a world class band” (The Guardian)
14 Oct 2015
Live review: Namvula at RNCM Manchester (2)
By Lucie Phillips
What a privilege for RNCM to host the final gig of Namvula’s glorious 11 day tour! Namvula treats you to an exuberant performance of Zambian afro-folk whilst at the same time radiating peace and warmth over everyone involved.This warmth was not just felt through the inviting demeanour of Namvula herself, but through the synergy between band members, the flawless music they produce, and through the call to join Namvula on her musical journey.
The evening opened with a prayer to those who have gone before us which succeeded in expressing Namvula’s hope that “we can all find home, if only for an hour or two this evening” within the music. As Namvula explained the inspiration behind each song, it became clear that she is an important voice for those who cannot speak out or who have tried but have not been heard. And this is the essence of Namvula’s music: she transports us to another world, using music as the portal to higher planes of understanding.
Throughout the evening there was a resounding sense of interconnectivity between Namvula herself the band members - guitarist Jack Ross, Mamadou Sarr on percussion, Yuval Wetzler on drums, Liran Donin on bass and alto sax player Chris Williams. Their music is always voiced perfectly, whether it’s the warming vocal harmonies, a daring bass intro or instrumental nuances. And although Namvula’s music is often described as Zambian afro-folk, they expand the boundaries of this label with subtle electronics, an eclectic range of influences and a revitalising approach to tradition, making their music totally unique. Their pioneering style spreads across all tracks from the album and permeates into more recent compositions too. Indeed, how refreshing to hear a band play fresh material live!
As the night, and tour, drew to a close, the audience welcomed the opportunity to praise the whole band as they each showcased their talents through virtuosic solos, often with an injection of humour. The final number summed up the enjoyment and closeness of Namvula as a collective when she welcomed her spellbound audience, including the saxophonist’s niece, to join her in dancing.
There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing the band onstage before you enjoying themselves, having the time of their lives and inviting you to join in the party. Mesmeric and heartfelt; a true celebration of music at its most honest.
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| Photo by Steve Sweet |
12 Oct 2015
Live review: Namvula at RNCM Manchester (1)
By Ellie Sherwood
Namvula’s performance at the RNCM last night marked the end of her two-week tour of the UK, which has consisted of 11 different concerts. If her and the rest of the band were exhausted, then they certainly didn’t show it; in fact, the energy that flowed so naturally and constantly from the musicians was palpable, and it made the evening incredibly enjoyable and exhilarating. Namvula spoke openly to the audience about the fundamental themes that inspire her, such as her Zambian heritage, her mother, her aunt, and the strength and dignity of women, and this brought a very fresh and real meaning to the live music. I discovered that my favourite album track, Nsalamo, was inspired by Namvula’s great-grandmother, who walked across Zambia for a week with her two children to escape her abusive husband. This is the beauty of a good live performance: it creates a space for you to engage with the artist on a personal and human level, and you experience the music in a different way compared to listening to a CD made in a recording studio.The stories told through her music certainly reflect the afro-folk label that is often used to describe Namvula’s sound, but the excitement and thrill that possessed many of the songs produced more afro-jazz and afro-beat vibes. The musicians performing with Namvula – Liran Donin on bass, Chris Williams on alto sax, Jack Ross on guitar, and Mamadou Sarr on percussion - were individually brilliant, and as a band, they were phenomenal. Each person was on exactly the same wavelength as Namvula, and it was such a joy to watch them having fun on stage. The music would change and gain intensity in such a way that only works if all the musicians involved are following each other, and this enabled us, the audience, to give ourselves up completely to Namvula and let her music take over.
The spontaneity and brilliance of the solos at the end of the gig emphasised the band’s creativity, and the night came to a close with Namvula dancing barefoot on stage with the saxophonist’s young niece. I certainly did not want to the evening to end, and to me, it was everything a performance should be: the music was awesome, the band were tight, and I felt as though I had gained a deeper insight into Namvula’s musical journey.
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| Photo by Steve Sweet |
9 Oct 2015
Live review: Namvula live at NCEM
By David Forsdike
Three years ago Zambian-born singer Namvula returned to the country of her birth on an extended visit. Born to a Zambian mother and Scottish father she was keen to discover the traditional music of her mother’s land.
Even for those of us in the West who enjoy African music, the names of Zambian musicians don’t exactly trip off the tongue, but it turns out Namvula’s aunt, Maureen Lilanda is something of a local singing legend, and was well placed to help her niece in her quest.
Back in London, where she now lives, Namvula has gathered around her a talented group of instrumentalists, releasing her debut album Shiwezwa in 2014. On Tuesday night, in company of five fine instrumentalists, Namvula gave the audience in York’s National Centre for Early Music an evening to remember with a selection of songs drawn mainly from last year’s album. The music was more Afro-funk than Afro-folk - perhaps not surprisingly, as two of the members of her accompanying band, the bass player Liran Donin and saxophonist Chris Williams are more accustomed to playing in a London jazz group called Led Bib. They were joined by Senegalese percussionist Mamadou Sarr, who regularly plays with Baaba Maal, and the session musician and composer Jack Ross on guitar.
The songs themselves were either quiet and reflective in nature, or lively, upbeat numbers which allowed the instrumentalists free rein to strut their stuff, both as a band, and as virtuoso soloists when given a chance to shine. The opening song, a prayer for ‘those who have gone before’, and a later one in celebration of her great grandmother, were fine examples of the first type.
Namvula accompanied herself on acoustic guitar, and sang in both English and the Zambian language of her mother’s province. Her voice is a rich and powerful mezzo, at times reminiscent of Miriam Makeba in style, and the only regret is that I’d like to have heard a little more of her singing, and a little less of the band. But that’s perhaps missing the point here, as Namvula seems to relish the interplay with members of the band, and clearly thrives by feeding off them.
The song Na Ndayeya, written by the aforementioned aunt, seemed to sum up the evening best. It’s about suffering and hard times, but also about resolve, and the capacity to survive those hardships. It began in a gentle, reflective way, but when the instruments came thundering in, the sudden surge in volume and full-blooded playing transported us into a world of optimism as only jazz-funk musicians can.
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| Photo by Steve Sweet |
8 Oct 2015
What the audience says: Namvula
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| Live at Colston Hall. Photo by Steve Sweet at Eleventhlight |
Thank you for an awesome night, you guys were fantastic!! Good luck with the rest of the tour.
Catch Namvula and her amazing band on tour. They are absolutely storming The Stables, Milton Keynes tonight with a fabulous couple of sets, so do go - you won't be disappointed.
She is talented, creative, witty & a dancer. Addictive music in a good way. Well, ended up on the stage dancing. Irresistible.
Astonishingly talented.
Feeling lucky to have seen @Namvula at York NCEM this evening. Great energy, fantastic music, soul-touching themes. Thanks Namvula!
Your gig @RichMixLondon was magical. Your songs reach far into the heart. Thank you.
It was a brilliant night! Thank you so much.
Fantastic concert @yorkearlymusic tonight! @Namvula has given me a new love for African Folk.
Fabulous sounds from @Namvula and band, very uplifting eve, good luck for rest of tour
@Namvula was amazing last night @StablesMK. Catch her live on tour now if you can. It's worth it.
It was wonderful, full of soul and integrity. You are very talented. Much luck on the journey x
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