Concerts for the 2013’s season in the court of Jazzy Tower:

15 June Balkan Fanatik

Balkan Fanatik is an award-winning Greek-Hungarian electro-ethno band. It started in 2002 by Georgios Tzortzoglou (Yorgos) and Gábor Lepés (Lepe). Their goal is to help preserve the musical heritage of Eastern-Europe and the Balkans, to pass this on to young audiences with progressive electronic music. Balkan Fanatik injects synth-pop, hip hop, and contemporary electronic dance music into traditional folk sounds. This is also presented in their stage performance, they sometimes invite folk dancers as well as modern dancers to be part of the show. Yorgos is the Heart. He is based in Athens and Budapest.

His background in folk music is very extensive, he was founding member of two legendary folk rock groups Barbaro /90s/ and Gepfolklor /80s/. Lepe is the Brain. He is a Sound Engineer, DJ, and Producer. He's been working for over 130 Hungarian pop/rock/dance productions, among them the most famous, Akos, one of Hungary's most established stars for over 20 years. Lepe also works for film, theater and video games as well.

Apart from Lepe and Yorgos the band's live show includes Drummer Ákos Kottler, Guitar Player Miklós Czifra Rapper and Singer MC Sonita, Singer Girl Janga and Folk Singer Nóra Kovács.

More information about the band

6 July FolkSide

It is such a young band that they don’t as yet have a history, only it is a rather short one: its members inspired each other to such extent during those few minutes they played together in 2011 at the opening gala called Hungarian HeartBeats at the WOMEX that they promised to continue in the future…

It came as no surprise to those who had a chance to be there: it was a rare feast to make such a mature and at the same time crazy music with acoustic folk instruments and electronic guitar that filled the hall and travelled beyond – and we have not yet begun to describe the experience of listening to them…

All the members of this group are excellent and famous musicans!

27 July Majsai Swing Stars

Gábor Majsai has a high profile career as He toured around Europe with the bands called „Wastaps” and Europa Group, later was a warm-up artist for famous bands and singers such as Four Tops, James Brown or Modern Talking. The audience, the musicians, and the press started to compare his appearance and style to Tom Jones, as he looks and sings like the famous singer. Accordingly he recorded his first solo album entitled „BaráTom Jones” (My friend Tom Jones), which is still a very successful and beloved record.

2006 was a turning-point in the singer’s life: he released his first own record, called „Poker”, later in 2007 he sang classical American jazz standards accompanied by a big-band, with qualitative Hungarian lyrics. This gave him the idea of the formation of his own band, the Majsai Swing Stars! Taking his success in consideration, his newest record is based on swing and boogie-woogie also. Several songs from this record are big hits in the Hungarian jazz radio 90.9 Jazzy, and Gábor brings down the house at the radio’s live music venues as well.

17 August Budapest Jazz Orchestra & Tóth Vera

The Budapest Jazz Orchestra, comprising solely jazz musicians, was created in October 1998. One of the band`s top priorities is to enable its members to master the diverse music playing style required by this genre. The band follows the traditional big band line up (17 players) performing legendary hits from the swing era.

Their ars poetica: contemporary jazz, big band music and values, they try to give the knowledge to the younger generation.

They also believe in the importance of making this music available to the jazz-loving audience, to show them how it has changed and evolved in the past decades, and to introduce them to the various performers who are considered as milestones in this style of music. Our aim is to enable the audience to decide for themselves which compositions, arrangements and mode of play of these great jazz musicians they prefer the most.

They became a most successful big band in Hungary and they are permanent guest of the Hungarian and International largest festivals.

The concerts start at 8 pm!

Arrive by Theater Boat Service!
The fee of the boat service is included in the Jazzy Tower concert ticket price.

The programme ticket contains:
• welcome drink
• boat service
• concert ticket
• visiting the Water Tower lookout & exhibition

Timetable for the Jazzy special boat service:

Vigadó square departure 18:45
Batthyány square 18:55
Dráva street 19:10
Margaret Island Open-air Theater and the Water Tower port - arrival 19:20
Margaret Island Open-air Theater and the Water Tower port - departure 22:30
Dráva street 22:40
Batthyány square 22:55
Vigadó square arrival 23:00

Source: Szabad Tér Színház