If you would like to be interviewed as a Surprising Expat, please write with a few details of what you do, to: Marion by clicking here.

Interview: 

“So, this is my island,” says Frederik, proudly pointing to page 17 in his Danish passport. “Læsø.”

Frederik on Læsø island

We are sitting in a Budapest café where twenty-four-year-old Frederik Cornelius Dalby is packed and ready for the following morning’s flight to Copenhagen, and his latest concert tour.

“I grew up on the island for about seven years – about a thousand people live there. Then we moved to the capital area, so most of my life was close to the town called Gilleleje, which is a small fishing town.

“When I was fourteen, I began writing songs, I played big festivals with different bands. I started as a bass player –  I was taught music since I was four years old, drumming, piano, guitar…. I had lessons almost every day of the week.

“I went to high school; I got into bands and everything took off. I wrote songs, I had a few different television shows and I played a lot of festivals in Denmark. I was still considered like an upcoming musician, and then Covid came. And in January, just before Covid hit, I had my first big debut on national television.

“But with Covid everything just crashed. I had to rethink what I should do now because I couldn't go out and perform. So I got a job, a normal job. I don't have any education. I only went to high school because while I was there I was playing four shows each week and it was very tough. But I made money with it and I liked it more than studying.”
 

Though Frederik disliked school, he has not only learned to play a number of instruments but lists five languages – including Hungarian – which he can speak (and two more he is learning), on his YouTube video 22 Facts About Me.

As a teenager he spent some months in England appearing on a game show on the Cartoon Network channel. He had many TV auditions, and was subsequently in numerous television shows in Denmark. By this time Frederik had also visited Hungary a few times.

“I wanted to go East, I wanted to go really East like Moscow, Kiev, different places, but I was only 18. I always like to go places that have still got real problems, because as a songwriter I need to write about stuff. I want to experience stuff.
 

“Our problems as Danish people are very, very small compared to the rest of the world. Like the whole country was turned upside down just because on the pedestrian crossing light there's a man crossing! It was the biggest problem in Denmark – and it still is!
 

“I came to Budapest a few times. I was introduced to the music scene here while I was a tourist and I played a little, and it was really fun.”

Unable to travel to Hungary amid the restrictions of 2022, Frederik contacted the Danish embassy to see if they could arrange some concerts for him, thus guaranteeing him entry under the auspices of being a ‘business’. When that failed, he used social media to try and communicate with countrymen resident in Hungary.

One Dane living in Szeged recognised Frederik from TV and said he could provide the necessary documentation. “ ‘If you come, I can provide you with the business documents and we can just have a talk about your music. I'm really excited about it’. And now this guy has been my manager for three years and he was the reason why I came to Hungary,” Frederik explains.

“All of a sudden he just booked so many shows and festivals – I was travelling every month to Hungary, so I decided maybe I should rent an apartment there.

Frederik playing in Szeged

“My neighbour was ninety-six years old and she could only speak Hungarian. And every morning I spoke to her and it improved me just in half a year. I know a lot of Danish people who moved to Hungary, to Budapest, and they've been here for ten years and they don't speak a word of Hungarian. I really like the Hungarian language and I've written four or five songs in it.”

Having decided to make Hungary his long-term base, Frederik made the move to Budapest. He rented a flat in district 7, but the relentless noise and activity, combined with his restless desire not to miss out on the city’s street life, meant he was finding it hard to concentrate on his music.

After some time, he realised he needed the space he had had back on the island of Læsø. “In Budapest I'd sit with my guitar, looking out of the window and if something happened, I needed to go!”
 

As a solution to this dilemma, and having explored many towns and areas of Hungary, Frederik decided to buy a house in Pécs: “I found what I needed in my house in Pécs: I have a balcony facing south, there's a lake close by and I can just sit and look at the view. Nothing is happening and I can find myself – it's where I write the good songs.”

Frederik in Pécs

Pécs is close to the border with Serbia where Frederik has already played extensively. He is currently learning the local language with a view to more concerts there.

“I’ve just came from a 12-day trip working for the European Commission doing this ‘We Balkans’ initiative to promote Western Balkan countries. We were in Budapest, in Brussels, in Bratislava, in Graz, in Vienna…”

Frederik is more than a little critical of Denmark and Danish perceptions of Hungary. “Denmark is very discriminating against people in Hungary. You won't believe how much discrimination there is. There’s a lot of propoganda in the media in Denmark – I worked in the media there – and the funny thing is that they complain there’s a lot of propoganda in Hungary!

“I come from the north, the Nordic people. We don't see the sun so much, so we become very cold. We've got to know someone for ten years before we will greet them on the street. So for me, Hungary was a really good mix. A little bit of the Southern culture, like kissing on the cheeks, and very open. Like on the train today, I was just talking with an elderly lady, asking a lot of things.

“I like the culture here, I like the food, I like the attitude of people.   I think right now people are in a difficult state because when your wallet is empty, you get more desperate and you get more mad and you get more negative. I think it will change in a few years. I think the worst part is right now.”

Frederik cites the friendliness of Hungarians he has had contact with: I'm happy to be here. People are just nice to me. It was a good move for me.” Given Frederik’s respectful, open and optimistic demeanour, it is not difficult to imagine that Hungarians respond warmly to him.

Looking to his future, Frederik is somewhat reticent. “After Covid I stopped planning. I'm a Millennium child. If I say: what do I want to happen in three years or what's going to happen, how will it be? I don't know. I thought I could control stuff but it's much much easier just to stop controlling everything. Just let it be. 

“I decided I'm just going to do what I want, make enough money of course, and just explore music, explore this country, explore possibilities. I have a podcast, I have a YouTube channel, I have a growing music business. I have a house. I'm also planning to travel much more here [in Hungary] next year.

“I want to go to more of the places where nobody goes. That's why I'm working on this little project right now with capturing Hungary and making an album in Hungarian and English. I’ve been working with a Hungarian singer, Szibilla from Szeged.  We did a Petöfi acoustic show on Petöfi television.

“I'm going to stay here because I like the simplicity to life in Hungary. And I really like the Hungarian music scene, it’s amazing – so much live music. The quality of  musicians is very high; they're so good, so talented. And I need to be better myself.”

And then, as an afterthought, he adds: “And I'm also trying not to be on the phone too much –  it takes away creativity.”

Links

Website

YouTube channel

Podcast

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

https://www.frederikcornelius.com

Marion Merrick is author of Now You See It, Now You Don’t and House of Cards and the website Budapest Retro.

If you would like to be interviewed as a Surprising Expat, please write with a few details of what you do, to: Marion by clicking here.