FORRÓ HÉTVÉGE

After first emerging as a representative of Hungarian bedroom pop in the early 2010s, guitarist/singer/songwriter Noémi Barkóczi moved beyond the world of lo-fi to became a popular performer on stages and at festivals across the country with her increasingly distinctive guitar playing, heartfelt lyrics, and well-developed arrangements.

Formed in New York in 1986, The Klezmatics revolutionised klezmer, the Yiddish instrumental dance music style rooted in Eastern Europe. Now celebrating its fortieth anniversary, the ensemble was one of the first and biggest stars of the genre at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, around the time when world music was gaining ground as a separate musical category. To this day, the band remains one of the best-known groups on the klezmer scene.

Hiperkarma frontman Róbert Bérczesi exploded onto the Hungarian alternative scene in the early ’00s, when his unique and sincere lyrics quickly made him a cult figure in the country’s music world. Although the group has disbanded and reformed more than once over the years, it has always retained its unique, lyrical and raw sound, one in which personal struggles and inner journeys play a central role.