Fifty Years of "Sebőfication”
Ferenc Sebő, who turns 75 years old this year, started his musical career in 1969, and the "phenomenon” known as the Sebő Ensemble began its journey in 1972, exactly 50 years ago. While the work of both the band and the musician who gave it his name have proved highly influential, in the beginning some opinions of them were quite hostile. At the time, one of the leading staff members of Hungarian Radio's folk music department, observing the activities of the duo of Béla Halmos and Ferenc Sebő with great trepidation, complained that this "Sebőfication” was spreading everywhere. This evening will bring to life the most important moments from this widespread phenomenon.
The negative stigma they incurred back then now fills the protagonist of the story with pride. "It is indeed true that our work has given rise to new genres,” Sebő says, "comprising various types of chamber music accompanied by guitar as a Hungarian version of popular music, such as sung poetry, authentic folk music as a historical version of this and historical music in this context, world music inspired by folk music, and finally, rock music intensified in the contemporary manner… At the time, it felt quite unpleasant to have this stigma, but now I'm almost proud of it. In our show, we present some mood images of this process.” Although examples of the sung poetry include music woven into the poems of Dániel Varró, László Nagy, Margit Szécsi, Sándor Weöres, Ferenc András Kovács and Attila József, the concert will also incorporate, in addition to 20th-century and contemporary poets, arrangements of earlier lyricists, as well as early music, and of course dance hall music, as interpreted by the Sebő Ensemble and their many guests.
Sebő Ensemble:
Réka Soós
Sára Tímár
Iván Barvich
Albert Nagy
László Perger
Ferenc Sebő
Featuring:
Márta Sebestyén
Judit Andrejszki
Tamás Jordán
Dániel Gryllus
Levente Székely
Sándor Csoór Jr,
Péter Éri
