“A year ago, when we first advertised the course on pop music jointly with Kőbányai Zenei Stúdió [Music Studio of Kőbánya, Budapest], we knew that we might bite off more than we could chew. Now, at the closing of the second semester, I reckon we can safely say that our efforts seem to have paid off finally. A solid proof of this is the performance of the four bands taking the stage tonight,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Music, Péter Lakatos, in his welcoming address.
The young musicians did prepare a genuine medley of music styles for the gala night on December 16. Their repertoire included the Hungarian “classics” 'Ha volna két életem' [If I Had Two Lives], written and played originally by the band Piramis [Pyramid], and 'Zöld csillag' [Green Star] by Gyula Deák Bill, while the foreign hits covered a range of songs originally performed by The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Muse, Billy Idol, Adele, and Pink.
The performers consisted of more than 30 young musicians, including Hungarian and international students of the university as well as external participants of the course. They had been practicing in a truly dedicated fashion week by week since September at the pop music course of the Faculty of Music and Kőbányai Zenei Stúdió.
“Quite a few of the participants of the spring course decided to stay for the fall, and the new arrivals could easily fit into the lineup of the bands. This is not simple at all, as they come from diverse backgrounds, but I am still completely satisfied with the result. This night is also about celebrating together and about giving joy to one another and to ourselves with a smile on our faces,” said Egon Póka, Managing Director of Kőbányai Zenei Stúdió, in his evaluation of the semester.
In order to illustrate how the music teachers are thinking of the next move already, Dean Péter Lakatos announced at the gala night that this unique course on pop music would be offered again in the next semester as an optional course, just like before. For information, send a query to the following email address: popmusic@music.unideb.hu.
After the concerts given by the students, MattSet, a band made up of the teachers, also came up with a performance at the end-of-the-semester event held on Sunday night. They played a couple of songs from their album 'Egy másik életben' [In a Different Life], led by singer-percussionist Mátyás Szakadáti. The debut of their new song Útkereső [roughly: Pathfinder] was a pleasant surprise for the audience comprising students, family members and friends. Finally, for closing the Sunday-night gala in Liszt Hall, they played their most recent number written specifically for Christmas.
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