The stars of this show are the instruments themselves. Listeners young and old are invited to learn about a variety of unusual instruments through authentic live music played by expert musicians. Once again, this season's Instru-Mentor programme introduces the instruments of Hungarian folklore. A word of Persian or Arab origin, variations of “tambura” appear in many other languages, but the instrument arrived in Hungary at the time of the Turkish occupation. This plucked instrument belongs to... the lute family and has a small body and long neck. Its shape is reminiscent of a bottle gourd sliced down the middle. The alternative name of “tökcitura” (gourd zither) also suggests that tamburas were once made from gourds. Today's instrument, however, is made from a single piece of wood, generally sycamore, but occasionally the wood of various fruit trees. There are also some tamburas that are not shaped like gourds, but take on the form of guitars, or even violins. Meanwhile, the larger instruments – the basszprím and brácstambura – adopt the figure-of-eight outline of the guitar. The tambura is played with a plectrum made from supple horn or plastic. The bass tambura is played with a thick leather plectrum worn on the thumb. When accompanying dance, the cello tambura largely follows the bass, with the former playing simple chords while the latter provides the bass chord. The melodic instruments, the prím and basszprím, play parallel octaves, with the rhythm generally set at a sixteenth. (Based on the writing of Bálint Sárosi.)
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.