Gyula Babos is a stationary traveller. He searches for the origins of music deep within his soul with renewed enthusiasm, energy and a craving to tell a story. The countless external influences which impact upon him always bring him back to his roots. At the start of his career as the leader of Rákfogó and later Saturnus, he was preoccupied with jazz-rock which was at the height of its popularity at the time. Today, this has further developed into what is commonly referred to as fusion and greatly determines his style of music, although hints of his original style still shine through. One of Babos’s most significant albums, Blue Victory, was released in 1994 and sold in twelve countries, with contributions from musicians such as drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, bass guitarist Victor Bailey, the late percussionist George Jinda and pianist Béla Szakcsi Lakatos. The Babos Project Romani, a formation created in 1997, has enjoyed extraordinary success, its name betraying the great importance of Roma musical elements for its leader and band members. An important milestone for the band was when Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu guest-starred on the concert album Hetvenöt perc (Seventy-five Minutes). Since 2005, the band has continued to perform as the Babos Project Special, while the guitarist has also created a new sound with the introduction of a quintet, which may be heard on a new record released at the end of 2011. The album Az Utazás (The Journey) and the concert Rajasthan Blues introduce the earliest, most authentic source of Roma music, yet never wander far from the band’s mother tongue of jazz as the medium through which Babos’s compositions address the audience. Presented by: Palace of Arts

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