Following in the footsteps of research by Zoltán Kodály, the Fonó Band explores Hungarian folk music's Eastern connections. Since 1997, the eMeRTon- and Zoltán Kodály Award-winning group has based its repertoire on Hungarian folk music as well as the instrumental and vocal traditions of other peoples of the Carpathian Basin. Still, their musical profile is inseparable from their collaborations with prestigious practitioners of classical music, contemporary dance and literature. Among others, they've worked with the Ensemble Justiniana opera company, violinist Vilmos Szabadi, pianist Márta Gulyás and early music ensemble Musica Profana, as well as with Sándor Kányádi, Ferenc Temesi and Pál Závada. Their 2012 album Vadbarokk presented the relationship between Hungarian folk and Baroque music, referencing Zoltán Kodály himself who, in his study The Hungarian Character in Music wrote: 'One of our hands is held by the Nogais, the Votyaks and the Cheremis, the other by Bach and Palestrina'.
In 2017, also inspired by Kodály's work, they staged their production Paternal Branch in the spirit of Hungarian folk music's Eastern connections. In that production, the Balkar, Nogai, Bashkir and Kumyk guests who Gergely Agócs met in his collection trips in the East revealed the parallels between Hungarian folk music and the musical folklore of Turkik Kipchak peoples. It appears the time has arrived for Hungary's Turkik cultural relatives to take a place in its cultural life.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest