The career of Szabolcs Szőke began 46 years ago in the Orfeo Group (embracing puppetry, theatre and music). It is from this that the Stúdió K theatre sprang, as did the similarly legendary Kolinda Ensemble, with which Szőke performed on the stage of the Paris Olympia. After the breakup of Kolinda, he became a member of Makám & Kolinda, and then of Makám - so that it is no exaggeration to describe him as one of the "godfathers” of the Hungarian world music scene: "gadulka man,” as the artistic director of WOMEX, world-renowned musician and producer Ben Mandelson, has described him. To this day, the gadulka has remained Szőke's most loyal instrumental companion, but he plays on a dozen more exotic instruments - from the Indian sarangi to the African mbira - both ethnic and chamber music, jazz and a unique fusion of these, with the same depth of feeling and uncompromising attitude of many years past.
Besides his continuous work in the theatre, in which he has also achieved great international success with the Hólyagcirkusz Company, the list is long of groups Szőke has established since his departure from Makám: Tin-Tin Quartet, Pangea, Ektar, Rubai Trio, and most recently Trio Squelini - all significant representatives of the domestic ethno-jazz scene. Of the members of these groups, he has now invited those with whom he continues to enjoy active and fruitful musical and personal friendships for a unique dialogue of ethno-jazz, poetry and theatre at Müpa: double bassist Róbert Benkő, guitarists Zsolt Csókás and Gábor Juhász, singer Ágnes Kazai, cellist Ditta Rohmann, drummer Zsolt Sárvári Kovács, tabla player Péter Szalai, saxophonist Dániel Váczi, and poets Márk Süveg and Péter Závada - as well as, from Italy, trumpeter David Boato, clarinettist Francesco Socal, saxophonist Enrico Pagnin and pianist Roberto Durante.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest