Tarkany Muvek

Tarkany Muvek (Tarkany Works) is a group of young musicians from Budapest, Hungary with the ambitous plan to weld the raw energy of traditional Hungarian folk, the intellectual rigour of classical music, and the spiritual depth of avant garde jazz and poetry.
Whereas this might sound like a laborous task, their music bubbles up naturally like water from the cold springs of the Transylvanian woods. Their amalgam of sound vibrates with creative tensions: it is ancient yet contemporary, thoughtful yet effortless, serious yet playful. Drawing on a diverse range of musical influences – from Bartók and Coltrane to Toni Iordache and Dr.Dre – they follow the musical vision of band leader Bálint Tárkány Kovács:

"What we would like to achieve is to transform contemporary improvisative music – that is often called jazz – in a way that it becomes more Hungarian. We will forge rhythmic arrangements, melodic progression, ornamentation, and lyrics into an organic whole."

Bálint started playing the Cimbalom when he was seven, and – at the age of 30 – he is one of the instrument's most prominent young masters in Hungary today. Having played in countless folk bands in the last two decades, he became a key figure within the current generation of the "táncház" movement – the urban folk music and dance revivalist scene that gained wider international recognition in the 1980s in relation to the success of bands such as Muzsikás and Kolinda. While Bálint still plays in folk bands Tárkány Muvek is his outlet for stylistically more open creative experimentation. Studying with Gipsy Cimbalom luminary Kálmán Balog at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, he invited like-minded students from the jazz and folk faculties in 2008 to join him in a collective exploration of how jazz and Hungarian music could be brought together along improvisative commonalities.

"I also play the cimbalom in the bands Bivaly and Tündök that play authentic folk music. Besides this, however, there is a need to re-create the culture within ourselves, and doing so, shaping it in a way that suits our contemporary way of life."

Not unlike urban pop, a significant proportion of folk songs tell tales of love – in its various stages. Drawing on this wealth of material, love songs stand in the focal point of Tárkány Muvek's music. Folk singer Julianna Paár's unique voice captures the range of emotions that characterise love from attraction through courtship to breakup with remarkable vibrancy. Her dialogues with Gergo Kováts – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute – move easily between excitement and intimacy, happiness and hurt. As Gergo is already making waves on the Budapest experimental jazz scene – in bands like koala Fusion and Oláh Dezso Septet – no wonder that his playing adds an avant garde element to the otherwise rather melodic sound of the band. Endre Papp – on both conventional and three stringed Transylvanian folk viola – and András Bognár – double bass and gardon – provide the rhythmic backbone of the band's music. From slow ballads and jazzy chansons to the driving dance music of Hungary and the Balkans they are a rhythm section with an attitude: there is no need for a drummer here. The raw power that can bring the roof down when unleashed lurks even in their quiet parts comes from their extensive experience of playing in folk bands. Endre is a long-standing a member of Fondor and Muhely, while András plays in Honvéd Táncszínház – one of the three professional folk dance groups of Hungary – and in Ágnes Herczku's band.

Tárkány Muvek’s debut album, You Etched Your Face in Mine – released in 2010, a year after their first reherseals – has already earned them critical acclaim among critics and music enthusiasts in Hungary and generated some buzz abroad.