A street music festival is being held in Budapest for the first time, funded by the city. Audiences are welcome at ten venues from 30 July to 1 August and from 6 to 8 August.
At the press conference presenting Budapest Play – Budapest Street Music Festival and Competition (Budapesti Utcazene Fesztivál és Verseny), the Mayor of Budapest, Karácsony Gergely, said: “music is a universal language that is worth all of us learning, and through which we can connect with the world around us, with our own culture and with our own city”.
Budapest has sorely lacked a street music festival and the chance for street music to become “an integral part of our lives”, so it is high time the capital had an event of this kind, the mayor stressed.
This will be the first real Budapest street music festival, although there was previously a smaller event of this kind at the Fény utca market, said the festival's organiser, Sebestyén Áron. He described a key goal of Budapest Play – Budapest Street Music Festival and Competition as giving performers who are not yet at the stage in their careers where they play big venues the opportunity and the attention they deserve.
Musicians can apply as solo performers or as duos. After a preliminary jury selection, the musicians who make it into the competition can be seen at 10 venues across the city, in both outer and inner districts – for example Deák Ferenc tér, Batthyány tér, Nagyvárad tér, Margaret Island, Örs vezér tere and the Fény utca market.
Following the pre-selection, the list of performers chosen by the professional jury to take part in the festival, together with the programme for the 10 venues, will be published on 23 July. Some 50–60 street musicians are expected to perform in Budapest's public spaces and other venues over the six days of the festival.
The festival is also a competition. The public can vote for individual musicians on all six days, but there will also be a professional jury. Thanks to the jury's choice, 5–6 musicians will be able to take part in Sziget's street music programme, while other placed performers will also receive valuable prizes, such as participation in Budapest Park's Park-lab Programme or its Backstage Camp, a studio recording at Pannónia Stúdió, and instrument vouchers.
Bóna Márk, booking manager of Sziget Festival, said that the winner of the competition's audience award will be able to perform at Sziget on the festival's final day.
Budapest Play – Budapest Street Music Festival and Competition is being created with the intention of establishing a tradition, through broad cooperation. The event's partners include Sziget Festival, Budapest Park, the Budapesti Művelődési Központ, the Fény Utcai Piac and Visit Hungary. Detailed information about the first Budapest street music festival is available at www.budapestplay.hu.
Source: MTI