Hungarian Jazz & Beyond

Csaba Palotai & Steve Argüelles: Cabane Perchée
Csaba Palotai, guitar; Steve Argüelles, percussion
Debussy Now
Veronika Harcsa, voice; Anastasia Razvalyaeva, harp; Márton Fenyvesi, live electronics, guitar


In the context of the exchange of musicians between Cankarjev dom and BMC – Budapest Music Centre – CD’s Cankarjevi torki Series presents two interesting bands that have recently released new albums on BMC.

In all likelihood Debussy would have welcomed the idea of his works being brought up to the minute one hundred and fifty years later by artists who knew no boundaries. After all, as the harbinger of musical Impressionism, this is what he too aimed towards. Harpist Anasztázia Razvalyaeva, singer Veronika Harcsa, and guitarist and sound designer Márton Fenyvesi made contemporary transcriptions from Debussy's finest chansons in which everything becomes possible. These works, musical settings of poetry by Paul Verlaine and other poets, are seen in another light, thanks to the airiness of the harp, and a more declamatory vocal technique than in classical singing, while the live electronic effects submit them to a veritable paradigm shift.

The term Cabane Perchee means ‘tree house’ in French. For the guitarist Csaba Palotai, who lives and works in France, this word offered the starting point for his new duo project with his old fellow musician, drummer Steve Argüelles. "This strange building among the foliage – although a man-made construction – still gives the illusion that a human is not a competitor of nature, but an integral part of the living world. This romantic, wild mood evokes a sense of childhood. It includes the Hungarian novel, Thorn Castle, and the Call of the Wild movie as well, and to some extent the piano pieces in Bartók’s Microcosm" explained Csaba Palotai.