Piú Forte

The Piú Forte ensemble was founded 10 years ago by well-known figures from the Hungarian world music and folk music scene. Its members include award-winning musicians, the author of a koboz school, prize winners of vocal competitions, and recipients of songwriting awards, and audiences may have encountered them in both classical and popular music collaborations.

The ensemble’s name is a musical term meaning continuous strengthening, expansion, and broadening, and their performances are characterized by powerful momentum. As part of their regular appearances in Hungary, they are launching a monthly club series at Fonó Budai Zeneház. Beyond the concert itself, the audience is invited to join in group singing and instrumental music-making, something the members’ experience as music educators makes possible, and dancers are very much welcome too.

Their repertoire consists of folk-inspired original songs, self-written lyrics, and musical settings of poems. The core sound is built around violin, woodwinds, guitar, and double bass, expanded with stick, mandolin, fujara, accordion, ukulele, and kaval.

Puli ensemble

The most striking feature of Puli is its unmistakable shaggy coat, beneath which beats a dreadlocked heart. The ensemble believes that the world is music. It has a special affection for shepherds of every kind, whether star-eyed, melancholic, or truth-telling, from Gyula Juhász to János Kukorica. One of its defining traits is its ability to capture the unique Hungarian sensibility expressed in the shepherd music of the Carpathian Basin.

Its songs are distinctive sonic-ecological studies: musical worlds that once existed separately across time and space now meet in Puli’s citera, flute, and drum-and-bass remixes. The result is a unique, colorful, yet coherent musical universe.

In the spirit of “as you like it” (quodlibet), Puli freely interprets the layering of different musical styles. Through the interaction of diverse musical textures, a reconstructed folk-world-music landscape emerges, giving birth to an ethno mashup.

Ticket price: advance 2500 HUF, on the day of the concert 3000 HUF