Budapest Ritmo 2024

Budapest Ritmo
Szimpla Kert/Akvárium Klub
Budapest, Hungary
April 11-13, 2024


Due to the musical orientation of its organisers, and its general Hungarian location, the Budapest Ritmo festival tends to feature a Balkan and East European bias, presenting global-ethnic artists from within the region. There are, of course, some exceptions in the programme, one of which was its bejewelled centrepiece, a now-rare appearance by the revered Malian master Salif Keita, who has become the latest artist to announce retirement and then not retire (see E.S.G. and George Clinton ). Very sadly, he pulled out of his gig at extremely short notice, removing what would have been a particular musical treat.

Therefore, the artistic peaks of Ritmo were in the hands of less familiar acts, although the Turkish glam-goth-garage singer Gaye Su Akyol and the rabidly hypnotic BCUC, from South Africa, are likely to be headliners at many other festivals. It was the opening showcase night that invited new discoveries of emerging combos. This evening took place at the labyrinthine and quirky maze that is Szimpla Kert, the original 'ruin bar' of Budapest. It has spawned many other similar joints, but this is the originator of the concept, with its multiple-character sub-bars, all vending slightly different aspects of the menu, so that 'research' is valued, to winkle out some of its unusual beers. The showcase was rammed into a too-small live-room, so space and visibility did not abound, plus the sound system was inadequate, and even the actual attendees and delegates insisted on shouting loudly throughout many of the performances. Yes, Ritmo is one of those festivals that triples as public gig, showcase and conference. The latter part of the programme took place in Budapest's impressive new architectural wonder of the House Of Music.

The a cappella voices of the largely Croatian PJEV suffered from the crowd-din, but fortunately, as the audience became even louder throughout the evening, the following bands cranked up too, and tended towards a lustier, partying thrust. PJEV can create quite an emotive atmosphere, but not on this evening, even though they were clearly placed at the start of the evening in hopes of some listening concentration from the audience.

Daj Ognia came from Poland, bringing rustic unwashed folk, with multi-instrumentalism, revolving around the drum and the chant. There was a bowed lyre-harp creation, a singer holding up a soldier's helmet, and a simple percussive tromp. This chief vocalist was a touch overwrought, without having the power and projection to justify such physical hyperactivity. Lots of instrument swapping ensued during this hippy happening, but there were stretches of lifeless dreariness, especially in the context of what should have been a tight 40-minute set of wares-displaying. The singer used one of those small, hoisted Polish folk cellos for the last run, and the band finally knitted together well on the driving closer, the sound balance mysteriously improving.

Dis Is Marketa is a Slovakian outfit, revolving around singer Martina Kertészová, and featuring keyboards, cello, acoustic guitar and drums. The audience still had zero attention span. Old language, old music, Marketa specialize in historic folk. But the second number was a wispy ballad. Why, during time-curtailed showcase sets, do some bands persist in playing numbers that would normally be fillers in a 75-minute normal-festival performance? Soon, a second ballad arrived, but at least it featured obsidian cello.

Around half way, the sets improved, the bands more suited to the 'lively' atmosphere. By this time it did not matter who was shouting, or how loudly. The Czech Republic's Hrubá Hudba seemed to be milking the post-ironic regions of Moravian bier keller folk, turning the taps full-on. They emerged out of the crowd, singers and fiddlers, theatrical and emotive in their delivery, with old school trumpet and clarinet dancing together. Taking us by surprise, some groovesome licks followed the sepia folk, getting into a coasting funk, with bass, keyboards and a long wooden flute. There was still room on stage for three fiddlers and an upright bass, and with their jungle drums, this made for a strange brew. Never will we hear such harmonious beerhall singing again. And then they climaxed the set with a cosmic keyboard freakout!

Hungary's own Elán is more of a traditional folk group, with their singer backed by two fiddles, alto saxophone, accordion, guitar and an upright bass. Fast-fingered escalation abounded, with a cimbalom adopting a quite subtle position for most of the time.

Hajda Banda draw its membership from the borderlands of Poland and Belarus, bringing fiddles and accordion to its hard-folk trounce, but remaining open to an a cappella climax. By this time of the night, the bands had moved towards the crowd vibration and the audience had incorporated dancing, with less chatting, so a more harmonized resonance was in place.

The following two days of 'conventional' festival were set in the mainstream Akvárium Klub, one of Budapest's major multi-room venues. This is a steward-and-security-loaded complex, barely underground, down the steps from street and mini-park. It has zero atmosphere, and a corporate aura, its stage-spaces being empty black rooms. Surprisingly, these are homes to sharply delineated sound systems, with engineers invariably making well-balanced mixes of the sets. Volume and power are harnessed, with smaller-instrument details preserved amid the bass crush.

Soweto's BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) has improved somewhat since your scribe caught the group at WOMAD a few years back, now developing an absolutely obsessive commitment to accelerated skin-beating, piling up the polyrhythms, and the polyvocals, propulsion courtesy of the manic lead vocalist Nkosi 'Jovi' Zithulele, forever bounding around the stage, exhorting the crowd into action. But emphatically not in a showbizzy way: more like he has just gone crazy in his bedroom. The repetition revolves around the constantly inventive basslines of Uju, massively dominant in the mix, but to the great benefit of the dancing shoes. In the last few years, a psychedelic ritual feeling has undulated through this band.

From the hips up, Gaye Su Akyol looks unchanged, and stable as she gyrates, but a lower glance reveals boots whose stack-heels may well top the 12-inch mark. This makes her moves even more impressive, with no plastercasts needed this time around. Her set remains quite similar in the midst of prolific touring, although a new drummer made his debut, filling in very convincingly, in that nowadays all-too-familiar forced situation of a visa-refusal scenario. Artists from Africa and the Middle East increasingly unwelcome, Turkey too. Akyol, it must be noted, has a poised, intelligent, perceptive and guile-filled attitude to her social activism.

The French cinematographer and sound artist Vincent Moon arrived in Budapest to collaborate with the Dalinda singers, going on a magical mystery tour around the city and splicing together a blend of abstract and 'sensible' footage, not quite experimental, but still with some unusual direction. The voices were recorded while filming, but much was performed live by the trio, as footage cut to onstage vocalising, also another effective technique. Clearly a perfectionist, Moon likes to sculpt his performing circumstances, also using a highly distinctive and playful body language, to communicate on every level.

Saturday opened up earlier with a marathon DJ set by Antonis Antoniou, leader of the Cypriot trio Monsieur Doumani. He is both a traditionalist and innovator when it comes to his own music, and his spinning selection was equally unusual. Antoniou seems to have a current fascination for sounds that emanate from India, Pakistan and South East Asia in general, taking in electro-bhangra, Bollywood, Indonesian gamelo-pop and general kitsch exotica. Not much from Cyprus and surrounding areas. If only more spinners were as adventurous and deeply digging as Antoniou.

The replacement for Salif Keita was the Džambo Aguševi Orchestra, who grabbed us by surprise as one the festival's best bands. The Orchestra provided a classic North-Macedonian brass ecstasy blow-out, totally what might be expected, and performed with immense boldness and flash. Leading trumpeter Aguševi was the most equipped soloist, of course, but his stage full of brass competitors played a game of ongoing one-upmanship, boiling harder and splitting lips bloodier.

Catching the team-up of Terne Čhave (Czech Republic) and Romano Drom (Hungary itself) was an odd experience, as the bands are so different in style and approach that it was more like they were physically sharing the stage than melding their actual musics. Your scribe enjoyed the climactic Romano Drom stretch of hardcore gypsy jazz, whereas Terne Čhave had more of a prog-fusion orientation. Perhaps they had already bonded more, earlier in the set.

Not deliberately, but by happenstance, Ritmo concluded for this writer in the smaller Lokál bar, the venue's quietest, most individual spot. The Welsh harpist Cerys Hafana gave an intimate recital, featuring her vocals, low-key electric guitar and hushed laptop. The repertoire smeared between the Welsh and English languages, old folk and original ambient compositions, littered with triple-harp solos. Hafana soon grew a friendly connection with this full soft-furnished space.

Likewise Almir Mešković and Daniel Lazar, both of whom now reside in Norway, although they've imported their fiddle-accordion tunes from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They've also been imbibing Scandinavian folk, so proffer quite a rare breed of song. A pair of inward sets to reflect on, following an often bombastic festival spread...

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