Ghymes, one of the best Hungarian Ethno-Rock Bands [Video]

Ghymes was founded in Nitra, in 1984 by Hungarian musicians living in Slovakia. Band members have different musical backgrounds ranging from classical through rock and Renaissance music. The style of the band is based on folk music and incorporates a wide range of instruments including violin, viola, dulcimer, bagpipe, contrabass, lute, koboz, kalabash zither, Turkish pipe, saxophones and drums.

"GHYMES MUSIC" has roots in Hungarian and Central-Eastern European folk tradition. The band’s Ars Poetica is “universality of music” that seeks similarities among people. The energy and the "magic" of live music are both conditions and causes of the band’s success.

Ghymes composed music for several theatrical productions: - Outdoor Theater of Komárom, Hungary - Our Lives, in 1995. National Theater of Budapest, Hungary-St. Peter's Umbrella, in 1996. Tanztheater Wuppertal, Pina Bausch, in 2000.

Ghymes and the Hungarian band Vujicsics, are participating in the Vent D'Est (Eastern Wind) production that has been touring around Europe. The musical and geographical versatility of the 17 members international group is a unique musical experience. The production incorporates Mediterranean, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian and Slovakian folk, jazz and contemporary music styles. The "Master" of the group is the Occitan (French minority) composer and musician, Michel Montanaro. In 1991 the French and the Hungarian State Televisions made a documentary about the Vent D'Est. They released the film in 1993 and in 1996 under the title of “Vend D'Est-Migration”. For Michel Montanaro’s request Ghymes composed a piece of music for the outdoor performance of the Theatre de Mediterranée of Toulon--Europe's largest outdoor theater--in 1993.

In 2000, Ghymes participated in two remarkable events: The WORLD EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Day of Hungary) and the official celebrations of the New Millennium in Hungary (St. Stephen's day, August 20, 2000).

Smaragdváros (Emerald City) was produced by EMI Records and came out in Hungary, in November 2000. In March 2001, it was number 11 on the World Music Charts of Europe.

In the same year, an anthology titled VÁVÁVÁ came out with the poetry of Tamás Szarka and published by Szellemkép Publishing House.

The band was awarded with the "For Hungarian Art" and "Don Quiote" prizes founded by Vámos Miklós, in 2001.

In 2002, the band received the Hungarian Radio and Television Co's eMeRTon Prize in the category of the “Hungarian Band of the Year from beyond the Frontier”. The newly published album “Üzenet” (Message) came out in 2001 and won the Golden Giraffe award in the best homeland jazz music category.

In the same year, the “Rege” (Legend), the “Smaragdváros” (Emerald City) and the “Nagy mesealbum” (The Big Fairy Tales) became platinum records, and the “Bennünk van a kutyavér” (Dog's Blood's Inside Us), the “Tűzugrás” (Firejump) became gold records. The album “Bennünk van a kutyavér” (Dog's Blood's Inside Us) that originally designed for children was nominated as a teaching material by the Ministry Of Education, in 1999.

The eighth album “Héjavarázs” (Hawkspell) was produced by EMI and came out in November 2002. “Héjavarázs” (Hawkspell) became a platinum record in three months, and it also won the Golden Giraffe Award in 2003, in the category of "the Jazz-World Music Album of the Year".

In March 2003, Di-Color Studio published a book summing up GHYMES’ 18 year long career.

Ghymes: Tánc a Hóban (Dance in the Snow)


ghymes.hu

(hungarianambiance.com)