Look at another video shot at the concert and the stage design made for Anastacia concert in SYMA Sports Center Budapest.

Concert plus Dance Competition – Anastacia Concert in Budapest 2009

As one of the fans added “Anastacia made a dance competition live at the SYMA stadium in Budapest, Hungary. She was the teacher and the judge too,” meaning that two lucky guys were invited to the stage by singer Anastacia. One of the guys was Mario from Brazil (living in the US) and Zsolt, a Hungarian guy, who got a great applause.

Some of the programs in 2009 (random pick):

Robert Capa exhibition in the Jewish Museum in Budapest (Dohány street 2, Budapest, right next to the Great Synagogue (1855-59))
Bea Palya Sephardic Sunday (Dohány Street Synagogue)
Cuban Sephardic Journey with Elsa Valle and the Latin Jazz Syndicate (Dohány Street Synagogue)
The Budapest Klezmer Band and the Judrom – guest : Judit Klein (Dohány Street Synagogue)
Edna Mazya: Games in the Backyard (Trafó)
Rande-jew `Lock&Key` social dating party Star guests: The Vodku music band (Symbol Budapest)
Yiddish Tango Evening with Tango Esperimento (Uránia National Movie Theatre – it is a beautiful building, mind you)

etc.

Here’s a live video recording of the Jerusalem Cantors Choir conducted by Benjamin Glickman, performing at Dohany Synagogue, Budapest (Hungary). It was from the 2008 Jewish Summer Festival (1st of September 2008),The pianist: Mrs Rita Feldman-Gelfman. Hevenu Shalom Aleychem, arrangement: S. Silbermintz

Cantor Azi Schwartz sings in the great synagogue of Budapest on Dohany street. Sim Shalom – Grant us with Peace, by Meir Finkelstein.

PS: Judafest is a smaller Budapest Jewish Festival – more info on judafest.org

One of the ‘greatest hits’ of the Hungarian communist era (if we can apply this highly western term for a real eastern phenomenon) was the song that started with the line ‘Like a squirrel up on the tree, the pioneer is so happy… The title of the song is The Happy Pioneer (A vidám úttörő), but most people know this communist song by the starting line. Sure, we were as happy as a lark, lots of competitions, lots of children’s camps, etc. Being a pioneer (úttörő) with a red scarf or a little drummer (kisdobos) with a blue scarf was tiresome and restricting for some, but I would risk that most of the ex-pioneer people I know look back at those times with nostalgia, as funny, engaging, so all in all positive (even those who rebelled against being a pioneer admit that pioneer times were good times for kids – not for adults definitely). By the way, he pioneer movement was the undeniable eastern copycat of the Scout Movement, I think.

Now here is a beautiful authentic audio – video of the pioneer song ‘Mint a mókus’ (Like a squirrel). The lyrics (in Hungarian) below the video:

Mint a mókus fenn a fán,
Az úttörő oly vidám,
Ajkáról ki sem fogy a nóta.
Ha tábort üt valahol,
Sok kis pajtás így dalol,
Fújja estig kora reggel óta.

Évek szállanak a nyári fák alatt,
Oly vidám az ének.
Boldog dallama így önti dalba ma:
Csuda jó, gyönyörű az élet.

Fürgébb, mint a könnyű szél,
Gyorsan jár és messze ér,
Nincs túra, ami kifog rajta.
Hívja erdő nyári rét,
Vígan marsol, jól kilép,
És a szemét mindig nyitva tartja.

Évek szállanak a nyári fák alatt,
Oly vidám az ének.
Boldog dallama így önti dalba ma:
Csuda jó, gyönyörű az élet.

Mint testvér, vagy hű barát,
Megsegít, ha bajban lát,
Munkában alig akad párja.
Hol szöget ver, hol meg főz,
Mindent megtesz, amit győz,
És a helyét mindenütt megállja.

Évek szállanak a nyári fák alatt,
Oly vidám az ének.
Boldog dallama így önti dalba ma:
Csuda jó, gyönyöru az élet.

Enjoy the Zagar video

You can also listen to Zagar music in live concerts quite often in Budapest. This Zagar clip was shot on the Budapest Sziget Fesztivál (Budapest Student Festival on the ShopFactory Island/ Hajógyári Sziget in Óbuda part of Budapest), which is basically the most popular festival on an island cca 30 min from downtown Budapest featuring international big name musicians.

Zagar: Sounds and Lights

Zagar: Three Seasons Fall

And here is the Zagar story/ history in a nutshell:

The story of the band started at the begin of the year 2001, when the three members of Yonderboi Quintet (Zságer, Kovács, DJ Bootsie) after the Shallow and Profound Tour started rehearsing separately from the Quintet. First they were performing as Pulzus. The material they have put together durring the rehearsals and the earlier solo works of Balázs Zságer were synthesized and have created the characteristic sounds of the new band. In the summer of 2002 they already played at different festivals in Hungary and abroad as well under the name Zagar. After that they recorded their debut album “Local Broadcast”. On this album besides a string quartet there are many featuring artist, one of them the singer György Ligeti (The Puzzle), with whom they used to play together with in the band called The End.
Local Broadcast was released in 2002 in Hungary by UCMG/Ugar records and in 2003 in Austria by Universal Jazz. This album has received warm welcome abroad by professionals and collectors alike. The album was selected for the chart of the 50 all time’s most important Hungarian records by music magazine WAN2. The Zagar band has been performing live ever since their formation. Apart from Hungary they have already played in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, Czeh Republic and Russia.