Bettika Bakos
is a young singer, composer, student of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Jazz Department, she also deals with improvisation, free music, theater music, mantra singing, teaches and holds workshops. Her ensemble, the
Bettika Quintet
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- Bettika Bakos – vocals, piano, synth, effects
- Zoltán Dévényi – guitars, vocals
- Dominik Kosztolánszki – tenor & soprano saxophone
- József Mayer – double bass
- Ambrus Richter – drums
uses elements of jazz, free improvisation, world music and contemporary poetry. Most of the current program consists of her own compositions, included pieces, which are rooted in jazz, interspersed with jazz-poetry or spoken word elements, the rhythm and lyrics of which are based on the works of Hungarian contemporary poets, such as Dezső Tandori, Ede Tarbay, István Bella, István Csukás and Sándor Weöres. The program also includes reworkings world music pieces, mainly Hungarian and gypsy folk music melodies, which bring exciting colors to the concert program with their complex rhythms or lyrical mood. And Bettika’s own pieces without lyrics give room for free improvisation and playing with musical frames.
Bettika Quintet is regular guest of the major jazz and world music stages and recently won the first prize of the Müpa Hungarian Jazzshowcase with their performance:
‘Víz’ (Water) is the latest composition of ours, written for this concert. Inspired by a hot shower, water has the purifying and easing quality letting go all the tension and giving relief.
‘Gyere ki te gyöngyvirág’ (Come lily of the valley) and ‘Én ki menék’ (I walk out) are both based on traditionals from Moldva placed in an unusual musical scene. Both are love songs filled with passion and lot of improvisation.
‘Elvitték a cigányokat’ – the poem is from József Choli Daróczi written for the memory of the Hungarian gipsy holocaust and about a terrible action of gipsies digging their own grave. It is important to remember and to make clear this may never happen anymore.
‘Porondos víz martján’ (On barren river banks) is a woe song from Moldva. It’s about a “flower’s” hardship of changing oneself inspite of the opinion of the surroundings and the society.
‘Várni kell már rossz’ (Have to wait – too bad) – is an abstract lyric by Dezső Tandori . It’s possible that even a Hungarian would not really know what these words mean. Man can grasp different emotions and meaning every time he/she meets this poem. Maybe it’s the melody of the words and the syllables or the sequence they are in.