Kaφe Aman Budapest
Concert
Interactive
Szervezés:
Kaφe Aman Budapest’s first duo concert by Veronika Varga and Bori Mályi takes audiences into the world of the Anatolian Greek coffeehouses of the early 20th century—the kafe amans.
At the heart of the programme are the early repertoire of rebetiko, namely smirneiko, songs associated with the city of Smyrna, and Anatolian folk music, in which Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Jewish, and other Eastern Mediterranean traditions came together naturally, celebrating music and the diversity of cultures.
Veronika Varga and Bori Mályi, two Hungarian female singer-instrumentalists, evoke this vibrant and diverse musical world, still waiting to be discovered by audiences. At the concert, accompanied by authentic plucked string instruments, they perform defining songs of the urban culture of old Anatolia, which remain widely known and loved throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin.
Kaφe Aman Budapest is not a historically accurate musical reconstruction, but a new and distinctive encounter with Anatolian musical heritage, this time in Budapest—a musical collaboration between two performers whose musical mother tongue is Hungarian folk music, while Greek and Anatolian music have become an important part of their artistic identities. They invite audiences to a shared musical journey through time in an imaginary coffeehouse with an Eastern Mediterranean atmosphere, where, for one evening, the musical world of old Anatolia comes to life.
The so-called kafe aman developed around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as a form of entertainment based on the traditional music of the Eastern Mediterranean, centred on the urban culture of Smyrna (now Izmir), primarily among Anatolia’s Greek community. Kafe amans were important venues for live music and community life, where music was provided mainly by professional musicians and singers, as well as ensembles. These ensembles were often ethnically diverse, and their repertoires were therefore multilingual and drew on a variety of musical traditions.
Audiences could hear instruments such as the santur, the urban (politiki) lyra, the kanun, and the oud, as well as small percussion instruments. Western instruments soon appeared too, such as the guitar, accordion, piano, and violin. A significant musical phenomenon was virtuosic vocal and instrumental improvisation connected to the Ottoman musical heritage and the makam traditions: amanes and taximi. “Aman” also appears in the name kafe aman: it is a universal interjection used in both Turkish and Greek.
The repertoire and style of the kafe amans, specifically associated with Smyrna, later became known as smirneiko, around the mid-1900s, through record production and the record industry. Today, smirneiko is generally understood as one style of early rebetiko, but it does not encompass early rebetiko as a whole, since its sound was also strongly shaped by the musical innovations of Greece’s ports.
After the Smyrna catastrophe of 1922, the arrival in Greece of refugees from Asia Minor—that is, Anatolia—strengthened the connection between Asia Minor’s musical traditions, including the musical world of the kafe aman, and the urban musical development of mainland Greece. Kafe aman continued to flourish with a wide-ranging repertoire that adapted to the cultural and social changes of the decades in question.
Dear Visitor, We kindly inform you that during the event, photographs, audio recordings, and/or video recordings may be taken. By attending the event, you consent to the recording of such materials through your implied conduct.
