In the kaleidoscope – and on this occasion the Sound Dome kaleidoscope acts in magical way – his music and the soundspace open up together uniquely to evoke the indescribable Himalayan environment in which the pilgrim-scientist Sandor Csoma lived out his days among the mountains.

Language: Hungarian

Both the visual and musical worlds of the Csoma Kaleidoscope reach back to Tibor Szemző's Arboretum Suite (2002) and his film The Guest of Life (2006). In the kaleidoscope – and on this occasion the Sound Dome kaleidoscope acts in magical way – his music and the soundspace open up together uniquely to evoke the indescribable Himalayan environment in which the pilgrim-scientist Sandor Csoma lived out his days among the mountains.

"To the scholars of his generation, Csoma was an obscure figure from Transylvania, abandoned and stateless among the Himalayan mountains, but from their peaks he cast the shadow of a giant across Central Asia."
W.W. Hunter

In this work, we hear the voice of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma delivering his personal account, originally written for a certain Captain Kennedy. In it he relates his travels and his aims after his detention by the British authorities on suspicion of espionage. Doctor Gerard, the British doctor who visits Csoma in his cell, also contributes as fragments of the Hindu world filter in through the kaleidoscope of Francis Bain's enchanting narrative. The source of the texts is the Csoma biography Life and Works of Alexander Csoma de Körös / Kőrösi Csoma Sándor dolgozatai (1885) by Tivadar Duka. The intimate, personal narration, spoken from an eyewitness perspective, is embedded in and accompanied by instrumental and vocal music that is orchestrated for the unique tonal qualities of the kaleidoscope, meanwhile the images multiply in a kaleidoscopic fashion fully in harmony with the music. During the nineteen movements of the performance, the approach to Csoma is assembled and we the audience come closer to understanding what this ’adventure' must have been like from the inside, and to experiencing the incomparable experience of spaciousness.

staff
Tibor Szemző – director, music and text
Dániel Németh – visuals
Ákos Lovász – sound design
Vazul Mandli – curator

the film crew
István “Taikyo” Szaladják – photography
Gábor Roskó – paintings
Kása Papp, Bálint Kolozsváry - animations
Teri Losonci – editor
György Durst, Attila Bognár – producers

the musicians
The Gordian Knot Creative Music Lab
Zsombor Dudás – drums and percussions
Ildikó Fodor – soprano voice
Tamás Geröly – gardon
László Gőz – basstrumpet, sea shells, tillinkó
István Grencsó – tenor saxophone
Ernst Hirschberg – keyboards
Mihály Huszár – electric double bass, bass guitar
Szabolcs Keresteš – piano, celesta
László Kéringer – tenor voice
Zsigmond Lázár – violin
Éva Posvanecz – viola
Alois Samson – wind controller
Tibor Szemző – narrator, bassflute, 8mm-phone
T. Bali – electric guitar

Voces Aequales Ensemble
Zoltán Gavodi – countertenor voice
Csaba Gyulai – tenor voice
Zoltán Mizsei – baritone voice

Tomasini String Quartet
László Paulik, Erzsébet Rácz – violin
Éva Posvanecz – viola
Balázs Máté – cello

Lobsang Dhamchoe – chanting voice
Lama Lobsang Gedun – recitation

recording and sound design
Alois Samson – Fodderbasis
István Horváth – HEAR Studio
László Hortobágyi – Tharnox Studio
Zoltán Regenye Regi – HSB Mobile Studio (India)
Károly Liszkai – Studio RH
Tamás Zányi – Saint Audio
Károly Göllner – CPT Mures Mobile Studio (Romania)
Viktor Szabó – Budapest Music Center

literary sources
Theodore Duka: Life and Works of Alexander Csoma de Körös Francis William Bain: An Incarnation of the Snow, The Substance of a Dream

consultants
Eszter Molnár, Caroline Bodóczky, Gábor Ferenczi

© & ℗ Tibor Szemző 2002-2023 all right seserved

The original English and Hungarian versions of the CSOMA KALEIDOSCOPE are both available.