TAMÁS CSEH & JÁNOS MÁSIK - "LEVÉL NŐVÉREMNEK" (1977)

Singer and guitar player Tamás Cseh was a young teacher when he met the still unknown writer Géza Bereményi, in 1970. They started writing songs together, but they did not try to record them, since they feared censorship for their social contents.
After some years spent in the Budapest intellectual scene they finally started to gain some credit, and in 1975 they met multi-instrumentalist János Másik, with whom they entered the staff of renowned theather Huszonötödik Színházban.

"Levél nővéremnek" was presented there in 1975 as a contemporary folk opera, performed by Cseh and Másik. Bereményi's lyrics were structured like a letter to an imaginary elder sister, to whom the main character narrates his everyday life in Budapest, his love stories, and his concerns.
In 1977 they were finally able to record it for the state label Hungaroton, without meeting any censorship (even though they probably had toned the songs down a bit, in order to avoid it).

The album was perceived as an artistic revolution in Budapest and basically marked the birth of Hungarian alternative music.
Sadly, it wasn't met with the same enthusiasm in the rest of the nation, that lacking the cultural ferment of the capital perceived the product as too elitist.

Produced by Attila Apró
Lyrics: Géza Bereményi
Music composed by:
János Novák (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 18, 22)
Tamás Cseh (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 11-14, 16-17, 19, 21, 23)
János Másik (tracks 2, 4, 10, 15, 20)

Tamás Cseh - vocals, guitar
János Másik - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, double bass, banjo, organ, piano, harpsichord, percussion

Additional musicians:
János Novák - cello
Tomsits Rudolf - trumpet
László Gőz - trombone

DOWNLOAD (kbps: 320)