„Guaranteed to brighten up your sonic sinuses. Beautifully sonic and expressive!” – Matt Howden aka. Sieben (2017)

Bio:

Vajk Kobza is one of the Hungarian representatives of oriental fusion music, having studied the aesthetics of early music. In Hungary he plays mostly on the little known medieval and oriental instruments. His instruments are the úd (Arabic lute / عود), bağlama, psaltérium, kithara, ektara and the coboz. Although the performer was closely involved in music from an early time, it was after hearing the úd played by the artist Anouar Brahem that he decided to study the Arabic lute.

In the early days, he was introduced to music through the language of folk music and early music. For more than a decade and a half, he attended courses at the Szentendre Summer Early Music Academy, the Early Music Festival in Chiuc (Ro), and later the Lute and Guitar Festival in Győr, and later he was a performer. Hungarian violinist, folk music researcher and composer Csaba Ökrös (1960-2019), Liszt Ferenc Prize winner, encouraged Vajk between 1997 and 1998, resulting in the album Őstánc (The Ancient Dance), which was presented with great success in November 2003 at the Pesti Vigadó. Today, however, his own music is no longer closely linked to any one genre. The improvisation that comes from the creative power of the moment is one of the foundations of his art. In his concerts, he performs Persian, Arabic, Armenian and Turkish melodies, as well as medieval and Renaissance music from the Mediterranean, and songs by contemporary lute composers and his own compositions.

With his large orchestra, the first formation of the Kobza Vajk Group (2008-2013), they opened a new path towards Hungarian oriental and contemporary folk music. The group won the Trafó Special Prize in 2008 and since then has been performing almost every year for a few concerts with Thomas Gundermann from Munich, a master of Moroccan bagpipes and Maori wind instruments. As a permanent member of the Kecskés Ensemble, which performs early music, he was awarded the Hungarian Heritage Prize in 2023. In autumn 2024, the newly formed Kobza Vajk Group performed at the House of Hungarian Music in Budapest with sold out.

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Contact:

Egy Könyv Lanthoz Való Produkció
booking & artist management
management @ kobzavajk.com