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| Bea Palya |
The quintet performed as part of the Voices Across the World series, organised by Fiona Talkington, BBC3 radio world music programme editor, who also introduced the ensemble. The concert was supported by the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London.
The Bea Palya Quintet includes the vocalist Bea Palya, Miklós Lukács on dulcimer, Balázs Szokolay Dongó on wind instruments, Csaba Novák on double bass and András Dés on percussion.
After the concert, media and pop culture university lecturer Peter Mills interviewed Palya, who named Transylvanian Gypsy music, Bulgarian folk music, jazz and Middle Eastern music, as well as literature, as her main influences.
On Sunday afternoon, Palya and her band performed again, this time improvising a soundtrack for a screening of the 1956 Hungarian film Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta), directed by Zoltán Fábri and starring Mari Törőcsik and Imre Sós.
Palya was named an Ambassador of Hungarian Culture in 2008. She and her ensemble have found a devoted following in Germany and France.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: Máté Nándorfi
