"That was the most important that we tried. There was no a target, neither in terms of visitor numbers or revenue. We planned a self-organised celebration of song and that is what we got," said Gábor Presser, a giant on the Hungarian song-writing scene for decades who dreamed up the Day of Hungarian Song. "Instead of top-down direction, we tried to coordinate and help everybody in the organisation [of the event]."
The Day of Hungarian Song exposed a vast amount of musical material to the biggest audience possible, and that will ensure that the event is more than just 24 hours of song, said Presser.
 |
| Gábor Presser |
Two-thirds of the events for the day were in the capital, at venues such as the Gödör Club, the Zöld Pardon, the Feneketlen Lake and the Palace of Arts.
"Because no tickets were required at most of the venues, it's difficult to estimate visitor numbers," said Edit Szabó, managing director of Day of Hungarian Song Nonprofit. "The events in Budapest were packed, but participation was lower in cities outside of the capital."
The most popular venues in Budapest were the Gödör Club and the Zöld Pardon. At the Gödör, 42 alternative music artists performed for a combined 14 hours. The club drew so many people, it had to close its doors three times after reaching capacity. The Rock Stage at the Zöld Pardon attracted huge crowds from Sunday afternoon to late in the evening.
Just a small number of the 1,000-1,500 people that came to the Jazz Dom tent at the Palace of Arts could actually make their way into the venue, but everybody could still hear the music on the art centre's steps and in the park around it.
Some 2,000 people came for the children's song programme at the Feneketlen Lake. Just a short distance from the lake, at least 5,000 people enjoyed a street ball. About 1,500 people heard performances at the Klubrádio stage in Óbuda, and the pop lineup at the Hungexpo events centre was also popular.
There was a standing-room-only crowd at the Comedy Theatre for a concert that featured László Dés, János Másik, Ferenc Darvas and Presser. The classical song concert at the Music Academy also drew a capacity crowd.
The most popular venue outside of Budapest was in Győr, where 5,000-6,000 people heard concerts. Fewer than expected people came to events in Miskolc, Kecskemét, Várpalota and Komárom, but concerts in Zalaegerszeg and Békéscsaba were well attended, said Szabó.
 |
The organisers of the events and some of the performers will meet in November to review the day - which was organised outside of the framework of the Sziget music festival this year - and decide what was good and what was bad, then apply the experience to preparations for the event next year, Presser said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
