Harcsa is returning to Japan with material from her third album, Red Baggage, released in April. The Veronika Harcsa Jazz Quartet will play a second show in Tokyo on September 24.
Harcsa said that soon after their Japanese release, both of her previous albums, She Speak Low and You Don't Know it's You, rose to the top of the charts at the local Tower Records stores. Red Baggage is also selling well, she added.
"All three albums present a slightly different world, so I am very glad about their success," Harcsa said.
The quartet previously played in Japan in May 2008.
Harcsa said Japanese audiences are very open to jazz, including Hungarian jazz. Other Hungarian musicians, such as Nikoletta Szőke and Zsolt Kaltenecker, have also made Japanese fans of Hungarian jazz.
"I never thought that I would become successful in Japan, of all countries, yet it was they who contacted me in the first place and asked me to meet them, first a small distributor and later the publisher," Harcsa said. "This shows that they are not only open but are actively working to establish contact with European jazz musicians. Ever since, I have not found out how they discovered me, perhaps they listened to the songs on my internet site," she added.
Harcsa will next play in Hungary at the Palace of Arts in Budapest on October 20.
"I've made a score together with the composer Albert Márkos to Áron Mátyássy's film Lost Times, which not only received the main award at this year's Hungarian film festival but also received a prize for the best film score," Harcsa said. We expanded this music for the October concert and the filmmakers have created a new edit of their film, so it will be a special screening at the concert, she added.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
