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Top 5 Open Air Pools

Everybody deserves a little break now and then. And what's a better place to spend some free time than at an open air pool? As the little girl confesses in this cult classic song, one has a good time at the strand (the Hungarian term for beach and classic outdoor swimming pool usually surrounded by a leisure park), because of the funny things one gets to see, and there's soda pop too. Are you ready to splash into the water? Click 'read more' to continue.

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This and That
Music all around
Offline Party Time
A Festive Season

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Marching in May (May 1)

In this episode of Budacast film producer Gabor Zsigmond Papp, who specializes in nostalgia documentaries, takes us back to communist Hungary to explain what happened on the workers' holiday, 'May Day'. We speak with Gabor at Heroes' Square, the scene of many festivities on May 1.

LISTEN TO:
Marching in May (May Day)

Links to Gábor's films:
From 'Budapest Retro'
'Balaton Retro'

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Nina Néni

A sleek, bald-headed man slips out onto the overhead scaffolding of an outdoor soundstage. He begins his moody wail on a tenor saxophone as he strolls about and around the green beams. And a tiny woman in a swaying silk robe which covers her head eventually creeps out to join him. And then she is under his control, swishing and thrashing about in reaction to his blurting sax.

That woman is Nina Umniakov, a modern dancer who lives in Budapest.

LISTEN TO:
Rowdy Rooftop (Plus Nina)

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Speaking in Tongues

Whether you're planning a visit to Hungary or live here full time, you probably know or have heard of the challenges of speaking the Hungarian language. Some even say it's more difficult than speaking Chinese.

To give you a hand, we here at Budacast offer you the first episode of the Language Learner. Our language expert is Katalin Sándor who has been a professional translator and interpreter for almost two decades.

Kati's top 5 words/expressions for surviving on your trip to Hungary:
1. Hi! = Szia!
2. station = állomás
3. chicken = csirke
4. beer = sör
5. there is/there isn't = van/nincs

LISTEN TO:
Speaking in Tongues

More info:
Hungarian courses at universities in Hungary
"Hungarian Lesson" tools for learning

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Easter Bunny Orientation

He's back. Budacast with the help of Népszabadság presents our regular interview with journalist Oszkár Füzes called the Outsider.

In our second episode, Oszkár gives us the scoop on eggs and politicians, the political orientation of the Easter Bunny in Hungary, and how a nostalgic photograph conjures up images of Budapest's first privately-owned lángos stand.

LISTEN TO THIS ARCHIVAL EDITION OF BUDACAST:
Easter Bunny Orientation

- Népszabi link to 1964 "Citadella memory"
- Traffic on Váci utca circa 1964

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Budapest Beer Buddies

In this episode of Budacast, Uncle Drew drags his programmer roommates out of the confines of the lákás to several Budapest nightclubs.

Enjoy a less than politically correct night out in the Hungarian capital as we crack bad jokes and ogle the ladies in clubs called Instant, Kuplung and Szimpla kert.

LISTEN TO: Budapest Beer Buddies (pub crawl)

Note: The guys in the photo above are not the guys who are in the podcast. Those images miraculous disappeared from my hard-drive.

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Discovering the Dike (Kopaszi gát)

In this episode of Budacast we speek to Bence Turányi, an architect who designed the mod buildings on Budapest's 'Kopaszi gát', a dike in the middle of the Danube river, not far from the Lágymányosi bridge.

In the past, he says, it was an abandoned industrial site that was quite polluted. He and his father took part in an architectural competition to re-vamp the dike. Standing among the new buildings on the short peninsula one can see a variety of historic industrial buildings on the Buda side of the river. Just before the refurbishment project, the Kopaszi Gat was the site of Budapest's wonderful underground nightclub 'West Balkan'.

Today the property is a lengthy, tree-lined open space with numerous contemporary lightweight structures to greet you as you make your way towards the far end. These buildings, says Turányi, were inspired by buildings built near Hungary's lake Balaton in the late 1960s. He adds that the buildings,which make extensive use of wooden panels and have lots of shaded open space on their exteriors, were not built for an eternity but just for a temporary period.

Bence also offers us his assessment of architecture in Budapest and even talks about the lack of will to preserve some of the capital's architectural heritage.

LISTEN TO:
Discovering the Dike (Kopaszi gat)

More info:
Turányi & Turányi

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Getting into the Groove

While being a DJ is arguably glamorous, it also involves a lot of heavy lifting: sorting through hundreds of vinyl LPs to carefully select a play list, stuffing the 'bakelit' into huge reinforced carrying cases and lugging those, maybe even a turntable or two, to a nightclub on the other side of town.

For anyone familiar with the local music scene, this is a typical ritual for hundreds of DJs here in Budapest. Just a few years ago Drew Leifheit noticed how rapidly DJ culture was overtaking live music in Hungary, so he decided to investigate.

Get into the Budapest groove,
LISTEN TO:
Feeling Groovy

More info:
DJ Palotai's website
Crate Soul Brothers
Mango
Besh O Drom

Photo of DJ Palotai by Hadley Kincade

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Bob's Backstory

When I met ethno-musicologist Bob Cohen he not only told of how he had unearthed nearly lost melodies in far away lands, he also let me listen to them.

Bob's been resuscitating the musical traditions of the Carpathian Basin for years now. Among other projects, he and his band Di Naye Kapelye play many of the dusty old tunes he has happened upon in his travels.

His band has just released its latest recording called "Traktorist" - it's a great way to chill out after a hard day tilling out in the fields.

LISTEN TO: Bob's Backstory