My Hungarian Home

Budapest castle by night. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I lived in Budapest for 4 years and loved it!  To say all that I loved about in 500 words requires a poem that I haven’t yet written, so...

I had the best flat ever in Budapest.  It was in the castle district, almost brand new, and considered a luxury flat.  I rented it from a Hungarian woman who was partnered with a British fellow I’d met through the Chamber of Commerce.  Getting it at the price I paid was an act of pure manifestation.

When I first viewed it, it was priced out of my range; then one day I was walking across Margaret Bridge and purely expressed, with all my heart: “I now live in a beautiful, luxurious flat at a price I can afford.”  20 minutes later I bumped into the woman who owned the flat who told me she had dropped the price.  Further negotiation, and she agreed to a price I could afford!

View from Janoshegy Hill Watchtower, Budapest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It had an extra wide, south-west facing terrace accessed with sliding glass doors from both bedroom and living room.  It ran the full length of the flat, and overlooked the Vérmező Park and Buda Hills.  The sunsets were magnificent.

Besides being in a fantastic location, it was incredibly comfortable, with modern central heating, an efficient boiler, and double-glazed windows.  Luxurious by Hungarian standards, it had a fully equipped kitchen with a full size fridge/freezer, modern cooker with gas hob and electric oven, a built-in dishwasher, lovely marble-topped counters and plenty of spacious, cupboards with high quality fittings.  The bathroom was done in rose colored Italian ceramic tiles, nice big bathtub with shower, and built-in automatic washing machine.  The hallway had a built-in wardrobe with mirrored sliding doors. The floors were hardwood, except for kitchen and bath which were large, square stone tiles.

Hungarian Parliament At Night (Budapest) Magyar: Parlament-Budapest (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This was the view I had when walking home at night from Pest to Buda.

Location Location Location

I had a bicycle in Budapest (of course) and so used it to get around most of the time, but if I was going out for the evening, I often left it at home because I loved walking back to the flat, through the castle district, late at night.  The area was alive with Rigo bird song, even in the middle of the night, and other wise, incredibly peaceful.  One of my favorite bits, was walking behind the castle, along the perimeter, the night sky ablaze with stars and the Buda Hills dotted with lights from people’s homes.

I could also walk to one of my favorite hang outs: Jazz nights at Nyitott Műhely.  I heard some of the best concerts of my life there.   Here’s a video of Juhász Gábor and Gyémánt Bálint playing at Nyitott Műhely.  Gábor is on the left.  I wrote a lot of poetry listening to him play!

Here’s the Buda Folk band with Dresch Mihály at Nyitott Műhely. Mihály is seated in the foreground on the right. A sensational saxophonist, he makes his wooden wind instruments himself.

I wrote a lot about Budapest and Hungarian artists while living there, both as a freelance writer with the Budapest Times and  as a blogger on http://www.alisonboston.com.  If you search the Wayback Machine you will find some of those posts.  There are also a few of the Budapest Times articles published on this blog. Find them under categories: Budapest Years and Previously Published Writing.

Related articles

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• Exhilarating Nirvana in Budapest (saifthesquarepeg.wordpress.com)
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Color Out of Space Day 3

Sunday evening was for me the most interesting.  Lots of vocals and more sound poetry.  More space and for the most part top quality performances.

Russian sound poet Valeri Scherstjanoi at Color out of Space 2011.

Valeri opened with the work of other sound poets and finished with an improvisation. His set included a collection of Russian vowel sounds. Great work!

Johannes Bergmark

Johannes Bergmark cooked up a sound feast with toys, cooking utensils, saws, instrument bows and who knows what else. The instrument choices were at times comical and at times made interesting commentary, such as when he used a Barbie doll and a rubber pony – the pony nuzzling the doll, so we got not only the sounds but also the imagined relationship of a girl and her horse.

Female Vocalists Gave Accomplished Performances

Maja Jantar delivered about 20 minutes of vocal improvisation, with a film backdrop of starlings circling Brighton’s burned out west pier. Her vocals spanned breathy growls to delicate twittering, complete with an a capella version of Cry Me a River. She performed with a microphone only, run through the venue soundboard unlike Silvia Kastel who performed with a range of pedals and effects boards, unplugging and plugging her mic to change effects during the performance.  Silvia was accompanied by her partner, Ninni Morgia on electric guitar.  Unfortunately, when Ninni cranked his amp and added the back beat, his guitar overwhelmed Silvia’s vocals.

Camilla Sorenson and Greta Christensen presenting Vinyl Terror and Horror at Color Out of Space, 2011

Camilla and Greta were perhaps the most polished electronic act of the weekend, spinning a horror soundtrack on stacked turntables, assembled and disassembled during their performance. It was amazing!

The evening ended with a frenzied performance from Rat Bastard, Licker (John Schoen), Leslie, Angie and Evie.

Angie warming up the space.

Leslie tuning her radio with Rat Bastard's guitar and John Schoen's vocals.

The women who presented at Color out of Space were all accomplished artists. I can’t say the same thing for all the men. It begs the question: Do women hold themselves back as artists, seeking perfection before they present their work, while men will present purely for the sake of presenting?

There was an age gap. Silvia, at 23 (?) was the youngest presenter. There wasn’t an equally young man. I don’t know who the oldest artist was – certainly not a woman. For sure, all the ‘mature’ presenters were men, so there really was an absence of older female artists. Why? A topic for another discussion. Another day.

I’ll be happy when I see as many women as men presenting their work, and just as many wrinkled women as wrinkled men.

It’s extremely difficult to write about objectively. And to be honest, I’d rather make the art than write or talk about it. Life is way too short.