Sarolta Zalatnay – Hadd Mondjam El
Sarolta Zalatnay – Egyszer
Sarolta Zalatnay – Ne Hidd El
I can’t remember exactly how I discovered this album, but at some point I saw that cover and even without hearing the music I wanted to have it just because of how beautiful it is. Turns out the music is quite good, having been dug up previously by Finders Keepers (probably the original source of my discovery) and reissued back in 2007. Sarolta Zalatnay was a Budapest born singer, with a gruff, strong voice, like a Hungarian Janis Joplin. For this album, and a few others collected on the Finders Keeper comp., she’s backed up by the band Skorpió. It only takes one listen to recognize that the real star of the show is the drummer, Fekete Gábor. These three tracks represent some of the cleanest and meanest drum breaks you’ll ever hear, all courtesy of Gábor. “Hadd Mondjam El” serves as the primary break for that Beta Club 45 I was raving about last Summer.
For whatever reason I haven’t really dipped my toes too much into Hungarian rock on this period, though it seems clear that the scene was at least as strong as the Turkish scene. Tracking this one down certainly serves as a major incentive to dig deeper in the near future.
Cheers,
Michael