Laszlo Foldes from the Hungarian Hobo Blues Band talks on Tangra Mega Rock about Communism, Freedom, Rock'n'Roll.

HBB is the band from the cult Hungarian movie „Kopaszkutya”. The bald dog (1981). A simple story about a regular urban band in the suburbs of big city in Eastern Europe. But still a film with great impact over generations of Bulgarians...because this movie used to give them a breath of freedom and rockenroll.

V.V. - Hello Mr. Foldes, how are you?

Laszlo – I'm pretty fine, thank you. I was watching a film last night. I have a role in it. So I am a bit tired though.

V.V. – Which was that film?

Laszlo – The name of the film is „Liberte ‘56” and it talks about the revolution.

V.V. – Interesting fact is that this film is actually coming out now – 50 years after the Hungarian revolution against the communism and your concert here in Sofia is precisely for that 50th anniversary. At that time you were only 9 years old, what do you remember from then?

Laszlo – Actually, I was 11. I was living on the top of a mountain and then the students came with different brochures and they asked us to deliver them to the houses in the neighborhood – they were about the revolution, so we delivered them.

On the top of the hill there was an artillery fortification from were Budapest was kept safe by air. There were Hungarian soldiers – they left the trenches, the guns, the cannons, so we (the kids) gathered everything for ourselves with breathers from the top of the hill and we were playing soldiers with guns in real trenches with real breathers.

And when the revolution was over some Hungarian policeman came and they checked all the houses where we lived, they took all the guns and some of my friends were taken into prisons. However, because they were still young they were released the next day.

The first days in December, when the revolution was over, my father send me to a camp in East Germany – a pioneer holiday camp that was empty in the winter and I stayed there until May of 1957, because my father was scared that I was going to emigrate to the west.

V.V. – And you were just 11?

Laszlo – Yes. After that, I returned to Hungary.

V.V. – 50 years later, we see that people are on the streets again in Budapest. What is your commentary on the events happening there for the last few weeks?

Laszlo –Over the last 16 years, there were so many political lies told, that people are fed up, with independently of their political views and sympathies.

There is no such political figure formed that people can trust. That is very sad for everyone, including those that are not going out on the streets to protest. That is my opinion.

V.V. – All those years of the existence of Hobo Blues Band and we had the pleasure to hear about that band and to start following what is happening with you thanks to the movie „Kopaszkutya". In all those years what part of your motivation to create music and to be a social phenomena – namely to be like a reaction to the authority then and respectively now in Hungary?

Laszlo – The blues songs we are doing are talking about the conditions we are living in. With the years they piled up and the image that we were outcasts was created in people's mind, because under the communist regime we were so called contra-culture band.

And when the communism ended in 1989 and that commercial culture came from the West Europe with all that stupid music aired on the radio and the television although not in political sense, but cultural we were still anti cultural ban.

I didn’t participated in many TV shows and that had a huge negative impact on my positions in the 90s but people had enough with that media situation in Hungary, they understood my reasons and positions and they stood behind me.

V.V. – Ha, down here in Bulgaria the radio and TV is pretty much the same. It seems that overall programs are on that level – trying to get you to win a mixer or a trip to Cyprus for two. But let's go back to your band.

Actually the last and the first gig for Hobo Blues Band here was 3 years ago and now you are coming to play for the second time. With what kind of emotions are you coming to play in Bulgaria and do you have any friends here after the last time?

Laszlo – Yes, we played there 3 years ago. We do have a friend – his name is Vasko the Patch, he also plays with us in Hungary, he is an excellent composer, singer and musician; he also plays harmonica.

V.V. – In a previous interview with you, that we made for a Bulgarian TV station 5 years ago on the Sziget festival you stated that you don’t really want to talk about the movie „Kopaszkutya”, because it was made 25 years ago. We know that you are also writing books and we have in our hands an original copy of book written by you in Hungarian about The Rolling Stones.

You do so many different stuff – you write books, take part in movies and so on, but my questions is what is happening to all those different bands from your generations like Omega and Locomotive GT? Do you see them; do you have friends within that scene?

Laszlo - Omega are playing at the moment in Germany and Locomotive are at rest at the moment, but their pianist released a CD in which I am participating as well.

V.V. – Ok, your concert here is for the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, but today, 50 years later or 17 years after 1989 is there still communism in Hungary?

Laszlo – The communism that was existing in those years is history now, but there are many people that believe in the communism being a good form of government policy and they cannot see that it is not.

V.V. – To make my question a bit clearer – are the people with all the money now in Hungary ex-cops, police officers and so on?

Laszlo – Because there was no revolution, then there were no victims and no one to blame, so a big part of the politicians got the property that once belonged to the communist party.

V.V. – In Bulgarian we call the communists “Red trash”, how do you call them in Hungarian..something particular to describe those kinds of people?

Laszlo – There are plenty – in Hungary we call those people “Rats”.

But, can I just say something?

V.V. – Yes, of course.

Laszlo – I would like to say that support band for our concert in Sofia is Vasko the Patch and that concert would be a ceremonial concert, a memory of the revolution in 1956 and we are also going to play some of the best songs by Hobo Blues Band included in „Kopaszkutya”.

V.V. – Thank you very much for being with us and we will see you in Sofia.

Laszlo – Thank you. We are expecting all the people with love and that would be a tremendous experience for me and an honor, because I will be able to play on the occasion of the revolution in a different country that was also suffering from the communism like we were.

rights: Tangra Mega Rock