The Sziget Festival is a living organism. Its heart pulses day and night, even in the early morning. Through its “vessels” move hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and nationalities, and those who follow the ideologies of absolutely different, at times polarized, subcultures. But this was no obstacle for all these people to freely communicate during the festival, shake hands, share beers, and discuss lofty subjects.
What made this atmosphere so friendly? That’s anyone’s guess, but one can safely say that the feeling of universal unity, independent of any kind of “buts,” has become an indispensable condition of life for the thousands of people who have been coming to Obudai Island year after year.
This year Budapest hosted the 15th Sziget Festival. According to those who witnessed its inception and progress, everything was different in previous years, when the atmosphere was more enclosed and underground, with far fewer people attending, and prices three times lower than today. But it should be kept in mind that Sziget is not a festival that rests on the shoulders of a single person (like Oleh Skrypka’s festival in Ukraine) plus a couple of sponsors. Sziget is a large corporation that has a commercial rather than ideological basis, and the goal of making money.
TO EACH HIS OWN STAR
This festival has not always been this big. Veteran members say that five or seven years ago you could buy a ticket for 40 dollars, and prices on the island were even lower than in Budapest. Now the admission fee is 120 euros, or 150 euros if you want to have a camping site. Food and beverages are significantly more expensive than in Budapest. This is how the festival has been gaining momentum from year to year, and the organizers are able to invite top stars representing every musical style and genre. True, compared to 2006, this year’s program seemed weaker, especially considering that it was the 15th Sziget.
Among the festival’s major attractions were The Chemical Brothers, Faithless, Pink, Manu Chao, Madness, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, The Killers, and Cesaria Evora. There is a star for everyone, and this is one of the most essential features of the festival. There were no obvious headliners: none of the concerts attracted the biggest audience, except perhaps for the Swedish electronic group Faithless (who performed recently in Kyiv without much fanfare). Thousands of people were getting high on the Swedes’ electronic rhythms, while others enjoyed the jazz scene lying on the grass. Some people just sat in the bar talking with their newfound acquaintances.
Some drank too much of the cheap local wine and became mesmerized by the “Jewish Disco,” the craziest part of the festival. Against the background of the total surround-sound of quality live music playing from every nook, here you could hear plastic synthesized “Jewish Disco” played by three Jewish musicians whose long side curls made everyone walking by stop and gawk at the trio. Some fans were even more enchanted by this show than by Pink and The Chemical Brothers put together.
TEST OF NATIONAL STEREOTYPES
Many attend the Sziget festival simply because it’s a freak- out, where the music is nothing more than a pleasant background. After all, with 350,000 people milling about there are plenty of music lovers to rub shoulders with. During the seven-day festival we got to talk to folks from Lithuania, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, US, UK, Australia, Austria, Russia, and Italy. Among other things, Sziget proved to be a wonderful test of national stereotypes. To be more exact, it was graphic proof that they should be discarded because, as it turns out, the Finns are not so calm and balanced, not all Russians are great- power chauvinists, and the French, as we learned, are the world’s most-singing nation — not Ukrainians, who considered singing at this festival to be superfluous.
Meeting people is the easiest thing to do at the Sziget Festival. It’s much more complicated for those who come here for the music. In order to hear all the music that you want you have to be in different places at the same time. You’re lucky if you can see your favorite group coming on stage right after another of your favorite groups. You can race from the Hammer World Stage (heavy metal) to the Main Stage because it’s a short distance.
But the worst thing is when groups perform on different stages at the same time. That’s what happened with the Russian group Leningrad and Ukraine’s Esthetic Education. The “Esthetics” are beloved in Ukraine and well known in Russia and abroad because of their frequent club performances. But the majority of the potential listeners of our group — Ukrainians and Russians — opted for Leningrad, as did thousands of Europeans, who came to see the legendary ska group from Russia. Oscar, a not so young punk fan from London with a hoarse voice and sporting a huge Mohawk hairstyle, knows all of Leningrad’s lyrics by heart.
UKRAINIANS AT THE FESTIVAL
We have every reason to be proud of Esthetic Education. Their music is topical and very European. In fact, their audience consisted mostly of young Europeans. Yurii Khustochka, who plays bass guitar, says he was pleased with the way his group was received by the public: “For me, the main thing was being able to communicate with people. In my makeup room I could meet with any musicians I found interesting.”
Another Ukrainian group, Tanok na Maidani Kongo [Dance on Congo Square; Ukr. abbr.: TNMK] gathered an almost exclusively Ukrainian audience. Fagot, the lead singer, said jokingly from the stage that he would give 20 euros to every person he didn’t recognize.
They were not the only Ukrainian musicians taking part in the festival. There was also Gogol Bordello, the American trailblazer of the Gypsy-punk trend, and their singer and ideologue Eugene Hutz. They have recorded a number of CDs, but their peak came last year when they performed with Madonna during the worldwide environmental show Live Earth. Hutz also tried his hand as a film director for the Madonna show.
This was Gogol Bordello’s second appearance at the Sziget Festival, this time on the main stage. Their music can be summed up as an electrical shock, something that pierces your body and makes it move to the rhythm, despite the +45°C August heat. What was happening on the podium could best be described as total chaos, with people drinking wine, playing guitars and violins, beating drums, and performing Gypsy dances. The key role was played by the Ukrainian Carpathian devil Eugene Hutz.
Karolis from Lithuania has been a long-time fan of Gogol Bordello. After their performance he said that he was blown away by the singer: “He simply drives everyone who sees him on stage crazy. We don’t have anyone like him in Lithuania, or Europe, for that matter. They are simply not being born. Such a person could only have come from Ukraine. Frankly, I envy you.” Two thousand Ukrainians attended the Sziget Festival, arriving from Kyiv, Uzhhorod, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk. Among them were Ukrainian veterans of this festival, those who come here year after year. Bandy, from Uzhhorod, was one of the first Ukrainians to attend the Sziget Festival and remembers the first year of the festival, did not attend it this year. He says it has become too pop and no longer has the same spirit. In his opinion, the festival has changed because it started being promoted on an international scale, and the crowds kept increasing. The festival is becoming overly commercialized, he says.
Moscow native Rustam disagrees. This was his first time at the festival, and he doesn’t see anything wrong with the fact that the number of visitors is growing: “After all, you must agree that the musicians’ level also rises with each passing year.”
Sziget is called a musical-cultural festival with good reason. Of course, this means top quality music and other excellent cultural shows. The theater stage attracted audiences every evening. The wacky theater was a large structure, something along the lines of an amusement park, with actors suspended in midair.
There is nothing strange or unusual about the fact that Sziget people are magic people. After all, Sziget is a festival, and festivals always draw magically friendly, happy, and smiling people. But the most important difference is that at the Budapest festival, like nowhere else, gives people the change to feel cosmopolitan, grab the whole world in your fist, weigh it, and see what it’s like or what it will be like tomorrow. This is the incomparable Sziget.
There is one “but.” Without some knowledge of English there is little chance you will be able to slip into the skin of a global cosmopolitan. You must also have a sense of inner freedom. If this state is normal to young foreigners, it’s because they were born like that, whereas we still have to make an effort to feel this freedom. In the company of young foreigners we sense we have a long way to go before we feel truly relaxed. Aware of this, three Ukrainians returned from Obudai Island bearing ants (scientists claim they transmit information) and let them loose on Trukhaniv Island. Maybe this island in Kyiv will soon become an inalienable component of the cosmopolitan lifestyle.
From conversations at the Sziget Festival. “What do you know about Ukraine?”
“Oh, Ukraine! Klichko, Verka Serdiuchka, politics!”
At least it’s a good thing that no one mentioned Chornobyl.
