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Interview with Emil Biliarszki of Korai Oröm
17.02.2001
There are a handful of Hungarian bands today who have become legends in the eyes of the "West" for deserved reasons. Korai Oröm, Trottel, Masfel, Kampec Dolores and Kiss Erszi Music are the bands, all of them flagbearing DIY second-into-third-wave-underground artists. These guys put out music on their own and also sign projects with other labels. Of late, Korai Oröm have been perhaps the touringest band out of Hungary, and are developing a broad fanbase not only in Europe but also really far from Hungary in Brazil, China, and Japan.
It is hard to describe in few words the music and the activities of Hungary's Korai Oröm; electronic and world-music experts, Korai Oröm have woven a detailed musical fabric brewed from the changing personal tastes of the band members. This is heavy music, steeped in brooding and what must be philosophical mysticism- if it's not, then it's something like it. This is also very earthy music, throughcomposed and natural, experimental and moody as hell, and drawing often on influences of ethnic sounds over any commercial or "highbrow-avant" tendencies. If you've got to be glib about it, you'll call them ethno-psychedelic masters.
Korai Oröm book their own tours and go at them with fervently, which only credits the band's international influences and experience. Over the years, their sounds have veered at times more towards "punk" then towards "world music" and then at other times have done electro. They've played with members of Transglobal Underground. You can categorize til your face grows blue, but you can really hear the different sounds on their numerous albums (see Tamizdat RPM.) Korai Oröm also release their own recordings, which requires tenacity and extreme financial planning, saving up money to make the CDs and then getting them out to fans.
A special attribute to the successful sounds and prospects of Korai Oröm is the band's keyboardist Emil Biliarszki. A real fan of music and a totally dedicated supporter of global independent cultures, Emil works daily for the excellent Hungarian world music label Fono and nightly to spread contacts and information about music from Eastern and Central European regions to hungry ears everywhere. The best way to give examples is to make examples, and that's exactly what Emil and Korai Orom do while touring and networking with loads of musicians everywhere. This is a short interview since the poor guys just got back from their Slovenian tour, but hopefully we'll catch them for even more in the near future. Read on, comrades...
T: First of all, what does Korai Oröm mean?
EB: Nothing. Something like "Early joy" - when you enjoy something which doesn't happen at the end. But it is stupid name, the only good thing about it is that people can't find a meaning and identify us with the name :-)
T: How many tours has Korai Oröm done and where?
EB: Korai Oröm went abroad for the first time in 1993 - to Berlin. In that time the band played in small squats and was presented as "punk aus Ungarn" :-) Since 1993 we go abroad every year, widening the circle. The last tour was the biggest -Germany, Denmark, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Austria- and most successfull. We have played also in Italy and all East-European countries, including Russia.
T: What music do you guys listen to these days?
EB: We are 12 different people listening to different kinds of music, from progressive dance (there are DJ's in the band) to mystical tribal stuff (Miklos Paizs, the throat-singer). Nobody listens to one "style". I think you can feel this in our music.
T: From your CDs, it is interesting because it seems like Korai Oröm's sound is evolving and changing all of the time. How do you guys think the changes have happened, and what does your most current touring set sound like?
EB: Actually the things happen by themselves, we don't influence and don't plan the music. The band is a community of people held together by the same spirit, not a company of musicians wanting to play a kind of music. During the rehearsals and the concerts this spirit appears and makes us play something. If we don't die spiritually we could be playing in Buena Vista's age too - of course something different than today. The touring set contains pieces from different times. The concerts are much more powerfull and improvisational than the studio recordings.
T: Where would you say that KO fits in with other music scenes in Hungary right now? Would you say you are more known abroad or in Hungary?
EB: Masfel is the other Hungarian band, with which we started and feel close. Due to the kind of our music - no words, no concrete roots - the reaction of the audience is the same in Hungary and abroad. It depends only on the habits of the country we are playing in. Southern and East-European audiences dances more than the German audience, for example. We are more popular in Hungary (concert band No:1 of the year 1998 and 1999 in "Magyar Narancs" magazine) just because we play more often here. But there are fans in Mexico, Chile, even New Zealand.
T: Would you say that the music scene in Hungary is stronger now than ten years ago? in what way yes, or in what way no? What do you think has changed most in the last 10 years in the music scenes?
EB: I don't know if it is stronger or not, it is more diversified. There are no "hero" bands like in the 80-es, but there are more more interesting bands than 10 years ago. Fortunately you don't have to look alternative to being accepted as an authentic band today, but in the same time there are less authentic bands.
T: What are your plans for new recordings this year?
EB: Our last album was recorded in a 2-day live session. The next one should be more worked out. It would be nice if we can record it this autumn, but at the moment we don't have rehearsal place again and I don't know if we will find money for the studio (we release our music by ourselves.)
T: What are your next tour plans this year?
EB: There are 2 possibilities. We could all leave our work and the country and go to Ireland ot work and play music (we wanted to do this since our Irish concert). Or we could stay in Hungary, in which case there would be no more tours this year, only a few concerts abroad - we can't take more holidays from our working places. The important fests we appear on this summer are Rock Otocec in Slovenia (with Asian Dub Foundation and others) on July 7th, at Burg Herzberg in Germany (with Ozric Tentacles, Porcupine Tree etc.) on July 20th, and at Pepsi Sziget in Hungary (the biggest fest in East Europe) on August 8th. 
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