The Hungarian time travellers - Nox

Nox are one of Hungary’s most successful groups, and one of the brightest promises of the pop-folk genre – not to mention an extremely special musical venture that has turned the fusion of dance and music into a unique art. Even though their songs are truly excellent and can more than stand on their own without the need of props and distractions, the truly wonderful thing about Nox is that they create an entire spectacle around every single piece of music they make, the purpose of which is to illustrate and expand the message that each song conveys. Thus, everything they do becomes a spectacle in which the human body reflects and deepens the meaning of every spoken word through the exaggerate theatricality of dance. A musical mime show would be the best way to describe what Nox do, even though this definition isn’t complete enough; in fact, it’s quite inaccurate. Let’s just say that their very particular form of art comes from the desire of articulating two very different, rapidly evolving messages into a single body of movement.

The group only has two permanent members: dancer/choreographer Tamás Nagy and singer-cum-occasional dancer Szilvia Peter Szabó. The rest of the musicians and dancers change with relative frequency. However, Nox has a third member of sorts: producer László Rácz, who had the original idea for the group, and not only brought Tamás and Szilvia together, but created the very peculiar fusion of techno, rock and folk that has made them so successful. But let me give you a bit of background information. Tamás is a graduate from Magyar Táncmũvészeti Föiskolára, apparently the most prestigious performing arts school in Hungary. After he graduated, he went on to become a member of the renowned Duna Artist Group of the Ministry of Home Affairs – that is, until Rácz convinced him to leave his job in 2003, to become part of his project.



Szilvia’s case is different. A musical enthusiast, she has had an unconventional upbringing. As far as I’ve been able to understand, she went to a Montessori style school, where she avidly participated in everything that had to do with physical expression, and played handball (her favourite sport). She didn’t seriously contemplate the possibility of becoming a professional singer until she the age of sixteen, when she became the lead vocalist of a band in her native town, the millenary city of Szeged. After completing her baccalaureate studies, she went to Budapest to try her luck, where she was soon after selected to become the vocal part of Nox due to the fact that her voice was ‘pure’, in the sense that it hasn’t been tamed by any formal training. A few months after the group achieved massive success, rumours appeared that Szilvia and Laci Rácz had a relationship, something that they rapidly confirmed… And that’s about the most dramatic thing that can be said about it all! :-S

As you can see, the fact that the two faces of Nox come from such different environments only contributes to make their work more exciting, because it preserves the spontaneity required to inject enthusiasm into their music while maintaining a sense of discipline and calculated showmanship that makes their presentation visually striking. In short, Nox is an intelligently designed product that has commercial appeal and imagination in equal measure. This, however, didn’t help them much when they participated in Eurovision with the superb song Forogj, Világ!, which only achieved a miserable 12th position in the final.



And here’s where we finally reach today’s selection, which I’m sure you will indubitably like. Before anything, though, I have to remind you to buy Nox’s albums! As usual, you can find them in eBay . By the way, as usual, I can’t provide translation for the songs’ titles. Sorry! Any assistance will be appreciated, as always!

Csák Jatssz!

This is one of the best songs from Nox’s fourth album Ragyogás. Driven by a fast, jumping beat and beautiful traditional violin instrumentation, it springs out from a cloud of hushed noises into a catchy, delicate pop song that preserves its energy thanks to aggressive electric guitar touches and an anthemic chorus, the power of which is magnified by the contrast between Szilvia’s very peculiar voice with deep, heavy male voice harmonies. It particularly like the addition of flutes in the middle of the song. Video.

Ébredj Fel!

This aggressive dance track constantly bounces back and forth between styles – it’s almost like a homage to the táncház roots revival movement, set to a stomping dance beat. Running through a maze of instruments that keep popping up again and again once you through that the song had no use for them, the song explodes into a choral type-chorus that’s more reminiscent of an old town ball orchestra than a proper pop song. This lends an enormous freshness to the song, which is simply delightful and oozes cheer! The video is quite interesting, too. It comes from Nox’s second (and most successful album so far) 2003’s Bũvölet.

Túl A Varázshegyen

This extremely sweet and melancholic ballad only has very light touches of folk, which is positive – the light flute instrumentation that appears from time to time, only heightens the beauty of the song as a whole. Conversely, everything is concentrated on creating an ominous atmosphere thanks to the contrast between the heavy, airless rock instrumentation and the light, soft melody, which is sublimated into an ethereal chorus that seems to have difficulty dispersing through the air; so heavy with sadness it seems to be. It’s simply lovely – if you really can’t feel sad with this song, you really, really need to check whether you have a heart at all. Video.

Szállhatsz A Dallal

This is the opening track for Nox’s latest album Örömvölgy (2006). I don’t particularly like it, as it focuses far too much on rock and leaves the electronic overflows that made the group so successful in the past for only a couple of tracks, which aren’t that memorable, really. However, this track is quite interesting, as it seems to have a very strong Irish folk flavour (which came out of fashion at least ten years ago, I know). It is more like something that you would hear in one of the first albums by The Corrs, only far removed from that group’s particular type of bittersweet blandness. It is certainly an interesting track, especially because Szilvia doesn’t rely on harmonies to carry on the choruses, but demonstrates that she can hold her own without being drowned by the orchestra. By the way, it has a very long introduction – the song is just a recording of the falling rain until 30 seconds into it. Then it morphs into a solid rocker. Enjoy!

Hej, Dunárol… (DJ Yano Euro Mix)

This was Nox’s first single, and big hit, from their début album Örökség (2003). As far as I’ve been able to understand, it is a traditional Hungarian song that’s just been set to a dance beat. Which would be nice, were it not for the fact that the melody (which is, indubitably, very beautiful) is always the same, and they just repeat it over and over again. You can listen to the original version in the video, which has, byt he way, a spectacular choreography. I personally prefer this remix, which is simply delightful and extends the song with plenty of instrumental breaks! Great!

Forogj, Világ! (Original Version)

This is the longer original version of the song with which Nox wasted their time and talent in the Eurovision Dumpster Farce. As I’ve already said, they only achieved a laughable twelfth place, which is so outrageous when you think that it was one of that year’s few decent songs along Shiri Maimon’s Ha-Sheket She Nisha’ar (who was robbed of the first place she deserved, without a single doubt). Well, I’ve ranted enough. It is just a fabulous dance/rock song that just explodes with energy and enthusiasm. I particularly like the beginning, which seems to be directly taken from a Mediaeval troubadour’s songbook, only to soar a few moments later thanks to aggressive percussions that overlap in a rapidly changing landscape. Video.