Hungarian rhapsody
LGB Brass on tour
Picture the scene: a small town in Hungary, the streets are dark
and quiet, a priest cycles home after evening mass. He has no lights
on his bike and he is stopped by a policeman. The policeman tells the
priest: “You have broken the law and you must pay a big fine”. The
priest replies: “My son, what harm can come to me? I will be safe
because God is always with me”. “In that case”, says the policeman,
“you must pay two fines”.
That’s just one of the many policeman jokes that kept LGB Brass
laughing through our tour of Hungary in August. Hungarians seem to
have little time for their police. But they have a great sense of fun
and the jokes kept coming.
More than 40 LGB members and supporters spent six days in and around
the capital, Budapest. The trip was arranged through the Musikland
travel agency, which organises visits to Hungary for bands, choirs and
orchestras from all over Europe.
During the tour, we did three concerts. The first was outside at the
Fisherman’s Bastion, a popular tourist viewpoint in the castle
district of Budapest, opposite Matyas Church. The audience included
local Hungarians, visiting Italians, a Japanese tour group and a
cornet player from England, who we tried to sign up for Thursday night
rehearsals.
The second concert was on the pier next to Lake Balaton, south west of
Budapest. We had the chance to swim in the lake – but no one came
close to crossing it. At 77km long it is the biggest in central
Europe.
Our final concert was to a hugely enthusiastic audience in the small
town of Tat, near the border with Slovakia. LGB played for 45 minutes
then joined the Dorog and Tat Wind Band for a mixture of English and
Hungarian music. At a reception afterwards, LGB members swapped
instruments with players from the wind band for an impromptu concert
conducted by both musical directors.
When we weren’t playing, our guide Zolly told us about Hungarian
history, culture and economy and showed us some of the country’s most
famous sights. We visited churches, castles and museums. There was a
cruise on the Danube, a wine-tasting and the chance to try horse
riding and bobsleigh. Everywhere we went there was live music,
welcoming smiles and more of Zolly’s policeman jokes.
It was a trip that was full of treats and surprises. We discovered
that the Danube is never blue. There’s more to Hungarian food than
goulash and more to the wine than Bull’s Blood. Beer is very cheap and
with more than 300 Hungarian forints to the pound it is easy for
visitors to feel seriously rich.
Hungary is a beautiful country full of friendly people who are
passionate about music. At the end of our concert in Tat, the audience
clapped in unison until we played some more. Not surprisingly, we made
lots of new friends. And we now know enough Hungarian policeman jokes
to last a lifetime. So let me tell you just one more:
How many Hungarian policemen does it take to change a light bulb?
Five: one to stand on the table and four to turn it round.
How many Hungarian police inspectors does it take to change a light
bulb?
Just one to stand on the table because inspectors are smart and they
know the world rotates once a day.
Ruth Hayhurst
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