THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,162) Illés — “Történet M.-Ről/”The Story of M.”
Here is a slice of “magnificent” (attilamarfi9018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WUfRo1ef64 (courtesy of Google Translate)) classic rock from Hungary’s Beatles.
Zikkurat Stage Agency gives us a Hungarian rhapsody (courtesy of Google Translate):
Illés was the Hungarian Beatles, “the” band, the generational band, the new idol that embodied and realized the dreams of a new generation, in which we could imagine all the desires that, in the end, were left out of the lives of many of us. Illés is a separate chapter in Hungarian youth culture, but perhaps not an exaggeration, also in the Hungarian cultural history of the second half of the century. With their performance, not only did a new era in entertainment begin, but with their music and thoughts, they also changed the face, thinking, and perception of life of a generation. The story of Illés is also the story of the sixties. With their explosions and failures, their momentum and exhaustion, their “revolutionary” thoughts and their forced compromises. If a summary cultural history or youth sociology work is prepared about the progressive aspirations of this century, Illésék’s work, the aspirations identifiable with the name of the band, cannot be missing from it. Illés appeared with new songs for new times and wanted to turn the world around with the belief of “bright breezes”.
http://www.zikkurat.hu/illes/bio_1.shtml
Susanna tells us (courtesy of Google Translate):
On this side of the Iron Curtain, during the socialism there were two dominant pop bands in Hungary which competed with each other and also with other bands for popularity. These two bands were Illés-együttes (or simply Illés) and Omega [see #195, 644, 766, 832]. Illés was founded in 1957 by the brothers Lajos and Károly Illés (at that time it was fashionable to choose the surname of the founder as the name of the band . . . ). At the beginning, Illés had Italian and evergreen songs in their repertoire, like those of the Hurricanes for example. They performed the first song composed by themselves only in 1965 because the previously written songs had been banned by the political system. In the same year, the classic line-up of Illés was created when Levente Szörényi joined the band. The members were Lajos Illés, Levente Szörényi, János Bródy, Szabolcs Szörényi and Zoltán Pásztory. The real success came thanks to the song “Rohan az idő” (Time runs) sung by Zsuzsa Koncz and accompanied by Illés. Illés managed to bring something new to the Hungarian musical life: Eastern and Western voices, folk and artistic music were mixed in their songs and their lyrics represented generational problems.
https://fromhungarywithlove.wordpress.com/2020/08/14/omega-and-illes-the-dominant-music-bands-in-hungary-in-the-60s-and-70s/
Zikkurat Stage Agency (courtesy of Google Translate) adds:
In the beginning, Illés, like other beat bands, played Dixieland, popular Italian hits, evergreens, guitar tracks, primarily Shadows and Hurricanes compositions, at high school and university events. . . . [In] 1965 the two Szörényi brothers [joined the band, which] is when the band [turnd] into a generational band. Levente Szörényi Szabolcs Szörényi started his musical career at the Szárón Sándor High School in Vác, where he and his brother Szabolcs performed in a guitar duo, and already there they created a sensation with their playing: “We were the crazy Szörényis.” . . . Szörényi finally joined Illés in January 1965 (he only accepted membership if he could bring his brother too), and the Illés story continued on a common thread for nearly a decade. . . . However, Illés’ . . . breakthrough is based on the six-month work that shakes up the ensemble in 1965 and gives birth to the idea – you have to try to win back the audience’s sympathy with your own songs. First, they completely refresh the repertoire (they mainly play Beatles, Kinks, Animals, Pretty Things songs), get a club . . . and finally . . . they have to win a battle in Bosch. . . . [I]n the summer of this year at the Gitárpárbaj organized in the Kisstadion, where the audience booed the representatives of traditional dance music, distracted them from the stage and cheered the beat bands, of which only Illés dared to sing in Hungarian. . . . In their songs, they simply open a channel for the emotions, energies, and desires that lie deep inside, and thanks to Bródy’s lucky tone, these songs still have a shocking, mobilizing, and camp-calling power for their age group. After the summer explosion, in December 1966, Illés led the field with six songs on the Top 10 list of the Youth Magazine. Young people are burning with the fever of the Illés phenomenon, and the author couple Szörényi-Bródy pour out the “generational anthems” with unflagging energy . . . . On October 10, 1967, the band also visited abroad. . . . [w]ith overwhelming success. Their music . . . is significantly influenced by the Beatles’ LP Sergeant [Pepper’s] . . . . By the end of 1967, they were already far behind the beat leader, and in the end-of-year poll, the readers of Youth Magazine and Magyar Ifjúság voted for them. . . . [F]ilmmakers discovered them. They compose soundtracks. Several of their famous songs are heard for the first time in films [including] The Story of M . . . . The first four places on the IM hit list in July 1968 are occupied by Illés songs. . . . In 1968, the band received 5 of the 11 awards of the Dance and Song Festival, and Illés, who was looking for new musical sources, received the name “Hungarian National Folk Beat Ensemble” . . . . This “title” highlights two important moments in the band’s life. In their musical pursuits, they finally deviated from the well-trodden paths of the beat, but at the same time, the band slowly moved from the reality of everyday life to the world of myths in the love of the fans. In 1968, Illés was not only a role model and parable, but also a myth in the life of his generation. . . . [T]hey were able to express what they heard from the hearts of themselves and their generation [and were] spoken of as “the voice of the generation”. In 1968, Illés found itself right in the middle of the renewal and reform efforts that permeated Hungarian intellectual-cultural-economic-political life. Already in 1966 . . . Illésék’s music was characterized by a strong connection to the folklore of Hungary and neighboring countries. . . . The Illés brought Eastern-Central European and Balkan folk music into the international beat and created Hungarian youth music with a unique character, not only in terms of content and spirit, but also musically. . . . In 1968, the band – even if only for a short time – managed to find an experimental workshop for their political, social and cultural utopia and for the expansion of their concept, taking advantage of the favorable winds and momentary concessions . . . . In September 1968, a youth club was opened in the Capital Community Center. The Illés club – managed, organized and led by János Bródy – we can safely say – was the most important youth experimental workshop of the late sixties. After the 1968 festival, seeing the Illés’ political ambitions embracing folk music, prestigious representatives of the intelligentsia . . . also began to support the band. In particular, specialists in public education saw a great opportunity in the use of beat music to guide children from the most diverse social strata to other arts or political culture. In February and March 1970, under the organization of the Marquele-Martin management office, they played 10 days in London . . . . Illés’ performance was praised by the English magazines, highlighting their particularly national style, their “songs with a political tone”. . . . At home, the band’s first two LPs (Nehéz az út 1969, Illések és pofonok 1969) were released without any significant critical response, so to speak, during the band’s idolatry and incense at home. . . . The second LP [from which today’s song is taken] is a record of “bitter experiences”. The songs are all situational reports about everyday people, Mr. Advertising, silly girls, beliefs . . . hope for change . . . . This record is the imprint of a showdown with certain illusions and hope fueled by new illusions. A situational assessment and statement, which holds the promise of a next, clean, summary LP. However, the Illés could not make this record. The scandal . . . in London closed the doors to them. On April 26, 1970, they started shooting their film with Márta Mészáros . . . but the work was stopped, they were banned from ORI events, they were not allowed to perform in the capital, the Hanglemezgyár did not release their records, Koncz Zsuzsa’s second album, Szerelem, on which compositions of Szörényi-Bródy can be heard, was not played on the radio – the record sold out in 100,000 copies anyway! -, they could not appear in public for a year. . . . The group was not officially condemned, the embargo that hit them seemed to be a tacit, yet unified measure. The mystery was then answered in the June 5, 1970 issue of the Magyar Ifjúság by István Takács’ article titled “Wronged saints or Illés and their slaps”. It turned out that the Illés chatted recklessly and freely in a BBC program and thereby provided material for enemy propaganda. . . . The accepted, award-winning, adored “saints” were pushed off the rock Olympus and turned into black sheep.
http://www.zikkurat.hu/illes/bio_1.shtml
Here is a short documentary:
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It’s interesting these countries/languages had their “Beatles” as it were
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Yeah, like my college was the Harvard of X!!!
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