House of Music Invites Audiences for a Musical Journey around the World

A new temporary exhibition titled “LISTEN. – Musical Journey Around the World” has opened at the House of Music Hungary. The exhibition, based on a series of music documentaries and open until the end of August, presents the diverse musical traditions of our planet.

“Garry Bassin and Tomoko Yamaguchi’s “Listen.” project has filmed the world in the footsteps of music cultures, and has recognized the truth that music should not be seen as part of culture, but as a complete and organic culture. The current exhibition presents the essence of this,” said András Batta, Managing Director of House of Music Hungary, at a press conference on Tuesday. He pointed out that in the exhibition space of about 1,000 square meters, visitors can get to know peoples, ethnic groups and their music.

“In music, cultures meet in many different ways, interconnecting and transforming over time. Musical phenomena and customs of the past are absorbed by the musical culture of the next era. In Hungary, Bartók and Kodály have done a great service by discovering, collecting and scientifically classifying the old folk music of the Carpathian Basin, and have made it possible for folk music to be relearned and to become popular again,” András Batta stressed.

Márton Horn, the director of the institution, said that the starting point for the comprehensive material, including unique installations, exciting visuals, wonderful photographs and musical instruments, was the films, that were shot in nearly 30 countries with over 100 musicians over a period of more than ten years.

The current exhibition is an interesting experiment, as not many exhibitions of film series have been produced before. It is a musical storytelling from India, through Iran, to our country, and through many other countries in Europe and South America to Alaska,”

he detailed.

Visitors can discover, for instance, the relationship between the ancient Lithuanian musical tradition and nature, the world of traditional choirs in Corsica and Iceland, the music of the Patagonian shepherds, and how migration has affected the Central American musical world.

Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

American filmmaker Garry Bassin said at the event that the project was intended as a kind of musical time capsule of our planet. He explained that he has been working with Japanese actor-producer-writer Tomoko Yamaguchi for twenty-five years, and that

the “Listen.” project shows how we convey human emotions through music all over the world.

He recalled that the first part of the “Listen.” series was filmed in Hungary. “It is a very exciting place to be because it is at the crossroads of cultures between Central Asia and Europe. When we started fifteen years ago, we were based in Budapest for the first three months, and from there we shot in several countries. It was here that we met cameraman Attila Csoboth, who became an important part of the project.” Hungarian photographer Péter Rákossy also contributed to the series, he added.

Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

Balázs Weyer, director of programming at Hangvető, explained that science is also concerned with the role of music as a basic life function, linked from the beginning to rituals, religion, weddings, funerals, harvests, but perhaps most importantly to the unity of the community. “There are over 30,000 instruments, but we can basically only talk about four or five and a half. It is also important that they sing about the same things all over the world, the core feelings and motivations have not changed throughout history. Through a kind of musical archaeology, the exhibition shows what is constant in all times and places on Earth.”

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