Abstract
This chapter presents the career of the Hungarian rock band Omega against the background of social, economic and political forces which shaped popular music in Hungary after the Second World War. It argues that Omega’s career is a genuine Hungarian success story, despite the monopolistic system of the party-state with its crippling bureaucracy, which shaped pop music scene in every respect, the political and social prejudices of the era, the lack of funds which stifled promotion, the impossibility of the musicians’ recurring presence in western countries, and their lack of their fluency in English. Despite all of these factors, Omega was the closest any pop-rock band ever got to world fame from Hungary or, indeed, from the whole former Eastern bloc.
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Notes
- 1.
Omega: ‘Tízezer lépés’. Qualiton Records, 1969. Almost simultaneously, rival band Illés released the album ‘Illések és pofonok’ (Qualiton Records, 1969), also featuring a fold-out album cover.
- 2.
The audio material on the LP titled ’Omega Red Star from Hungary’ (Decca, KL 4974)—featuring the vocals of Gábor Presser, Tamás Mihály, and László Benkő instead of János Kóbor—is slightly different from the Hungarian version which followed shortly (‘Trombitás Frédi és a rettenetes emberek’), both in its arrangement and its style: some of the songs are more progressive on the British LP, which also featured songs that were only released as singles in Hungary.
- 3.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a broadcasting organization that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East “where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed” (About RFE/RL—FAQs)] RFE/RL was a corporation that received US government funding and was supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing all US federal government international broadcasting services.
- 4.
The “Luxembourg style” was not an actual musical style. It collectively refers to beat music that Radio Luxembourg played in the 60s which could be heard in Hungary as well. The Hungarian bands of the era heard the new songs on Radio Luxembourg first, transcribed them by ear, and played cover versions at their club performances.
- 5.
These expressions appeared frequently in the press and in party resolutions.
- 6.
The MHV (Hungaroton) was the one and only record and music publishing company in Hungary for about 35 years.
- 7.
The State Booking Agency was a monopolistic state organisation responsible for popular music and concert booking inside Hungary during the Kádár era.
- 8.
The qualifying body for musicians working in the catering trade during the Kádár era.
- 9.
The International Concert Bureau was a monopolistic company that managed Hungarian musicians abroad, and booked international artists to perform in Hungary during the Party’s rule.
- 10.
The TV show “Ki mit tud?” (literally: Who knows what?) was instrumental in making the Hungarian party-state more accepted by the general public through the politics of entertainment. Started in 1962, the contest featured music and theatre groups, solo performers, and fledging actors. It was organised 10 times, with the last two contests held after the end of communism.
- 11.
Military bands were supported by the authorities under communist rule to promote the fact that young people could play music during their mandatory time in the army. In reality, these bands existed mostly to accelerate the breaking-up of beat bands, since the enlistment of key members could disastrously weaken the bands.
- 12.
Like Jenő Szikora, who booked many performances in the country for dance music singers.
- 13.
Nem tilthatom meg, Kiabálj, énekelj, Trombitás Frédi, Ha én szél lehetnék, 1968, Naplemente, Régi csibészek, 1969
- 14.
The most important and popular beat band of Hungary at that time.
- 15.
The Chanson Committee was set up on 1 June 1959 by the decree of the Theatre and Music Council, under the Ministry of Culture’s authority. Its members were appointed by the Minister of Culture for musical institutions overseen by the government, and the president of the Hungarian Nation Radio and Television. National Archives of Hungary, XIX-I-4-ff (Records of the Theatre and Music Council, Ministry of Culture) 50. D. 49936/1959.
- 16.
Artisjus Archives, Department of Documentation and Distribution, from the dossier titled “Report on the authorized compositions by the Chanson and Hungarian Song Committee”.
- 17.
Péter Erdős (1925–1990) was the pop music manager of Hungaroton, the dreaded “pop tzar” of the era. In the Kádár era, no album could be published without his consent.
- 18.
The party-state did not acknowledge popular music as a main career for the “socialist personality”. This explains how a ministerial decree qualified art forms to differentiate the income tax rate, and did not list writing lyrics, composing and performing dance music as having social worth.
- 19.
The West German record company, Bellaphon signed a three-year agreement with Omega in April 1973, extended for another five years in 1975. Their most successful album, Time Robber sold 1 million copies worldwide. Their live shows enjoyed similar success: in 1973, they were so busy abroad that they only came to Hungary as visitors. In the West, they shared the stage with such famous names as Free, Golden Earring, Manfred Mann, Supertramp, The Troggs, and Uriah Heep.
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Csatári, B., Jávorszky, B.S. (2016). Omega: Red Star from Hungary. In: Mazierska, E. (eds) Popular Music in Eastern Europe. Pop Music, Culture and Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59273-6_13
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