“As I enter the pub, I smash the piano!” This is nothing but the first line of the first song on the first album by the Parno Graszt, which has become since its release in 2001 a hit, that has been quoted at meeting of good friends: head turned down, hands up in the air, fingers smack and legs starts dancing in a crazy tempo.

Those who have been to Parno Graszt’s concerts before know what this is about, and who haven’t should definitely come to their gig, to get this point, where this band prepares to give its greatest party ever. „Ez a világ nekem való” (This world suits me”) is the title of their third album coming out in November, with which they prove again, that they do the most to keep the authentic Hungarian gypsy traditions alive in a merry and loud sense.

At this jubilee concert the twelve-member Paszabi Dance group will feature dances from Szatmár. The evening will feature special guest musicians: Pál István "Szalonna" (violin), Unger Balázs (cimbalom), Makó Péter (tárogató) and Palazsnik László (viola). The greatest curiosity of the evening will probably be the background screening of the 50 year old archive video made in their native village Paszab, which presents the musicians’ parents and grandparents dancing and singing.

Parno Graszt was formed in 1987 at the Szabolcs county’s Paszab village. Its members aging from ten to seventy-seven are all gypsy. Parno Graszt means White Horse in gypsy language, where white means clarity and horse means freedom. Since then they have performed in Germany, Luxemburg, Holland, Norway, Russia, Austria, France and Switzerland with enormous success.

In 2003-2004 the Hungarian Television on the request of the BBC  made a documentary film on them, which was shown on many of Europe’s state channels.

Line up

Oláh Heléna: voice

Oláh József: voice guitar, tambura

Oláh Viktor: voice, guitar, cajon

Oláh Krisztián: voice, accordion

Horváth Sándor: voice, spoon

Németh István: mouth bass, can