culture | thehub.hu | guide to budapest

Lazar u. 16 [map]
Pest Centre, VI, Opera (M1), 1 min / Oktogon (T4/6), 3 min

I expected this to be awful – after all, it was described to me as poetry and improvising saxophones. Ghastly, I thought. But no, not at all.

One man plays instruments through a loop pedal, whilst another recites poetry rather slowly and nervously. It’s being filmed, and the lad holding the boom mic seems to be part of the act – he keeps lurching the big fluffy mic dangerously near our poet’s head, whilst nearly hitting audience members in the face with the other end. I’m enjoying the sideshow as well as the main attraction.

The poet, Dániel Dányi, reads his own material, jittery but purposeful. He has the kind of American accent you would expect to hear as a voice-over on an old black and white detective film. He pauses every so often to drink some wine, blink, eat a few more bites of a large pear, and let the musician do his thing.

The musician is Janó Nemes, who plays an electric bass, a tarnished sax and a flute through a loop pedal, by turns building up and taking away layers of rhythm and melody. It’s not showy or self-conscious, but rather melancholic and beautiful - he obviously likes Tom Waits. The sounds conjure up a rainy urban scene, and go perfectly with Dányi’s set of poems about Keleti and Nyugati.

This is one of the first events at the recently opened Treehugger Dan’s Bookstore Lounge, the first of many. Treehugger Dan himself tells us about the next few events – music from a UK singer-songwriter, a fair trade film night, acoustic Colombian music. At the end we all clap enthusiastically, put a donation in the hat, and take our teacups back to the bar. It's small and a bit righteous, but with cheap fair trade coffee, tea, eupathy, and thousands of good books, there are plenty of reasons to come back here.

Treehugger Dan’s Bookstore Lounge is in the lobby of Yellow Zebra, behind Opera House on Lázár u. 16. The original Treehugger Dan's Bookstore and Cafe on Csengery u. 48 is still open too. www.treehugger.hu

Lucy F