Müpa started a drive-in cinema series to provide music programmes to the audience until the autumn reopening. Between the 1st and 25th of July, from Wednesday to Sunday, popular and classical music bands play in the Festival Theatre of the Müpa, which can be followed on a big screen from the parking lot, now functioning as a drive-in cinema. Performers are among others the Budapest Bár, the Hungarian All Star Big Band, the Barabás Lőrinc Quartet, the Péterfy Bori & Love Band and also the Lóci játszik. Müpa doesn’t even try to compete with all the traffic noises of the huge Soroksári Street and the Rákóczi Bridge, so the music will be heard on the given FM signal through the car radios. Organisers invited the press to get to know the drive-in cinema, introduced by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and then the band Lóci játszik for a short concert.
Concert cinema is the right expression to capture the essence of this: we sit in our cars, watching the writings and ads on the screen, but this time they don’t precede a two-hour-long film but a concert, and performers are about 10 metres away from us, playing inside the building. In the car, one feels completely detached from the busy area – nothing can draw our attention away from what is happening on the screen and what we hear from the radio. The same experience develops as if we were at any concert, and there is no issue with the quality of the image or the sound. Founder and frontman of Lóci játszik (the band name’s literal meaning is ‘Larry plays’ – translator’s note) reveals after their joyful short concert that they are going to play on the 18th of June, joined by some members of the popular Hungarian band Csík zenekar and preparing some jointly reworked songs.
“I see my friends coming, four in a car, opening their cans of beer, sing with us, and the turn signal moves along with my dancing hip”
– Lóránt Csorba says.
“These challenging few months behind us have required a lot from people working in the cultural industry. We had to be open-minded above all, but also flexible, creative, to be able to value, use well, or even create virtual spaces of meeting, often optimised for screens. We became convinced about how innovative thinking and the power of cooperation can bring a lot of solutions and possibilities. This made us to launch the Müpa Drive-in Cinema: we believe that this special format is nostalgic and actual, but most importantly, it gives our performers the chance to stand on the stage again. The audience can experience the Müpa vibes, albeit in an extraordinary way, but in many different genres”
– Csaba Káel, executive director of the Müpa, pointed out.
“We are one of the most well-known cultural trademarks in Hungary, and as such, we find constant development and the creation of new forms and tools very important. These days this is more applicable than ever. We need to react on world-wide occurrences in the fastest and most flexible way possible, both in the domain of programme planning and of communication”
– says vice executive director Gábor Kosztolánczy.
You can find the full programme here.
Article: Zsolt Várkonyi
Translation: Zsófia Hacsek
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