VeronikaHarcsa, voice
BálintGyémánt, guitar
The singer-songwriter Veronika Harcsa and the guitarist Bálint Gyémánt have been working together since their studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Having recorded four successful albums with various projects, they started to work in duo, and decided their fifth joint album to be a duo recording.
The premiere of the LP Lifelover was held in front of a full house at the Palace of Arts, the top concert location in Budapest.
The European release of Lifelover is managed by renowned label Traumton Records from Berlin. Tokyo based Whereabouts Records released the LP in Japan as well, where Veronika has had great success.
Veronika Harcsa and Bálint Gyémánt collaboratively put together the repertoire of Lifelover. The songs are melodic and creative-improvisative at the same time. It has been an exciting challenge for them to make the simple instrumentation gripping and diverse. The lyrics were written by Veronika based on personal experiences and inspiration, similarly to earlier albums.
„In the beginning we were just playing as a duo for the joy and fun, but the free spirited experiments we did on stage made us want a separate LP for our duo. Working just a two of us is a sensitive balance. It requires such a high level of immersion and harmony, that I have rarely experienced before.” – revealed Veronika Harcsa.
„There is a bigger responsibility on us when there is not a full band next to us. In this project we get to play lots of different roles. We are soloists, we accompany each other and we are the rhythm section at the same time. To make our music more complex both of us use a looper, which enriches the music by replaying samples recorded live on the spot.” – said Bálint Gyémánt.
Veronika currently lives both in Budapest and Brussels, where she is about to get her master’s degree in June at The Royal Conservatory of Brussels. After graduation Veronika plans to move to Berlin, where she can launch more projects with Bálint under the umbrella of Traumton.
Veronika Harcsa, singer, songwriter
She graduated from The Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 2008, currently she attends the Master class of The Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Veronika founded her own jazz band in 2005, releasing their first album Speak Low covering jazz standards the same year.
In 2007 Speak Low was released in Japan to critical success, reaching the top of the vocal jazz charts at Tower Records.
Her second album You Don’t Know It’s Youwas released in 2008 with her own songs. The album reached the top of the charts in Japan again, and in Hungary it became a platinum jazz album. The most popular song Too Early was the most played song on MR2 radio in February 2008, later the album was awarded with the prestigious ”Hungarian Jazz Album of the Year” title at the Fonogram Gala in 2009.
The third album Red Baggage achieved similar success in Hungary as well as in Japan where 2 tours followed the release.
The fourth album of the Quartet titled Lámpafény (Lamplight) has been released in May 2011. This is the first Hungarian language album of the band, covering works by 20th century Hungarian poets. An iPhone app has been released in 2012 to accompany the album.
Parallel to her Quartet she is a founding member of the experimental and electronic music band Bin-Jip since 2010. Currently she is working in duo with guitarist Bálint Gyémánt.
Veronika has performed at festivals and clubs in 20 countries worldwide. She is often invited to participate in renowned projects, regularly works together with Erik Truffaz, Nicola Conte, Thomas Siffling, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and she has affiliations to contemporary dance projects, theatre plays and films.
Awards:
Best voice at Budapest Fringe Festival (2007); Fonogram:”Hungarian Jazz Album of the Year” – You Don’t Know It’s You (2009); 40. Hungarian Film Week: ”Best Original Score” for Lost Times with Albert Márkos (2009); Antropos.hu: ”Best female singer” (2009); Fonogram: ”Alternative album of the Year” – Bin-Jip: Enter (2011).