MANDOKI SOULMATES (NOVEMBER 13RD, 2024)

Actually, I don't mind talking about my off-the-beaten-track life and my music, which is even more off-the-beaten-track...
And I have to admit that a lot of people in the music industry tell artists that journalists are their natural enemies (Smiles) but I've never thought like that - quite the contrary... I've always thought that you're our natural relay to our public. I'm sorry to intellectualise things but I have a lot of journalist friends and we - journalists and musicians - suffer from the same things...


In my first life, I was the voice of the student opposition.




Your CV is impressive: after fleeing Hungary in 1975, you made a name for yourself by playing with the German group Dschinghis Khan at Eurovision, where you came fourth; you've worked with stars like Phil Collins and Lionel Richie; you've also played a role in a German TV series... Don't you feel like you've lived several lives?

In fact, my path is very simple: I'm a refugee! In my first life, I was the voice of the student opposition. But then I left the country and had to find my own way to do things. But I was no longer at home, I couldn't go back to my mother (Smiles). So I was abroad and I couldn't look in the rear-view mirror.


You had to trust your destiny...

Exactly. That's why I was a bit more flexible and had to take certain paths to get to where I am now.


‘A Memory of our Future’ is a very political album, because I feel that the world we live in is a labyrinth of crises and multi-crises.


We're here to talk about ‘A Memory of our Future’, your seventh album with the Mandoki Soulmates project, which has been around for almost thirty years. How do you explain the fact that Music Waves only discovered it with your previous double album, the incredible Living in the Gap / Hungarian Pictures?

In a way, ‘A Memory of our Future’ is a very political album because I feel that the world we live in is a labyrinth of crises, of multi-crises. And I think the biggest problem we have is division and music is the biggest unifier, music is a bridge. That's why I wrote this album and tracks like ‘Blood in the Water’ and ‘The Big Quit’ or even ‘Devil's Encyclopedia’, we have to be careful because the world should have been a paradise after 1989 with the destruction of the wall: we had the opportunity to create a paradise. Instead, we're not just in a crisis or a war, we're experiencing an environmental crisis, a social crisis... we're multiplying crises! Instead, we've created major problems! I believe that we musicians have a huge responsibility.


We, musicians have a huge responsibility.


But do you think that audiences in general, and yours in particular, are sensitive to these issues and to the messages you want to convey?

Of course they are! We meet our audience at concerts and we feel that they really understand what we're doing, and I'm very grateful for the success of our albums.


You can be all the more grateful that audiences now listen to music in playlist mode rather than an album in its entirety, where you could be made aware of the message...

We still have several ways of reaching our audience. Of course, we use new tools like social networks to communicate with our audience... But I think that when music is mature and sufficiently sophisticated, it has enough to say. And if people listen to 80 minutes or if they come to a concert lasting 4 and a half hours without a break, people understand the message and are well aware that we're talking about their lives, we're focusing on their problems...


Our world has changed!




But what is the profile of your audience? Perhaps an older audience?

No. We have very young people at our concerts. Luckily, and I'm happy to say this, when we do our concerts, our huge concerts, a lot of young people are interested in our creativity, our virtuosity but also our message... But it's true that the presence of iconic legends with whom I collaborate means that audiences come in droves to see this heritage of which I am also a part.
The overall issue is not a generational or demographic one, but more about the courage it takes to discuss the world we live in. And young people - mostly students - are quite interested. So I'd say that demography isn't the issue, it's education. And not just the level of education, but rather the curiosity, the hunger to learn about our world, to discover and explore it.
Our world has changed! When I was a teenager, we used to sit in a place and talk about Hegel, Kant, philosophers.... We'd have a glass of wine and talk. And even though we had different thoughts, we had great discussions. We learned from each other, unlike today where no discussion is possible...


This is particularly true in the United States...

Absolutely, the division is total! I could be wrong, but the reason why so many young people are interested in our music is that the music I create allows for discussion. And if there's no discussion about our society then the radicals will become stronger and that's what's happening. It's very simple.
And finally comes the progressive rock aspect, the musical aspect that represents the greatest unification. When we have different opinions, that doesn't mean we're enemies. We should try to bring each other closer together and go back to what happened in the 1970s - when I was a kid - to be more human and have more human values.


Where are we going with this hatred?


And do you think it's still possible to go back to those values?

Yes, but that's not a question. We have no choice: we have to do it! This division is so strong: there's too much hatred in this world that we have to bring love back. That's why we wrote this music, because where are we going with all this hatred?


You mentioned your line-ups, which are real dream teams, but who are the artists you'd like to work with?

I've had everyone I've ever wanted to (Smiles)!


On the other hand, who was your most memorable encounter and what did you learn from them?

Ian Anderson, of course! He's a multiple genius...


How do you work with all these people? From a distance? Face to face?

Face-to-face. I have a big studio where we get together.





On your previous album, Hungarian Pictures, you offered us a (very successful) adaptation of pieces by your compatriot Béla Bartók. Why did you make such a choice?

Oh, that's a real story. Of course, for a Hungarian like me, I grew up with Béla Bartók: it's natural.
And I was on the road with my dear friends, Peter Frampton on guitar and John Lord on Hammond organ, Jack Bruce on bass, Bobby Kimball and Chris Thompson on vocals and Ian Anderson and Greg Lake on acoustic guitar...


Before we left, my father said that I shouldn't dream my life, I should live my dreams and that's what I'm doing


... I'm going to cut you off there, but as you list all these legends, don't you think you're living in a daydream?

Of course I am! But this dream is a manifestation, because when I escaped I found myself in a refugee camp and an American officer asked me what I was going to do and I told him I wanted to mix English progressive rock, harmonic structures, big productions, poetic lyrics with American virtuosity and brilliant solos... with Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce and Al di Meola. The officer was taken aback, knowing that these musicians play in stadiums. But that didn't stop me, I wanted to start a band with them because that was my vision! And he turned to my cartoonist friend and told him I was crazy and asked him what he wanted to do and he replied that he wanted to go to Hollywood, find a studio and make cartoons, today he has two stars on Hollywood Boulevard. We realised what we said at the refugee camp! We are illegal migrants and we had planned what we were going to do. Before we left, my father said that I shouldn't dream my life, I should live my dreams and that's what I'm doing because that was the plan (Laughs)! It took a bit of time because we were refugees and you have nothing: you have to build everything!

But to get back to your question about Béla Bartók, we were on the road with the line-up I described to you and one day Greg Lake and John Lord came up to me and said, ‘Can the three of us have a word? I thought they wanted to talk to me about a problem - even though we've never had any - because we don't have a manager on this project, we talk to each other when we need to. And in this case, they wanted to talk to me about a great secret in rock history. Emerson Lake & Palmer hadn't planned to do ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ (NdStruck: the rock adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite), but ‘Hungarian Pictures’ as evidenced by the cover of ‘Allegro Barbaro’ (NdStruck: covered as ‘The Barbarian’ on Emerson Lake & Palmer's eponymous first album) but they didn't have the rights, the licences. So their second choice was ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. But as I'm Hungarian, they thought I could help them in this venture...


I'm not the kind of person who takes no for an answer.




But you must admit that it's funny that the idea for this project should come from the English and not from you, who are Hungarian...

It's true, and as I'm a very confident person, I replied that I was going to try...
After the tour, John Lord, Greg Lake, Jack Bruce and I got together and started writing, choosing songs...
But it was very strange because I spoke to the people who control Béla Bartók's rights and they said no. But I'm not the sort of person who would want to do that. But I'm not the kind of person who takes no for an answer.


Basically, if the door is closed, you're the kind of person who comes in through the window...

(Laughs) Absolutely! And finally, I called my lawyer in New York and he told me I'd better accept that this project wasn't going to happen. I called Jack Bruce, John Lord and Greg Lake and told them that unfortunately it wasn't going to happen...
But about nine years ago, on the 70th anniversary of Béla Bartók's death - sadly and tragically, Jack Bruce, John Lord and Greg Lake are now playing with Jimi Hendrix in the sky - I promised them I would do it.
After John Lord died, Quincy Jones introduced me to Cory Henry Henry who was 28 - we celebrated his birthday at the Olympia in Paris - and then Quincy Jones introduced me to Richard Bona to take over Jack Bruce's bass.
So I called Cory, Richard Bona and Al Di Meola and all the others to get together, and as it was the 70th anniversary of Béla Bartók's death - which is now free - we could do this project! We started working and when we finished, it was Chick Corea's last tour - before he died - he was in Munich and as he had a day free, I suggested that he come and see me in my studio and I offered to play for him because he was a Bartók specialist. And Chick came and we played together...


We thought ‘Hungarian Pictures’ was going to be our last album because it was the best we could do!


You ended on a high note with a tour dedicated to ‘Hungarian Pictures’. But wasn't it too difficult to close that chapter and start again from a blank page and change to a different universe from that of Béla Bartók?

Actually, we thought ‘Hungarian Pictures’ was going to be our last album because it was the best we could do! But then we went on tour - the 30th anniversary tour - and we had so much fun that we couldn't possibly stop. The question wasn't that we didn't want to make another album, it was that we had to have something to say. But after this album about Béla Bartók, I asked myself what more I could say?
But then, while we were on tour, Tony Carey came up to me and said he hated me... I asked him what was wrong. He replied that they'd all written their best songs when they were 25 and today I'm still writing about this labyrinth of crises and this world that should return to more humility and these songs - like ‘Blood in the Water’, ‘Devil's Encyclopedia’... - are the best I've ever written according to him...
For this album, I asked him if he still had those analogue machines in his living room. He replied that they were stored in plastic because he didn't need them. After the tour, I went to his house, took the analogue machines out of their plastic, and brought my analogue engineer out of retirement. And in two days, everything was up and running because they had been kept in the best possible condition.
So I sent an email to the guys telling them that we were going to write a love letter to our audience by going back to the first square and making an analogue album. It was fantastic! We stood in a circle with a pencil and an eraser: it was fantastic!
So it was an album with new music, fresh music because the world is crazy: we had to do and say something!


I'm not really a songwriter or composer, it's just that the world gives me the themes!




You said you felt you'd reached a kind of glass ceiling with ‘Hungarian Pictures’. How do you feel after releasing ‘A Memory of our Future’? Do you still have things to say, even if one album isn't enough to evoke the madness of today's world?

You're right! I always say that I'm not really a songwriter or composer, it's just that the world gives me the themes (Smiles)! The world is getting crazier and crazier, it's disgusting what's going on! And music is the best unit, we have to heal the world. And to do that, the old hippies are back. The old rebels are back to help the young rebels.


So what could be the theme of the next album?

It's difficult to answer, but you know, it all comes naturally. I've never planned anything, it's always been a vision! And if you listen to this album, there are also some personal, autobiographical things. The Wanderer', for example, is a totally autobiographical song from a father to his son, who himself has become a father. It's a song about me leaving home, and today it's my son who's leaving home. So the subjects are very, very intimate and personal.


Al Di Meola used to call you the Hungarian Quincy Jones. What was your reaction when this genius left us after all the other legends?

It's always very painful... Quincy was a very good person, but that's absolutely not true. Quincy was beyond all that... And musically, he touched on all styles: from bebop to Nana Mouskouri... And he always helped me by introducing me to Richard Bona or Cory Henry. We talked a lot about music together and he was a big influence on me.
The first time we met was at Michael Jackson's house in Neverland... I was working with Phil Collins on the Disney film Tarzan. Quincy is an extraordinary genius!


We're not rock stars, we're servants!




A lot of music legends have left us, do you think there's a new generation?

We have a mutual vision. And this mutual vision is our tool: the love of music that is dedicated to the perfection of the format and responsibility. That's the difference between us and pop musicians. Our voice belongs to the audience. They've given us everything - with their love of music - and in return we have to give them hope. That's why we always serve the audience very respectfully. We're not rock stars, we're servants! We're here to give answers.
The love of the audience is determined in our studios, in our concerts... They have given us a life in the sun. And more than ever, we have to give them something back because the world is going through difficult times with multiple crises and our music tries to be a good unifier.


We started this interview with the question you've been asked too many times. What's the one you'd like me to ask you or that you'd like me to answer?

I think one of the most important questions of our time - and today will be a historic day in Paris - is to be open to understanding those who don't think like you... And if we really understand that we have to share our values, our nature, our world and we have to stop simply killing each other...
I come from the generation that suffered under Russian oppression, censorship... It was a lesson and we should never go back to that. Whatever the media, we should have a free mind in a free world... We have to stop this hatred, this division.... But it all starts with understanding the opposing view.


It's a nice wish, but it seems pious when you see how the world is evolving, whether in Russia, Korea or, more recently, the United States... Fingers crossed. Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!


And thanks to TonyB for his contribution...