I wrote this a few years ago, I think 5, but didn't really show it around. Now I just thought it might be an interesting read, so I share it with you...
Playing music in the streets is such a special experience that it is far beyond the imagination of people I've met.
Some people might think: "Oh, poor girl has to sing in the streets to earn her supper.Oh, what a pity!" But they wouldn't drop me 1 cent or ask if they could help me in some way, they would just walk by, with nose up high - or going so deep in their emotions that they get saaaad from sympathy...
And what I think of those people: "Oh, this lady, she has to wake up each morning at 6, in the office all day long she has to answer phone calls, type letters, wear always perfect business outfit, fighting with machinations of "nice" collegues, sit at the computer till her back hurts, then after work she can go shopping and do all the house work, deal with the kids, and if she doesn't fall asleep in front of the tv, then thanks to certain amount of alcohol she needs in order to forget about all her pain and stress, she still can try to give a smile to her husband who just came home from a date. And maybe, as a little girl, she was dreaming about being on stage one day, singing or dancing, or doing other art forms, painting or something the like. But I am free as a bird, don't know alarm clock, whenever I like a place, I just go there, in jeans and clogs, and do what I always loved to. Having fun, giving something nice to other fellows, and I even get some exchange for it... who is poor?"
Singing in the street is one of the best schools I can imagine. Here you can observe all type of people, you can make experiments, learn how to deal with different personalities and emotions, keep on going no matter what happens, and a lot more.
I was singing in Munich, Germany, without any music. It's a nice place there, with excellent acoustics. If I just opened my mouth it could be heard all around the street and beyond. And people were grateful for it, stopping by and listening.
When I got to the Titanic song, I would go "...and my heart will go o-o-o-on and o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-on", you know, giving out all what I had, my heart and everything, -- a boy passed by, very close to me, and he put a burning cigarette into my mouth...
Fortunately, I could grab his hand fast enough so he took the cigarette out and I didn't even had to interrupt my song, finished it nicely.
My heart will go on and on...
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Friday, June 02, 2006
How Hungarian are you?
In the !Hungary! Group on MySpace, there is a topic called "How Hungarian are you?"
I find it very interesting to read what people from every corner of the world answer to this. The most common answers tell you 1/2, 1/4, 100% etc, according to how many of their parents & grandparents are/were Hungarians.
As I love to write, and sometimes I'm also a bit philosophycal, I came up with this:
If I look at my genes: my last name is not a typical Hungarian one, it must be some Slavic origin, Bulgarian, Slovakian or Polish, I'm not sure, but my grandmother and up knew we were Hungarians. And funny enough, the word gerak, without the special accent on the a means movement or moving in Indonesian, if I am not wrong.
In my mother's family: her mother's last name implied a Saxon origin, her father's family had a Slovakian last name 100 yrs ago, but they were also Hungarians.
I can't make the math from all this, don't ask me percentages...
I am simply: Hungarian!!!
Yes, that's true: throughout the whole history of Hungarians we were mixed with people from other countries. This way, it's quite difficult to trace back "how many percent Hungarian are you" by the blood. It's rather a matter of what do you KNOW what you are.
I am sure that my family, for example, way back had some Slovakian or whatever Slavic connection - but all we know that we are Hungarians. Period.
It's the same with many other families, unless one can prove that their ancestors arrived with Arpad... (for those who don't know him: in the history of Hungary, he was the main leader of our nation the Magyars when they arrived in the Carpathian Basin, around 896. His offsprings wree the first kings of Hungary)
Of course, there is such a genetic thing for one as "My family is x % Hungarian" - as far as they can go back to 1, 2, maybe 3, 4 generations. This is something great to keep, and gives one the feeling of belonging to a certain group for a whole life.
The more important point for one is to fully assume the identity of being Hungarian, and not just use it as a facade and behaving as a jerk ("I am MAGYAR!! Hungary rules!!! Get it, you motherfucking dickhead?" or something),
- but live life in such a way that anyone can say about them: "Hungarians? They are cool people! Once I've met one, and he/she was..." and they would tell a nice story which will remain their impression about Hungarians.
I think this is what really counts. Anybody would agree?
Hahaha, I just realized, it's really funny: I'm writing about me being Hungarian - in English... Don't worry magyarok, I'll write this down also magyarul, it just takes hell of a lot time to get all those characters out of my old machine.
I find it very interesting to read what people from every corner of the world answer to this. The most common answers tell you 1/2, 1/4, 100% etc, according to how many of their parents & grandparents are/were Hungarians.
As I love to write, and sometimes I'm also a bit philosophycal, I came up with this:
If I look at my genes: my last name is not a typical Hungarian one, it must be some Slavic origin, Bulgarian, Slovakian or Polish, I'm not sure, but my grandmother and up knew we were Hungarians. And funny enough, the word gerak, without the special accent on the a means movement or moving in Indonesian, if I am not wrong.
In my mother's family: her mother's last name implied a Saxon origin, her father's family had a Slovakian last name 100 yrs ago, but they were also Hungarians.
I can't make the math from all this, don't ask me percentages...
I am simply: Hungarian!!!
Yes, that's true: throughout the whole history of Hungarians we were mixed with people from other countries. This way, it's quite difficult to trace back "how many percent Hungarian are you" by the blood. It's rather a matter of what do you KNOW what you are.
I am sure that my family, for example, way back had some Slovakian or whatever Slavic connection - but all we know that we are Hungarians. Period.
It's the same with many other families, unless one can prove that their ancestors arrived with Arpad... (for those who don't know him: in the history of Hungary, he was the main leader of our nation the Magyars when they arrived in the Carpathian Basin, around 896. His offsprings wree the first kings of Hungary)
Of course, there is such a genetic thing for one as "My family is x % Hungarian" - as far as they can go back to 1, 2, maybe 3, 4 generations. This is something great to keep, and gives one the feeling of belonging to a certain group for a whole life.
The more important point for one is to fully assume the identity of being Hungarian, and not just use it as a facade and behaving as a jerk ("I am MAGYAR!! Hungary rules!!! Get it, you motherfucking dickhead?" or something),
- but live life in such a way that anyone can say about them: "Hungarians? They are cool people! Once I've met one, and he/she was..." and they would tell a nice story which will remain their impression about Hungarians.
I think this is what really counts. Anybody would agree?
Hahaha, I just realized, it's really funny: I'm writing about me being Hungarian - in English... Don't worry magyarok, I'll write this down also magyarul, it just takes hell of a lot time to get all those characters out of my old machine.
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