Starting in the footsteps of the legendary Hot Club de France, the Hot Club of Hungary plays the so-called "manouche swing" in a unique style in Hungary. Their repertoire includes high standards and world hits from the swing era, as well as works by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli and their followers. The band was founded in 2003 by Gábor Flór, Noémi Flór and Ákos Tóth. The date, of course, is a coincidence, or who knows, it's not a conscious choice of date anyway. After a short rehearsal period, the band held their first concert in Érd on May 1, 2004 (the day of European accession), still in trio form. Tibor Antal, a violinist, and soon Zoltán Marosi, an accordionist, soon joined, and the band was full, although the band does not always perform in full. A series of concerts followed in Hungary and abroad, and the first album, Hot Club of Hungary, was released in CD format. The entire line-up played at Noémi Flór's birthday concert in the Marble Hall of the Hungarian Radio in 2006. Shortly afterwards, Tibor Antal left the formation, mainly due to his other pursuits. His place was taken by guest musicians, but not by violin: József Fritz (clarinet), Attila Korb (pozan), Árpád Dennert (saxophone), Tamás Bényei (vocals, guitar, trumpet) and many others took part in some of the performances. The second album, Sweet Swings, was released in 2008 with József Fritz and Attila Korb. This year they were invited to the 1st Django Reinhardt Festival in Corsica. For 10 years, their permanent venue was the Déryné Bistro, where those interested could find the band on a weekly basis. In 2010, the year of Django Reinhardt’s 100th birthday, there was a change in the band’s life (the date is, of course, a coincidence, or who knows, it’s an unintentional choice of date anyway). They moved in a different direction with Ákos Tóth, replaced by Pál Gáspár (who can be known to the general public from the Lucky Boys and Benkó Dixieland bands, among others), the excellent singer, banjo and guitarist. In 2015, they also parted ways with Tibor Antal. After that, Zsolt Horváth joined on saxophone and guitar, so the Hot Club of Hungary can be heard and seen in a quartet formation.
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