Leslie Mandoki
Jubilee concert with Donnerwetter in Budapest
Leslie Mandoki with his Mandoki Soulmates at the anniversary concert in Budapest.
© Attila Kleb
Despite a brewing storm, Leslie Mandoki and the Mandoki Soulmates rocked the stage in Budapest on Friday.
Leslie Mandoki (69) and his Mandoki Soulmates literally started their 30th anniversary year with a bang on Friday (19 August). Their open-air concert in Mandoki’s native city of Budapest had to be interrupted after a short time due to an approaching storm and finally ended prematurely.
Before that, however, it was “a brilliant concert with a great atmosphere,” enthuses Mandoki in an interview with the news agency spot on news. Several thousand people gathered on Friday in the historic Castle District of the Hungarian capital to listen to the musicians and the songs from their current album “Utopia for Realists”.
A large number of soulmates were presented for the special occasion: in addition to Mandoki, there were also Nick van Eede, Al Di Meola, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Till Brönner, Richard Bona, Tony Carey, Deobrat Mishra, Fausto Beccalossi and Budapest Jazz – and Roma music legend Szakcsi on the stage specially made for the concert.
A special place
The fact that the Mandoki Soulmates were able to celebrate the start of their anniversary year in Budapest has a deep meaning for the singer, because “everything started there” and the “vision of a band like this, which combines prog rock and jazz rock” was created in the first place. “Back then in Budapest’s ‘underground’ during the communist dictatorship at the beginning of the 1970s, in dark rehearsal rooms with uncensored lyrics, was the birthplace of this concept. To a certain extent, the Soulmates have also come full circle here,” recalls Mandoki.
This is what the Mandoki Soulmates are planning for their anniversary year
Putting their feet up is still not an option for the Mandoki Soulmates even after 30 years – on the contrary. The formation around Leslie Mandoki will “hopefully play many more concerts and celebrate ‘Utopia for Realists’ together with our audience with a lot of freedom for improvisation and virtuoso players”. At the same time, the group is already working on a new album and a tour program for 2023.