B EAST Magazine website

– By Al Jackson

In a city gripped by recession tighter than most, precocious good-time guys are urging the youth of Budpest to get out, get happy and get partying.

Bence Meyeri, the brain behind Wacky Parties, who together with Andras Eichstaedt, Janos Prorok and Matyas Lendvai of serial party/production/DJ crew Sick As A Dog, have been throwing dynamic pop-up guerilla raves in the metro stations, underpasses, and abandoned buildings of Budapest for the past year.

The likely lads recently hosted iLLFEST, a libertine mid-January weekender who’s first night took place in the concourse of the Astoria metro station. Chosen precisely for the heavy footfall of Friday night revellers traversing busy Karoly Kut avenue, attention was guaranteed and the minimal tech-house pumping from a makeshift DJ booth of trellis tables and ironing boards outside a news kiosk managed to attract quite a crowd.

After a couple of hours, the 100-strong party halted as the power (jacked straight from an outlet in the wall) failed. Perplexed cops looked on while Plan B seamlessly clicked into action and the throng was whisked to a club where the tunes continued to spin.

Hitches and glitches though are simply par for the course for Bence and the boys. Indeed, they seem to revel in the off-the-cuff ethic of what they’re doing. Importantly, the party goers are all plugged-in to the same attitude too and are eager to be part of it.

It’s just as well ‘cos Saturday night’s installment, in a freezing underpass off Ferenciek Square next to Erzsebet Bridge, was hit-up by the riot squad. As tear gas brought an end to a party that, Budapest’s likely lads at the helm, was thriving on its ‘stolen moments’ vibe, it was a case of grab a lap-top, korg or ironing board and leg it to the van a few streets away.

However, this being a more focused, recession-era, Budapest, the 200 souls who had been waiting for this all week, or had simply stumbled across it and liked what they saw, were defiant. They were not ready for the authorities to kill their weekend (in addition to their economy). Not even at two thirty in the morning.

Again, exit strategies were already in motion and iLLFEST rumbled on in the eclectic Tuzrakter Cultural Centre. The squat-like former school building an inspired choice to sustain the hi-NRG D.I.Y. fun and keep us hedonists drinking and dancing well into Sunday.

In these troubled times it’s heartening to see that Andras, Matyas, Janos, Bence and associates, are throwing down the gauntlet: underground in Budapest, it’s invention vs recession and it’s kicking off.

Over a year ago, we told you about Iraq’s abandoned embassy in East Berlin. The embassy was deserted by Iraqi diplomats shortly after the fall of the wall, and was promptly forgotten.

We at B EAST decided it was time the deteriorating building was handed back to the public. One sunny weekend in August, we – along with our Berlin friends (the Shameless Limitless DJ team, plus the Berlin Loves You t-shirt crew) – took over the embassy, armed with a generator and a sound system.

Here’s two videos that show what went down:

“The green Zone” from Knut Knutson on Vimeo.

B EAST’s DDR Disco party was a huge success, thanks mostly to the kitschy-cool set played by our cassette DJs. Täter and Ostbrot played for a full two hours using nothing but tapes – most of which were probably older than the people dancing to them! And they weren’t afraid to use the microphone, MC-ing between songs.  Their mike technique reminded us of the skills that DJs were once expected to possess. “If you have a request, write it on a twenty euro bill and pass it up,” they said, reaching back into their catalog of old jokes (although, we would have thought it more authentic if they’d have requested East German Deutschmarks). The SPUs (they weren’t called DJs) showed their professionality, drinking only one beer each, and keeping track of their songs in a notebook. After all, these guys once had to pass an exam to receive a performing license, back in the days of the DDR. Before the gig, Ostbrot confessed to us – “I haven’t played a concert in twenty years!” Well, we’re certainly glad they came out of retirement to serve us a decent helping of ostalgia.

A big thanks also to VJ Linards Kulless from Riga’s Space:Garage crew, who supplied amazing visuals throughout the night. And a huge round of applause for the laptoprock team Shameless Limitless, who stepped up to the plate to perform an extra set after DJ Andrei Oid called in sick. The party raged until 5am, not bad for a Thursday night. Stay tuned for the next B EAST Berlin party.