Tamás Barabás – bass, vocal
Attila Égerházi – guitar, percussions
Péter Kaszás – drums, vocal
Áron Koós-Hutás – trumpet, flügelhorn
János Nagy – keyboards

Djabe: Live in Blue
with Steve Hackett, Gulli Briem
and John Nugent

GR-116-3, DVD

Djabe’s album Down And Up was introduced at a gig in surround at Pecsa Music Hall in Budapest, 1th of March 2013. After performing the whole album followed an extensive set of the entire Djabe walk of life. It was one of the best gigs in the band’s history with the surround sound soon to become legendary. The DVD replicates this experience perfectly. All of the show provide the best quality 5.1 DTS sound derived from the, high definition multitrack recordings, fantastically mixed by sound engineer Tamás Barabás. It can well be said that the record delivers the high-end quality accustomed to Djabe.

The band’s line-up – Szilárd Banai (drums), Tamás Barabás (bass guitar), Attila Égerházi (guitar), Ferenc Kovács (trumpet, violin and vocal), Zoltán Kovács (keyboard) – extended by Gulli Briem (percussion and drums) and John Nugent (saxophone).

Live in Blue DVD is the fourth installment in the ‘blue series’ of Djabe. The master content of course consists of the complete performance of the extremely well-received Down And Up album’s blue light-themed, surround gig of 2013, followed by the bonus content of the Blue Note Jazz Club recordings, in Vágújhely, Slovakia at November 8th, 2013. Latter gig was a joint performance with Steve Hackett. This compilation consists of songs not played at Pecsa Music Hall and primarily features Steve Hackett or Genesis compositions. In That Quiet Earth, Los Endos, Last Train To Istanbul and Walking Away From Rainbows are real fan titbits.

All Live in Blue releases feature some content not found on other discs. This DVD features a 26 minute unique material from the complete extra film of the Blue Note gig.

DVD9, NTSC, no regional code, aspect ratio - 16:9

Szilárd Banai – drums
Tamás Barabás – bass guitar
Attila Égerházi – guitar, percussion
Ferenc Kovács – trumpet, violin, vocal, flugelhorn
Zoltán Kovács – keyboards

Steve Hackett – guitar
Gulli Briem – hang, djembe, shaker, drums
John Nugent – tenor and soprano saxophone

The Blu-Ray disc is presenting you the legendary surround live concert's musical and audiophile experience in it's full glory or more!

Szilard Banai, Tamas Barabas, Attila Égerházi, Ferenc , Kovács Zoltán with Gulli Briem and John Nugent.

This concert film was recorded in Budapest, at the Pecsa Music Hall. It was one of the live surround shows of the Down And Up album tour. The album and the tour, especially the live 5.1 audio experience meant a milestone in the band’s history. At the show even the lights turned blue. This show is a really unbeatable performance in the jazz / world scene. To enjoy the blue show, put your Blu-Ray disc into your player, sit back, relax, and turn the volume up. The DTS-HD 5.1 audio (24bit/96khz) recreates the original experience of this concert in your home.

Szilárd Banai - drums
Tamás Barabás - bass
Attila Égerházi - guitar
Ferenc Kovács - trumpet, violin, vocal
Zoltán Kovács - keyboards

featuring:
Gulli Briem - percussion, drums
John Nugent - sax

The record, Update came out in June from the renewed band in 2001. After the press conference the band marched into the rehearsal hall and got prepared for its biggest country tour at that time. On 21st of July Ben Castle, the English saxophone player, joined the band. We have already published the memorable moments of this rehearsal of the 21st on the “What more to know about Update” CD. The main rehearsal was held in Gödöllo Theatre on the 22nd and the performance was on the 23rd. It is interesting to compare the rehearsal of the 21st and the performance material of the 23rd. In two days the production became completely mature.
It is worthwhile to listen again to the performance of the seven-member Djabe before premier as this was the beginning of a very important era in the life of this band. It is enjoyable to notice the reaction of Ben Castle and Ferenc Kovács to each other’s play. One of the treat of the Gödöllo recording is the "My Way" composition of Tamás Barabás.

Barabás Tamás - bass
Égerházi Attila - guitars, percussion
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle - saxophone

Djabe’s 1998 album was the second in the band’s history. The double CD was recorded in their own studio which was just finished at that time. The music was the work of the first, quartet formation of Djabe: András Sipos - vocal and percussion, Ferenc Muck - saxophone, Attila Égerházi - guitar and Tamás Barabás - bass. The album was a huge success and both the professionals and the listeners took to it well. It was nominated to the Hungarian Music Awards, and received the prize in World Music category (2000 – Golden Giraffe prize). The double CD was unique in the packaging too, which was made of paper, digipak. This new case format was not so wide spread then, and it was ordered from the Netherlands. The Witchi Tai To album had other international elements too. On the second disc, in which there were remixes for radios, placed the so called ‘Enhanced partition’. With an interactive menu you could play videos, and read a lot of information about the band, and with a weblink you could log on to Djabe’s website. This new form of release which had just begun to spread in the music world could have been produced at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London that time only. So the production was made both at Gramy and in the former creative place of Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
The CD and Vinyl LP versions became very popular among the High-End auditoriums and Hi-Fi fans, and made it renowned until this day.

In 2013 Djabe renewed this legendary sound. The music itself sounds fresh even today, and the past 15 years “matured” the production and the listeners’ ears as well. The original tracks were remixed completely by Tamás Barabás, the sound engineer of the band. He not only kept the sonic values of the original CD but improved them as well, and the result could be the test record for lovers of quality sound. This is very true concerning the surround version, because in 5.1 the sound is more plastic, every fine detail of the recording the acoustic instruments are detectable, even those ones which would disappear in stereo version. The new 2014 version is a one DVD disc edition, at the high quality “Djabe” standard. The format is double sided DVD 10, so there is content on both sides of the DVD. The first side of the disc can be found the DVD Audio content. This layer can be played with DVD Audio compatible devices. DVD audio layer contains the high resolution uncompressed MLP (24 bit/96kHz) stereo and 5.1 audio tracks. The whole original album can be listened to in this high audio quality plus one bonus track, Visions, recorded in 1999. The other side of the DVD is video format; it can be played with all DVD and Blu-Ray players. On this layer, the full album can be listened to, plus the 1999 Visions in stereo (PCM) and in 2 types of 5.1 (DTS and Dolby Digital). The video layer of the DVD contains visual extras too, from the original Enhanced CD, but in better quality of course. The film Djabe Live 1997 recorded in Budapest. In between the 1997 Pecsa concert’s songs there are the interview parts with members of the band. Djabe and Coffee Break video clips made for the radio mixes. These videos are really extras, as they were not existed at the time of the original release. All elements of this anniversary edition are managed to surpass the high standard of the original album. It is true about the videos and audios as well.

Sipos András - voice, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Muck Ferenc - saxophone
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar
Snétberger Ferenc - guitar
Szalóki Béla - flugelhorn
Herczeg Judit - voice

In the past 19 years of Djabe we realized that the actual studio album has been the most significant piece of the group’s work. We can hear it on the “Forward” during the first listening. Djabe completed its line-up and the special guests with a 57 piece symphony orchestra. Attila Égerházi’s summarize of the release:
“We decided to write a whole album in which the Symphonic Orchestra takes part integrally. We managed to agree with Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc on the making of the recordings, and in the meantime Tamás Barabás started to compose and structure the tunes in such way that these would be set on the symphonic orchestra.
The arrangement was discussed with Zoli and they were working on the partituras together continuously. Tamás, as expected, attacked the task with the high quality and his dedicated own style. While listening to his compositions the characteristic signs of recent Djabe CDs can be recognised, and at the same time, the symphonic orchestra is raising his works into a different dimension.
The title track “Forward” is also outstanding, because in the first three minutes, as overture of the album, the classical musicians play exclusively. Thereafter the music is swimmingly turns into the usual Djabe’s sound in such way that the symphonic orchestra remains on the top of sounds. These virtues are also typical of both compositions “Twin Pines” and “My Day”.
A unique piece is “Hang Out”, which is due to the fruitful collaboration created with Gulli Briem, who is the drummer of legendary Mezzoforte. Gulli is a regular participant at Djabe gigs, and by now he became one of the special guests in the studio recordings as well. On this album, the excellent drummer shows his percussion qualities. One of his favourite instruments is the hang drum, which is always a huge success at shows because of its special sound and shape. We have fallen loved to it too, and Tamás composed a sweeping work to this instrument. “Hang Out” is based significantly on the symphonic orchestra too. Gulli, besides, is sharing his talent with us in more tracks as well. He plays the berimbau and sings in “New Words”. Berimbau played last time by Sipi in Djabe.
We have liked to have the album made not only special by the symphonic orchestra but to have further unique characteristics, too. So we invited our old friend, Malik Mansurov, the World’s greatest master of ancient stringed instrument the tar. As Steve Hackett characterized him, his musical professionalism and play are the mixture of John McLaughlin and Ravi Shankar. Tamás’ tune “Mr.East” was specifically composed for him. Malik just loved it and praised Tamás’ writing skills -and as he put it - the melody reminded him of the Iranian tar style. He would have loved to play this melody with his own traditional Azerbaijan mugham band in Baku too.
Malik’s fantastic musicianship can be heard in many tracks, for example in “Lava Lamp” where even the old friend from New York, saxophonist John Nugent, also played. John is sounding very much typical American high standard straight from Rochester. Steve Hackett, guitarist of Genesis, our old musician and soul mate, can also be heard in “Lava Lamp” and in two other tracks (“New Words” and “Wind Tale”). Steve took part in the sessions of Malik at the Gramy studio, since the master of tar contributed to his next album, too.
I left my own compositions to the end. These numbers are presenting many of the oldest Djabe soundscapes again in this album, thereby helping to develop a real overall picture of the band. Tomi arranged my newer and older compositions with great mind and enthusiasm. According to usual routine, he edited, arranged and composed parts to them while treating the symphonic orchestra with special attention and care. “New Words” became a real world music opus, since outside the members of the band, Malik’s tar, Gulli’s berimbau, Steve’s jazz (!) guitar and Sára Kovács’ didgeridoo play can be enjoyed and I play the kalimba and the rainmaker. An earlier, fledgling version of the composition, with the title “Without Words”, was first time recorded on the “Köszönjük Sipi!” memorial CD in 2007. “Life Spirit” is a composition consisting of three parts, in which the third movement was born in the spirit of my respect for Steve Hackett and Genesis. Tomi’s great idea was the lead theme and the solo, which give it a real progressive flavour, and last but not least, it is going to enchant Genesis fans.
Recordings of “Wind Tale” were started in 2004 for the CD entitled “Slices of Life”. It was not finalized then, though the idea of its completion has been brought up by me each time we made a studio work.
Finally the “Wind” has found its way to move on “Forward”. It doesn’t matter, because certain parts sound magnificently just with the symphonic orchestra. The odd thing about the recording is that, András Sipos played the congas and percussion, including the sound of the xylophone like percussion instrument made by Feri Kovács in 2004. At the time, the alto saxophonist of distinction, Viktor Tóth was also a member of the band, whose alto solo and bamboo flute play can be heard in “Wind Tale, too”.
The closing track of the album “My Day” opens with the twittering of Üröm, Tomi’s stop-gap piece. The composition is built on the melodic, solistic bass guitar play. This kind of sound was mainly heard from him on occurrence of solos at gigs. My day provides the closing of “Forward” album as a large-scale tune accompanied by the symphonic orchestra.
All members of Djabe took part in the work enthusiastically. There was a new element as parts of the drums were recorded by Szilárd Banai at his own home studio. As we have experienced, intimate home environment has inspired work positively. It was also true for both Zoli Kovács’ keyboard – and my guitar and percussion recordings at home.
The violin notes for “New Words” were also recorded at my place with Feri. Tomi, as a sound engineer and a musician, worked on the album at home as well. Naturally, many of the recordings were made in Gramy studio, too.
Many thanks to the other collaborators too, to Tibor Mótyán for tabla recording in “Mr. East”, also many thanks to Judit Herczeg and Péter Kaszás for giving the vocal in “Hang Out”, and many thanks to my daughter for her enthusiastic percussion play in “New Words”.
The three-day recording session with the symphonic orchestra in Miskolc was a great adventure and work experience. Tomi supervised of the recordings, and as a composer he collaborated with Zoli who made the arrangement and conducted the orchestra.”

Szilárd Banai - drums
Tamás Barabás - bass guitar, synth, guitar (9)
Attila Égerházi - acoustic and electric guitars, guitar synth (7) percussion (6, 7, 8)
Ferenc Kovács - violin, trumpet, flugelhorn
Zoltán Kovács - keyboards

Featuring:
Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Malik Mansurov - tar (2, 4, 5, 6)
Steve Hackett - guitar (2, 6, 8)
Gulli Briem - hang drum (3) percussion (2, 4, 5, 6), vocal (6), berimbau (6)
John Nugent - tenor saxophone (2)
Tibor Mótyán - tabla, voice (5)
Judit Herczeg - vocal (3)
Péter Kaszás - vocal (3)
Sára Kovács - didgeridoo (6, 7)
Sára Égerházi - shaker, chimes (6)
Ron Stackman - voice (2)
András Sipos - congas, rainmaker, shaker, wooden xylophone (handmade by Ferenc Kovács) (8)
Viktor Tóth - alto saxophone, bamboo flute (8)

Double 200 gram gatefold vinyl LP + CD with 22 minutes extra symphonic track on the Side D of the vinyl.

10th Anniversary 5.1 reissue on one DVD

This is an excellent studio album of the updated band in 2001. The Djabe music kept its original values, but the band made a further step on the road of improvement. The compositions and arrangement became more complex and are of a higher standard; new musicians made richer the already colorful palette of the sound. Ben Castle, the excellent, young British saxophone player, joined Djabe for the recordings and also for the tour. The professional judges gave an eMeRTon award for the album in 2001 as best world music album of the year in Hungary.
Reissue 5.1 mix was done in 2010 by Barabás Tamás at Gramy Recording Studio.

The release contains 4 hours audio extras and 3 hours video extras. Among the audio extras you can listen (5.1 or stereo) to the whole concert of the Update tour 2001, recorded in Szolnok.
The double DVD housed in elegant digipak.
There is a one disc release, which contains the first disc. This can be bought in a DVD Audio Super Jewel Box packaging.

Musicians:
Sipos András – vocal, percussion
Égerházi Attila – guitar
Barabás Tamás – bass guitar
Kovács Ferenc – violin, trumpet
Kovács Zoltán – keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle – saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
Said Tichiti – vocal, gembri, karbakat

DISC 1 – DVD10

This is a both sided DVD10 disc. If you insert the disc into the player with this label up: “This side up DVD Video”, you will reach the DVD Video content. If you want to listen to the high resolution, 24 bit/96 kHz audio tracks, please insert the disc into you player with this label up: “This side up DVD Audio”. In order to play the DVD Audio content, DVD Audio compatible player required.

DVD Video content

Update album: Update, Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Erdő, erdő,
Desire, Mayombe, Winter Forest, My Way, Barraguira, Colours, Ya Dellali, Witchi Tia To.
5.1 DTS, 2.0 PCM audio 75:07

Video extras
Reissue interview (2010)
Barabás Tamás, Kovács Ferenc, Égerházi Attila.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 16:9
Ben Castle interview (2001)
Interview, My way studio recordings, Clouds Dance soprano solos, First Step tenor solos, Mayombe flute solo.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Mayombe TV clip
Video clip edited from TV broadcasts.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

eMeRTon Award
Djabe received an eMeRTon Award in 2001.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Flying DVD outtakes
Outtakes from the Flying DVD, recorded during the 2001 Update tour. On the Flying DVD different versions can be seen. Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Erdő, erdő (Petőfi Csarnok), Clouds Dance (Pesti Vigadó).
5.1 DTS, PCM 2.0, 16:9

Audio extras

Update tour rehearsal at the Hajógyári Island 21st June 2001.:
First Step, Above the Skies, Update 2.2.1, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Barraguira avagy 8 perc jazz, Winter Forest, Djabe.
Dolby Digital 2.0

Photo gallery: A lemezfelvétel, a turné és az eMeRTon díjátadás során készült fotók. Photos from the recording sessions, tour and eMeRTon gala.

DVD Audio content

Update album: Update, Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Erdő, erdő,
Desire, Mayombe, Winter Forest, My Way, Barraguira, Colours, Ya Dellali, Witchi Tia To.
5.1 MLP, 2.0 MLP audio 75:07

The single disc edition in Super Jewel box (DVDAudio version) also available.

10th Anniversary 5.1 reissue on double DVD

This is an excellent studio album of the updated band in 2001. The Djabe music kept its original values, but the band made a further step on the road of improvement. The compositions and arrangement became more complex and are of a higher standard; new musicians made richer the already colorful palette of the sound. Ben Castle, the excellent, young British saxophone player, joined Djabe for the recordings and also for the tour. The professional judges gave an eMeRTon award for the album in 2001 as best world music album of the year in Hungary.
Reissue 5.1 mix was done in 2010 by Barabás Tamás at Gramy Recording Studio.

The release contains 4 hours audio extras and 3 hours video extras. Among the audio extras you can listen (5.1 or stereo) to the whole concert of the Update tour 2001, recorded in Szolnok.
The double DVD housed in elegant digipak.
There is a one disc release, which contains the first disc. This can be bought in a DVD Audio Super Jewel Box packaging.

Musicians:
Sipos András – vocal, percussion
Égerházi Attila – guitar
Barabás Tamás – bass guitar
Kovács Ferenc – violin, trumpet
Kovács Zoltán – keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle – saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
Said Tichiti – vocal, gembri, karbakat

DISC 1 – DVD10

This is a both sided DVD10 disc. If you insert the disc into the player with this label up: “This side up DVD Video”, you will reach the DVD Video content. If you want to listen to the high resolution, 24 bit/96 kHz audio tracks, please insert the disc into you player with this label up: “This side up DVD Audio”. In order to play the DVD Audio content, DVD Audio compatible player required.

DVD Video content

Update album: Update, Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Erdő, erdő,
Desire, Mayombe, Winter Forest, My Way, Barraguira, Colours, Ya Dellali, Witchi Tia To.
5.1 DTS, 2.0 PCM audio 75:07

Video extras
Reissue interview (2010)
Barabás Tamás, Kovács Ferenc, Égerházi Attila.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 16:9
Ben Castle interview (2001)
Interview, My way studio recordings, Clouds Dance soprano solos, First Step tenor solos, Mayombe flute solo.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Mayombe TV clip
Video clip edited from TV broadcasts.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

eMeRTon Award
Djabe received an eMeRTon Award in 2001.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Flying DVD outtakes
Outtakes from the Flying DVD, recorded during the 2001 Update tour. On the Flying DVD different versions can be seen. Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Erdő, erdő (Petőfi Csarnok), Clouds Dance (Pesti Vigadó).
5.1 DTS, PCM 2.0, 16:9

Audio extras

Update tour rehearsal at the Hajógyári Island 21st June 2001.:
First Step, Above the Skies, Update 2.2.1, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Barraguira avagy 8 perc jazz, Winter Forest, Djabe.
Dolby Digital 2.0

Photo gallery: A lemezfelvétel, a turné és az eMeRTon díjátadás során készült fotók. Photos from the recording sessions, tour and eMeRTon gala.

DVD Audio content

Update album: Update, Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Erdő, erdő,
Desire, Mayombe, Winter Forest, My Way, Barraguira, Colours, Ya Dellali, Witchi Tia To.
5.1 MLP, 2.0 MLP audio 75:07

DISC 2 – DVD9

Update tour Szolnok concert 22nd June 2001 (audio only)

Village of the Sun, Ly-O-Lay Ale Loya, Underwater Sunlight, Gallop, Visions, Distant Dance, Witchi Tia To, Above The Skies, Tulamben, Update, Flying, First Step, Lead Soldier, Clouds Dance, Desire, My Way, Mayombe, Winter Forest, Barragiura, Djabe.
5.1 DTS, PCM 2.0 audio. 2 hours 22 mins.

Video extras

Bratislava Jazz Days 18th October 2002
Flying, Witchi Tia To, Clouds Dance, Colours, Camel Ride, Bratislava, Djabe.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Television concert (2001)
Flying, Lead Soldier, Djabe.
Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:3

Audio extras

Radio broadcast – Live at the Nagykanizsa Jazz Festival 19th October 2001
Interview, Clouds Dance, Village of the Sun, Distant Dance, Djabe.
Dolby Digital 2.0

The double DVD housed in elegant digipack.

„The tour introducing our Slices of Life album has probably been one of the greatest undertakings of the band. The slightly complex musical texture was performed for the audience during 2006. The tour began in Hungary in February and it continued during the summer in Europe and the USA. Over 50,000 people saw the band on stage.
This programme might have been rehearsed the most. For a two-month period, 27 rehearsals had been realised altogether. We performed the whole album track by track. Only three compositions were played from the album Sheafs Are Dancing a guitar piece from the first Djabe album, and the angklung of course.
Wonderful memories are preserved from Hungary, Italy, Rochester, Prague, Klaipeda and several other concert locations. Carefully selected recordings, videos and photos of the tour are included on the double CD and DVD released in 2007 entitled Message from the Road, which features the entire set of the concert tour. Therefore, present publication features solely the concert held in Budapest on 3rd March, 2006 at the Petôfi Concert Hall, because the Message from the Road does not contain any recordings from this show. We reserved the Budapest recordings for this separate DVD only.
According to the original plans this DVD should have come out for Christmas 2007. However, the death of András Sipos postponed work on it and was finished completely in 2012 although the editing of the video recordings had begun as early as 2006. Now, seeing it at such a distance of time, this concert might be even more exciting. It has matured with time like some good wine.
The video recording was originally intended for 16:9 format but it was filmed with 4:3 video cameras. While editing the recordings I decided not to mask the screen to fit a 16:9 aspect ratio. Several interesting details would have got lost. However, the video can be enjoyed by zooming in. Therefore, this concert comes with two different aspect ratios. Those who wish to see all the details should watch it in 4:3 format, the ideal one on an older kind of TV set. Those with TVs in 16:9 format and would like the film to fit the screen should zoom in to get the originally intended ratio.
Enjoy! „

Extras:
Slices of soundcheck
Sigh videoclip
Slices of the day – Photo gallery

Language: Hungarian
Subtitle: English
Format: DVD9
DTS 5.1
PCM Stereo
PAL

Musicians:
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar
Égerházi Attila - guitar, percussion
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, violin
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums

Filmed at Palace Of Arts, Budapest, 17th May, 2010.
The concert length is 3 hours. The second disc contains four hours documentaries with Djabe and guest musicians about the first fifteen years of the Band. The documentaries are including plenty of previously unreleased music.

sound: stereo, 5.1
ratio: 16:9
region code: none
PAL

Szilárd Banai – drums, percussion
Tamás Barabás – bass guitar
Attila Égerházi – guitar, percussion, vocal
Ferenc Kovács – violin, trumpet, lead vocal
Zoltán Kovács – piano, keyboards

Guests:
Steve Hackett – guitar
Ben Castle – tenor and soprano sax
Malik Mansurov – tar
Áron Koós-Hutás – tumpet
Mihály Dresch – flute, soprano sax
Ferenc Muck – soprano and tenor sax
Saïd Tichiti – vocal, gembri, percussion
Viktor Tóth – alto saxophone

Guest musician from Heaven:
András Sipos – vocal, percussion

This album is a worthy continuation of the band’s traditions and the values represented by them so far.
The composing ability of Tamás Barabás integrates all the talent of the members of the band, creating a new quality by that. The compositions are fresh, unique, still sound familiar. World music form Hungary, Azerbaijan, approaching jazz from different ways in a specific execution. The members of the band play in their finest fettle. This album is the final work of András Sipos, singer and percussionist, since he almost entirely finished the recordings before his death. His singing misses from three songs…

As we could get used to, great guest artists regularly participate on the Djabe albums. Herewith there are even two sax-players perform on the album. One of them is Ben Castle from England, who is a regular participant of the Djabe albums, and John Nugent from USA, who plays together with the band for the first time.
A particular variety is the play of the world-famous master of tar-player, Malik Mansurov from Azerbaijan in the tune Kilinama. The composition Wind and Bell converts into Gipsy music at the end. Sándor Budai and his band represents a surprising turn in the world of Take on.

The album summarizes all the knowledge that Djabe have learned and showed from music for 12 years.

Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Banai Szilárd - drums
Barabás Tamás - bass, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, horn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - piano
Ben Castle - tenor and sopran sax
John Nugent – tenor sax
Malik Mansurov – tar, oud
Budai Sándor and his Gypsy Band

This album is a worthy continuation of the band’s traditions and the values represented by them so far.
The composing ability of Tamás Barabás integrates all the talent of the members of the band, creating a new quality by that. The compositions are fresh, unique, still sound familiar. World music form Hungary, Azerbaijan, approaching jazz from different ways in a specific execution. The members of the band play in their finest fettle. This album is the final work of András Sipos, singer and percussionist, since he almost entirely finished the recordings before his death. His singing misses from three songs…

As we could get used to, great guest artists regularly participate on the Djabe albums. Herewith there are even two sax-players perform on the album. One of them is Ben Castle from England, who is a regular participant of the Djabe albums, and John Nugent from USA, who plays together with the band for the first time.
A particular variety is the play of the world-famous master of tar-player, Malik Mansurov from Azerbaijan in the tune Kilinama. The composition Wind and Bell converts into Gipsy music at the end. Sándor Budai and his band represents a surprising turn in the world of Take on.

The album summarizes all the knowledge that Djabe have learned and showed from music for 12 years.

Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Banai Szilárd - drums
Barabás Tamás - bass, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, horn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - piano
Ben Castle - tenor and sopran sax
John Nugent – tenor sax
Malik Mansurov – tar, oud
Budai Sándor and his Gypsy Band

The album was recorded during the Slices of Life 2006 tour in the USA, Europe and Hungary.

The first disc is CD and the second is dualdisc.

The CD side of the dualdisc contains the Part II of the concert, meanwhile the DVD side offers the whole live material in surround 5.1 DTS and dolby digital.
In the DVD’s extra features can be found a radio interview originally broadcasted in Berlin in German and English language. The DVD also contains a 71 minutes road movie recorded during the tour with much live footage.

A 32 pages colour booklet completes the Djabe tour documentations, gives a range view of great moment of the road life.

Banai Szilárd - drums
Barabás Tamás - bass
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - piano
Sipos András - drums, percussion

"The Djabe is making a farewell CD for Sipi. The band is recording the material of the album in the studio in early October. We play every note for András. With the help of old tunes, never before played compositions, archived and unused recordings, Sipi will also be present in the studio and on some of the tracks.
The album is closed with Witchi Tai To, the last song played at Sipi’s last concert at the Debrecen Jazz Days on 7th September 2007.
If we had known that this would be the last time, we might never have left the stage."

András Sipos – vocal, percussion (1, 5, 12)
Attila Égerházi – guitar, percussion
Tamás Barabás – bass, guitar (9), percussion
Ferenc Kovács – violin, trumpet, vocal, percussion
Zoltán Kovács – piano, synthesizer, percussion
Szilárd Banai – drums, percussion
Tamás Ruzicska – percussion (10, 11)
Judit Herczeg – vocal (5)
Tibor Karvaly – flute (1)
Castle Ben – tenor sax (5)

This music based on the Sheafs album's style, but became more dynamic and structured.
The main composer is Tamás Barabás again. Ben Castle took over the role of saxophone player on the recording in the studio.

Djabe, the Hungarian Music Award, eMeRTon and PRinceAward winners band, which has become one of most popular Hungarian invited bands to foreign festivals in the last years, has published its new CD.
The band has further improved the sound of the successful Dancing Sheafs. The listener can hear a more dynamic material with more momentum. Next to the usual Djabe band's lineup, its' English music friend, Ben Castle (Sting, Marillion, Jamie Cullumn) can also be heard. A further colourful patch of the CD is the closing piece, which is played by the Echo String Quartet.
Apart from two songs, the whole of the album was composed and arranged by the bass guitar player, Tamás Barabás.

Barabás Tamás - bass, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitars
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - piano
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle - tenor and soprano saxophone
Echo string quartet

Djabe, the number one national hit on the stage of Hungarian jazz/world fusion and an invited guest star of prominent festivals abroad, has always been keen on presenting its musical genre by multimedia means. Notably, a good example for this is their tour in 2003 called ’Sheafs were dancing’ wherein the band was inspired by the masterpieces of Imre Égerházi, a painter reputed all over Europe. While enjoying the music played, the audience could have been absorbed in the paintings projected on the stage screen as well as the film shots of the motifs that inspired such masterpieces. ’Iceworld’ has been a particular memento of these, where the major themes of the paintings have been animated on the screen. The creators animated those pieces of the picture series that depicted the painter’s experiences sensing the proximity of death. The band accompanied all this in the frame of a live performance in a real surround sound. The audience found itself in the heart of the music in a concert hall surrounded by loudspeakers as though having been seated in front of the home movie system. ’The sheafs were dancing’ double DVD set benevolently revives exactly the same audiovisual sensation again. And even more than that: documentaries, road movies, werkfilms and a concert footage in Germany by the band and other shots about the painter Imre Égerházi have been included in this set. As many as 300 minutes have been included in this high quality digipak double DVD set.

Double DVD
Digipak
Concert length 131 minutes
LPCM stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Extras:
Multiangle: screen films
More than 100 minutes documentaries and concer footage
Photo Gallery

This is the double concert DVD set of the album having been on tour that already won the PRince Award and has been nominated for the Surround Music Award of Los Angeles.

It was recorded at ’Sheafs were dancing’ tour at Petőfi Csarnok in Budapest on 20th of September, 2003. Attila Kiss, reporter of ’Sztereó Magazin’ (Stereo Magazine), put the followings down:

’The beginning of the concert already clarified that it would be more than a conventional show. Perhaps, the multimedia show could be the right definition for it in the days of the marketing supported projects. The screens placed above the stage, to wit, did not project the conventional concert scenes. The show started with a few archive TV shots, which presented the works of a painter, Imre Égerházi (1925-2001). The band composed the tunes of the album called ’Sheafs were dancing’ by the inspiration of Imre Égerházi’s particular masterpieces. First, I expected that the paintings would be projected on the screen for each composition, but these were added with further delicates. Several of the painter’s amateur 8 mm shots were rolling, which guided us around the natural scenes captured in his paintings. In addition, they composed some more animations based on these paintings.

The idea beyond the surround concerts is not new, world history proves it, and any one may have seen such a show already. However, this kind of entertainment was a rarity even in the days of home cinemas. Frankly, I doubted this sort of technology a bit, but when the concert started rolling I calmed down, because Djabe progressed on the right track. The core of the surround effect, if we are allowed to call it like this, was composed of pre-recorded sounds. These were the musical details that were recorded on the CD in a studio, but they could not be played live. These were recorded on a disc that was played from a hard disk during the concert. They also used a bar signal along with the surround base, which having been mixed into the monitor system of the drummer assured synchrony with the pre-recorded base for the band. This was important, because the video material mentioned in the introduction was also rolling synchronically with the base. These elements were prepared by ProTools and played through a Digidesign Digi 001 interface to the PA system. The presentation of the video stuff was done through the video card of the computer. I was compelled to conclude that the band challenged the whole thing professionally. We were part of such a musical experience that was a real sensation at Pecsa! The well-tuned background sounds neither bothered the happenings on stage, nor drew the audience’s attention away. Their effect perfectly amplified the feelings and atmosphere, which the band generated to the audience. The overwhelming effect of all this triggered a real impression in me, in fact, an impression as if I had been part of the music and the sounds, which the audience usually enjoys passively. The music I had already known from the CD showed its totally different, new and clear face, which guided me towards the sphere of a much deeper insight.

I believe I may surely say that the high quality of the sounds represented a high-end level even amongst concerts having sound systems, which was also a pivotal point of the whole event. Extraordinary senses selected and edited this concert material. Scene perfectly collaborated with music and sounds, it did not distract attention, it supplemented the tunes and I may even say that it constituted an integral part of them. If I had to define the show held on September 20, I would pick some sort of an expression like ’total arts’ or something – this would cover it correctly. I think the spoken manifestation can more or less claim its position amongst the classic pieces. Experiences, feelings, memories casted in songs represent a unique composition with plenty of creativity, by the exploitation of the technical options of the present and with maximum performance.’

Barabás Tamás - bassguitar
Égerházi Attila - guitar, percussion
Sipos András - percussion, vocal
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums

This music based on the Sheafs album's style, but became more dynamic and structured.
The main composer is Tamás Barabás again. Ben Castle took over the role of saxophone player on the recording in the studio.
Djabe, the Hungarian Music Award, eMeRTon and PRinceAward winners band, which has become one of most popular Hungarian invited bands to foreign festivals in the last years, has published its new CD.
The band has further improved the sound of the successful Dancing Sheafs. The listener can hear a more dynamic material with more momentum. Next to the usual Djabe band's lineup, its' English music friend, Ben Castle (Sting, Marillion, Jamie Cullumn) can also be heard. A further colourful patch of the CD is the closing piece, which is played by the Echo String Quartet.
Apart from two songs, the whole of the album was composed and arranged by the bass guitar player, Tamás Barabás.

Barabás Tamás - bass, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitars
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Kovács Zoltán - piano
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle - tenor and soprano saxophone
Echo string quartet

In 2002 Djabe gave a series of concerts in the most famous jazz club in Budapest, New Orleans. For eight nights the group played almost totally different sets. The last two nights were unplugged gigs. 19th of November 2002 Said Tachiti joined Djabe. 14 tracks are taken from that show and the remaining two from the 10th of December performance. The set covers the whole carrier of the band from the first album Djabe (1996) to Sheafs and Dancing (2003) creating a new and fresh approach of many classic and previously live unplayed classic Djabe tracks. CD1 can be played on any type of audio CD player in the normal way, but also includes band biography,
discography and a video of a Djabe concert.

Barabás Tamás - bass
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Said Tichiti - vocal, gembri

Radio remixes from the album Sheafs are dancing. Adventures tracks by Djabe because of the dance and techno approach of their quality music.

Barabás Tamás - bass
Égerházi Attila - guitars
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Steve Hackett - guitar

In 2001 Djabe completed a very attractive and successful concert tour with Ben Castle promoting the new Update album. The band played incredebly well, you can enjoy unique sax, violin, trumpet, keyboard and bass solos. Djabe put together the old and the new tunes in one set, representing the whole carrier of the band till 2001. The first Hungarian world/jazz DVD was made from three hours long gigs.
On top of the concert video, the DVD also contains a 20 minute documentary, interactive menu, biographies and discographies. Barabás Tamás, who is the sound engineer of the group, made an amazing 5.1 surround sound to complete the spectacular Vari•Lite vision of the show.

"By the end of the concert we will become slightly different people..."
International DVD Magazine

Barabás Tamás - bass, synth programs
Égerházi Attila - acoustic and electric guitars
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle - tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet

On 5th June, 2001, Djabe's new studio album was released. The group prepared their highly elaborate new CD within half a year. The recording contains 13 new compositions.
Ben Castle, who is one of the most prominent British jazz musicians, took part in the studio work. Ben has already played in several formations. Some of these are the following: Marillion, The Brand New Heavies, Kula Shaker, Steve Hackett, etc. Ben participates in Update by playing the soprano and tenor saxophone, the flute and the bass clarinet as well. He plays in almost every song. He is a great musician who managed to contribute with something significant to the music of Djabe, which by all means represents a very high standard. It is good news for the admirers that Ben joins the group for the tour presenting the new album. The musical world of Update continues the group's world music traditions and, at the same time, exceeds the results achieved so far in arrangements and musical motives. The listener can still find the entirety of the exciting world of rhythms and tunes that, thanks to the African and Arab influences imported by Sípos András, add so much to the music of Djabe. On the other hand, the solos performed by soloists Ben Castle, Kovács Ferenc and Barabás Tamás are elaborate and mature both from a musical and from a technical perspective; they are considered to be real treat. The music of the album was composed by Barabás Tamás, based on his own and Égerházi Attila's tunes. We can enjoy his excellent work as an arranger and sound engineer again.

Barabás Tamás - bass, synth programs
Égerházi Attila - acoustic and electric guitars
Sipos András - vocal, percussion
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, flugelhorn, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Ben Castle - tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
Said Tichiti - vocal, gembri, karbakat

Djabe is one of the bright spots of Hungarian musical life. That year their achievements have been rewarded by public as well as professional circles, as it was awarded the so called 'Golden Giraffe' (the Hungarian Music Award) in the category of 'Jazz and world music'. The fans of the band know it very well that the band is characterized not only by the high standard and the perfect quality of the music (the band makes its recordings in its own, modern studio), but their visual effects and the technical quality are also unique in Hungary. The tour in the spring of 2000 was completed with the Vari*Lite intelligent lighting system that made it possible to project animations and videos suiting the message and the mood of the tracks. With the Vari*Lite gobos designed for the tour and projected as background scenery the large audience had a visual experience of a higher standard than ever. Djabe recorded the concerts and compiled an 80-minute CD from the best moments of the tour, which splendidly reflects its atmosphere. At the same time - after the three studio CDs - this album is a selection of the best Djabe tracks, since such classicals can be heard like 'Djabe', 'Visions' and 'Witchi Tai To'. There is a brand new track as well, whose title is Ubud named after a small town in Bali. The cover of the CD has been made in the habitual, demanding way, as it is distributed with a 6-page DigiPack cover.

Barabás Tamás - bass guitar
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Sipos András - voice, percussion
Muck Ferenc - saxophone

The band’s third album takes you to the far away exotic parts of the world, where some people can only travel with the help of the music. They’ve started to play REAL WORLD MUSIC, when it was not in fashion yet. The members of the band are all well educated and trained professional musicians, coming from classical and jazz scene. Using electric bass, synths, guitar, flute and more than hundred different percussions the music is really exciting and relaxing at the same time.

Sipos András - voice, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Muck Ferenc - saxophone
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar, synth programs
Herczeg Judit - vocal
Gesztelyi Nagy Judit - flute

Djabe's second single containing three recordings not featured on other CD's. The first two tracks of the CD are Lay-A-Loya and Visions remix made for the radios. The third track is the edited album version of Ly-O-Lay Ale Loya. The fourth one is Visions, from the Witchi Tai To Tour concert video.

Muck Ferenc - saxophone
Sipos András - voice, percussion
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar, synth programs
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Herczeg Judit - vocal

The group DJABE–the African word means liberty–was found by two ex–musicians Attila Égerházi (guitar) and András Sipos (vocal, percussions) of the group Novus Jam. In 1997 Ferenc Muck the outstanding jazz–saxophonist and the bass guitarist Tamás Barabás well-known from the jazz group Tea were finally joined to DJABE. The special guest of the album is the world-famous Hungarian Ferenc Snétberger who lives in Germany nowadays.
The title Witchi Tai To is named after the nativ American topic composed by Jim Pepper an American saxophonist with nativ American origins. The Indian music fits perfectly the Djabe’s music project, that mixes the African, South–American, Arabic and Javanese elements. The ancient exotic elements mixed with jazz and funky elements inducate a real exiting impression. One of the two albums contains CD-ROM with interwievs, concert – film, text, and photos.
The group DJABE–the African word means liberty–was found by two ex–musicians Attila Égerházi (guitar) and András Sipos (vocal, percussions) of the group Novus Jam. In 1997 Ferenc Muck the outstanding jazz–saxophonist and the bass guitarist Tamás Barabás well-known from the jazz group Tea were finally joined to DJABE. The special guest of the album is the world-famous Hungarian Ferenc Snétberger who lives in Germany nowadays.
The title Witchi Tai To is named after the nativ American topic composed by Jim Pepper an American saxophonist with nativ American origins. The Indian music fits perfectly the Djabe’s music project, that mixes the African, South–American, Arabic and Javanese elements. The ancient exotic elements mixed with jazz and funky elements inducate a real exiting impression. One of the two albums contains CD-ROM with interwievs, concert – film, text, and photos.

Sipos András - voice, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Muck Ferenc - saxophone
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar
Snétberger Ferenc - guitar
Szalóki Béla - flugelhorn
Herczeg Judit - voice

The first Djabe record, published in 1996, wears the name of the band. 'Seeking the right way' characterises this recording, which demonstrates the intentions of Sipos András and Égerházi Attila with quite a varied selection. The new style of the record was a prelude of the later success of Djabe.

Sipos András - voice, percussion
Égerházi Attila - guitar
Muck Ferenc - saxophone
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar
Gesztelyi Nagy Judit - flute
Karvaly Tibor - keyboards, violin
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, violin
Rácz Tamás - guitar