Djabe released its previous studio album in 2008, and safe to say the new album Down And Up has been well worth waiting for. The music is simply first class both in both standard and in execution. We’ve been used to this quality and ambition from the band since its inception, and so no surprise therefore, that up to now 42 countries have invited Djabe to perform.
The surround release of the album offer a wide range possibilities for the audiophile lovers. The disc is DVD10 with two playable sides: one side with DVD Audio content, one side DVD Video content. With this solution all the DVD Video, DVD Audio and Blu-Ray player owners can playback the fantastic 5.1 sound.

On the DVD Audio side (player with DVD audio logo required), the whole album can be found in MLP 5.1 and MLP 2.0. This is the best quality digital replication of the original 24Bit/96kHz original recordings. Audio side contains one extra audio track, Steve Hackett’s composition entitled Camino Royale. The DVD Video side contains the whole album and the Camino Royale in DTS 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo. Uniquely the listener can choose from two different stereo masters. In addition to the 24/96 digital, you can listen to the analogue master used for the High End LP pressing. This solution is a good option for the High End testers to check the digital vs analogue differences. The DVD Video contains visual extras. Live performance of the title track and the Dark Soup and the video clip of the Tears For Peace.

Djabe: Down And Up - DVD Audio/Video

DVD Audio content

Playable on DVD Audio compatible players
The whole album in surround MLP 5.1, stereo MLP 2.0

Down And Up
Take A Deep Breath
Awakening City
No Chance For Dance
Almi & Kitti
I Remember
Dark Soup
Five Months Later
Hills Of The Valley
Tears For Peace
Camino Royale (Bonus Track)

Djabe are:

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

Special guests:

Steve Hackett - vocal and guitar
Malik Mansurov - tar
John Nugent - tenor sax
Kálmán Balogh - cimbalom
Péter Bede - shepherd flute
Judit Herczeg - vocal
Gábor Veress - flute
Roger King - keyboard
DVD Video content

Playable on all DVD Audio/Video and Blu-Ray players
The whole album in surround DTS 5.1
and 24 bit/96 kHz digital and analogue stereo master PCM 2.0

Down And Up
Take A Deep Breath
Awakening City
No Chance For Dance
Almi & Kitti
I Remember
Dark Soup
Five Months Later
Hills Of The Valley
Tears For Peace
Camino Royale (Bonus Track)

Video Extra

Dark Soup – Live in Vienna, 3rd April, 2012
DTS 5.1 and PCM 2.0, Aspect 16:9

Down And Up – Live in Budapest, 30th November, 2012
DTS 5.1 and PCM 2.0, Aspect 16:9

Tears For Peace – Film clip
DTS 5.1 and PCM 2.0, Aspect 16:9
Audio Extra

Radio interview at the Down And Up show
in Budapest, 30th November, 2012 by Balázs Náray.
Interviewees: Tamás Barabás, Attila Égerházi,
Steve Hackett, Gulli Briem
PCM 2.0

Djabe released its previous studio album in 2008, and safe to say the new album Down And Up has been well worth waiting for. The music is simply first class both in both standard and in execution. We've been used to this quality and ambition from the band since its inception, and so no surprise therefore, that up to now 42 countries have invited Djabe to perform.
The composition, scoring and studio work of Down And Up extol mainly the talent and exigency of Tamás Barabás. Naturally, some tunes referring to the world of some earlier Djabe recordings written by Attila Égerházi and Ferenc Kovács on the album. A special feature is that the last song of the album, Tears For Peace, was written by Joanna Hackett, wife of Steve Hackett. Here we must mention that the famous Genesis guitarist, who can almost be considered a Djabe member, is in five compositions on the album, moreover, he sings the track Tears For Peace.
While listening to the album we take part in the usual fresh and colourful music journey of Djabe and the band once more shows its new faces through ten new tracks portraying the moods and expressions of past experiences – downs and ups.
Tamás Barabás is a world renowned bass player. On Down And Up he actually plays a lot of instruments on the album, from which we can highlight his brilliant guitar performance. Few people are probably aware, that he started his career as a solo guitar player.
Szilárd Banai has grown into one of the best drummers on the horizon in the past few years, which is also proved by his international acknowledgments. His unique rhythmical and musical approaches add an enjoyable sense of colour to the compositions.
From the very beginning, Attila Égerházi's guitar texture has been the basic characteristic of the Djabe sound. On this album, this essence is represented by Awakening City and Hills Of The Valley.
Ferenc Kovács brings his special musical ability on the trumpet and violin. The text he wrote for song The Dark Soup is of outstanding in its depth, and he performs it in his characteristic singing style.
Zoltán Kovács's piano and keyboard playing have become an ever increasing important element of Djabe's music wonderfully confirmed throughout this album.
Guest artists enrich this album with special colours through being exceptional musicians and through the musical instruments themselves. Steve Hackett (UK) plays the guitar and sings, John Nugent (USA) plays the tenor saxophone, Malik Mansurov (AZ) plays the ancient tar. From among the Hungarian musician friends Kálmán Balogh plays the cimbalom, Péter Bede plays the shepherd flute, Judit Herczeg is doing backing vocals and Gábor Veress plays the flute.

Extras:
Bonus video: Dark Soup live in Vienna
Bonus audio: Camino Royale studio recording

Szilárd Banai - drums
Tamás Barabás - bass guitar, synths, guitar (8, 10), percussion
Attila Égerházi - guitar
Ferenc Kovács - vocal (7), trumpet, violin
Zoltán Kovács - keyboards

Featuring:
Steve Hackett - vocal and guitar
Malik Mansurov - tar
John Nugent - tenor sax
Kálmán Balogh - cimbalom
Péter Bede - shepherd flute
Judit Herczeg - vocal
Gábor Veress - flute

The new live album of Djabe is the third record in succession they release together with guitarist Steve Hackett from Genesis. The first album was the Sipi Memorial Concert of 2008, followed by the double CD entitled In The Footsteps of Attila and Genghis, released in 2011 of their Middle European tour in 2010. The band borrowed the title from Steve Hackett’s tour blog in which the guitar legend describes his wanderings with his Hungarian friends across Russia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Austria and Hungary.

Summer Storms And Rocking Rivers is the second album that takes its title from Steve’s blog. The double album was recorded in Bratislava during the tour of 2011. During the July shows the band’s journey was interspersed with big summer storms in Hungary and Slovakia. The rivers in the title refer to the Danube, linking Bratislava and Budapest, as well as the Tisza which touches the city of Tokaj.

The second stop of the tour was the MMC Club in Bratislava, where the band had been awaited by Slovakian fans hungry for Genesis melodies. The fact that Steve Hackett had never performed before in Slovakia gave a special intensity to the show. The 2011 tour featured a lot of new elements compared to the 2010 concert series, as this time Steve, at the request of Attila Égerházi, also brought an acoustic instrument besides his inseparable Fernandes electric guitar. Thus the playlist could be extended to include acoustic songs like Ace of Wands, the extended version of Firth to Fifth, and also Horizons and Blood on the Rooftops, Steve’s best-known solo pieces from the Genesis era. Compared to 2010, the setlist played in Bratislava brought changes concerning the Djabe songs, too, as Scenes, Rush For Ménes and Flowers Stillness were also included. Steve could fit very well in these compositions and several already classic ‘Djabe special guest Steve Hackett’ songs were played. To name just a few: The Steppes, City of Habi, Butterfly, Last Train To Istanbul, In That Quiet Earth, Distant Dance

The interesting thing about the album is that it will not be released on CD, only on the traditional vinyl record. The design is of extra quality, due to the gatefold cover. The cases containing the records are also printed in four colors, but the most important information is that the records are pressed on 200 gram audiophile vinyl. Gramy Records made this decision to support vinyl releases and encourage the listeners to get back to physical recorded music. However, those who don’t feel like dusting their record player or buying a new one will not have to despair either, as the Bratislava concert will be also released on DVD by Christmas 2013.

One of the interesting features of the double album is that the fourth side ends with the closing part of Genesis classic Los Endos, which was recorded not in Bratislava in 2011, but in Budapest, on the stage of IBS in November 2012. As an extra specialty, this number features Mezzoforte icon Gulli Briem as second drummer.

Steve Hackett – vocal, guitar, angklung
Ferenc Kovács – vocal, trumpet, violin, angklung
Zoltán Kovács – keyboards, angklung
Attila Égerházi – guitar, percussion, angklung
Tamás Barabás – bass, angklung
Szilárd Banai – drums, angklung
András Sipos – samlper vocal
András Rosta – angklung
Gulli Briem – drums

Djabe released their studio album, Down And Up at the end of 2012. The album was highly appreciated by the professionals and audience as well. The album was nominated to the Hungarian Fonogram Award in jazz category in 2013. The album were released in three different versions: CD, LP and DVD Audio format.

The album was presented by the band during Hungarian and international tour. The concert recordings was made on the 30th of November 2012 during this tour which later was released on DVD. On the concert apart from the members of Djabe (Tamás Barabás, bass guitar, Szilárd Banai drums, Attila Égerházi guitar, Ferenc Kovács trumpet, violin and vocal and Zoltán Kovács keyboards) Steve Hackett from Genesis contributed too. The speciality of the show was that one week before the performance Gulli Briem agreed to participate as well. This was the first time that the drummer of Mezzoforte played together with the band, and later it became regular during Hungarian and international tours. In the first part of the gig the band and Steve Hackett introduced the first nine compositions from the album Down And Up –six amongst these were composed by Tamás Barabás and the remaining three were co-written by Ferenc Kovács and Attila Égerházi (two and two). The studio album and the concert were both arranged by Tamás Barabás. In the second half of the show Steve Hackett played an acoustic block, then members of Djabe joined him and continued the acoustic performance as a quartet. A special treat was Steve Hackett’s Ace of Wands played by Djabe in acoustic version. The acoustic block was continued with Firth of Fifth, the famous tune was played on the violin by Ferenc Kovács then the band changed to electric within the song, and after the keyboard solo it was closed by the most famous guitar solo of Steve Hackett. During the following Genesis and Djabe songs Gulli Briem joined the band which boosted the intensity of the concert and coloured the sound of the rhythm section.

The encore was Tears for Peace, the last composition of Down And Up album. This is an interesting song. The music was written by Tamás Barabás, the lyrics by Joanna Hackett, Steve Hackett’s wife and it was sung by Steve.

The DVD contains the whole show in high quality sound, which is usual with Djabe – stereo and 5.1 surround as well. Amongst the extras there is the video for the song Tears for Peace. It is quite special because the band shooted it on 16 mms black and white film, and the song is played and sung on a T 59 tank in downtown Budapest.

Another extra is a video which was recorded during the 2011 concert in Debrecen, The Steppes which is a composition of Steve Hackett.

The producer also added a photo gallery to the DVD.

Tamás Barabás - bass guitar
Szilárd Banai - drums
Attila Égerházi - guitar
Ferenc Kovács - vocal, trumpet,violin
Zoltán Kovács - keyboards
Steve Hackett - vocal and guitar
Gulli Briem - drums

This double CD was recorded by the band in the summer of 2010 during the tour with Steve Hackett. This tour reached Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia (in chronological order). The show featured Djabe classics as well as Steve Hackett’s own compositons and a few ones which originated from Genesis. From the two most exciting pieces of the recording, the first one is the Dark Soup composition, which is to be featured on the forthcoming studio album by Djabe making it a world premiere. The guitar play of Steve Hackett is an essential part of this particular piece. The other speciality is Steve Hackett’s Last Train to Istanbul taken from his latest solo album Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth. The song had not even been performed live with his own band. One reason of this might be that Ferenc Kovács, the violinist of Djabe plays a vital role in the song. However, Feri Kovács is always part of a Djabe concert, which meant that the band was able to perform this excellent piece of composition.

Steve Hackett – guitar, vocals
Banai Szilárd – drums
Barabás Tamás – bass guitar
Égerházi Attila – guitar, percussions, vocals
Kovács Ferenc – trumpet, violin, vocals
Kovács Zoltán – keyboards
Koós-Hutás Áron - trumpet

Djabe said farewell to András Sipos in a 5 hour monstre concert. This was an incredible concert, which became a real cultural event with prose section. World music, jazz, hard rock and metal elements were all present. Everybody added something to the production. Djabe in its best form and Steve Hackett managed to blend into the band like an organic member, playing unusually freely. He apparently enjoyed every single moment. It was a triumph homage, the musicians said goodbye to their always cheerful joker as he deserved it.
Djabe is the no.1 jazz/world fusion band of Hungary. The group has received recognition and won numerous Hungarian and international awards since its foundation twelve years ago. Witchi Tai To won the prize in the category Best Hungarian Jazz/World Music Album of the Year, in 2000. In 2002, the Update received the award of the Best Hungarian World Music Album of the Year. Aside from this Ly-O-Lay Ale Loya (2001), and the Sheafs are Dancing album (2003) were nominated for Hungarian Award in category the best Hungarian jazz album of the year. The DVD audio version of the Sheafs are Dancing won the international PRince Award in 2004. The same album was nominated for Surround Music Award in Los Angeles in the best additional features category 2005. In 2006 Slices of Life got a nomination for the best world music album of the year in Hungary. Djabe is one of the most invited and popular Hungarian jazz bands at international festivals. During the last three years the band did successful performances in Europe and North America. Some significant gigs at festivals: Rochester, Baltimore, Washington DC – USA; Kaslo – Canada; Burg-hausen, Berlin, Regensburg, Munich – Germany; Klaipeda, Kaunas – Lithuania; Riga – Latvia; Pori, Imatra – Finland; Glo-gow, Cracow, Poland; Stockholm – Sweden; London – UK; Hradec Králové, Prague – Czech Republic; Bansko – Bulgaria; Cakovec – Croatia; Bratislava, Presov – Slovakia; Vienna, Wiesen – Austria; Nis – Serbia; Sarajevo – Bosnia and Herzegovina; Udine – Italy; Sines – Portugal; Baku – Azerbaijan; Mercuria Ciuc – Romania.

\\\"One of the best fusion bands all over the world\\\"
John Nugent, Rochester International Jazzfestival producer

\\\"The best band I\\\'ve ever played with\\\"
Steve Hackett, Genesis guitarist

Sipos András – percussion, vocal
Djolé – 1999 recordings
Reproach and Street scene of Hajdúböszörmény – 2003 recordings

Steve Hackett – acoustic and electric guitar
Égerházi Attila – guitar, percussion
Barabás Tamás - bass, derbouka
Kovács Ferenc – trumpet, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Dresch Mihály – soprano and tenor saxophone, flute
Balogh Kálmán - dulcimer
Said Tichiti - vocal, gembri, djembe, derbouka
Budai Sándor - violin
Németh Ferenc - vocal

Djabe said farewell to András Sipos in a 5 hour monstre concert. This was an incredible concert, which became a real cultural event with prose section. World music, jazz, hard rock and metal elements were all present. Everybody added something to the production. Djabe in its best form and Steve Hackett managed to blend into the band like an organic member, playing unusually freely. He apparently enjoyed every single moment. It was a triumph homage, the musicians said goodbye to their always cheerful joker as he deserved it.
The DVD release contains the whole concert in two parts, and plenty of extras. On dics one we can enjoy one of the last performances of Sipi, recorded by the Serbian Televison at the Nišville Jazz in Niš, Serbia. Disc two contains the „What happened on 30th November…” documentary about the Sipi concert. It help us to look inside behind the scenes of the Sipi concert.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"One of the best fusion bands all over the world\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
John Nugent, Rochester International Jazzfestival producer

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What does Hungarian jazz sound like? Take smooth jazz played by seven guys who look like truck drivers and dump a couple of buckets of paprika on them. Add a little Eastern European folk sensibility, particularly that
gypsy fiddle. A packed RIJF Big Tent ate it up.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Friday night was a huge success - the weather was fine, and the crowds were ready! Folks jammed to a variety of great bands including Orquesta d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Soul, Djabe, and of course Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Geoff Roach, Executive Director, San Jose Jazz

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s not hard to figure out why Djabe is the leading jazz-fusion band of Hungary. The group\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s music is filled with lush textures and appealing melodies. Group member Kovács Ferenc, who has worked with David Murray and Archie Shepp, is an excellent soloist on trumpet, flugelhorn, and violin.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Rochester Citynews

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We all think that Djabe sounds great!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Mia Hansson / Stockholm Jazz Festival

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It is most beautiful music, an excellent production, and the music is superb.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Brian Dempster, Holywood International Jazz Festival, Northern Ireland
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I love their sound and stage presentation.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Roscoe Dames, Bahamas Jazz Festival

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Djabe\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s music is very interesting, well played and well produced. Congratulations!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Associazione Blue Note Orchestra, Italy

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Their music is good, very good!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Philippe Méziat, Bordeux Jazz Festival, France

Extras:
Live at the Nišville Jazz, Serbia 2007
Television broadcast of one of the last shows with Sipi
Sheafs are dancing, Doromb, Omachulé, Angklung-Niš, Djabe, Shepherd’s song, Djabe reprise, Clouds Dance,

Bass solo, Behind the veil
Nišville flash
Werkfilm

Extras:
What happened on 30th November, Andras Day
Film about the Sipi concert

Hrabal – Lengyel: Táncórák
Actor friend’s performance in memoriam Sipi

Musicians:
Steve Hackett - guitar
Égerházi Attila - guitar, percussion
Barabás Tamás - bass guitar, derbouka
Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, violin, vocal
Kovács Zoltán - keyboards
Banai Szilárd - drums
Dresch Mihály - soprano and tenor saxophone, flute
Balogh Kálmán - dulcimer
Said Tichiti - vocal, gembri, djembe, derbouka
Budai Sándor - violin
Németh Ferenc - vocal