Campus Online interview with Bal?zs Bihari (Almost Famous Rock ...

Here is a translation of a recent interview by Heni Hegyi, originally published on Campus Online:?

http://www.campusonline.hu/kultura/zene/3434-barki-lehet-majdnem-hires.html#.UMcOZuT8JrM

There's a place where anyone can dig deep into pop music life and activity in the broadest sense ? now within the framework of a certified training programme

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Almost Famous Rock School (Majdnem H?res Rocksuli) is aiming to make all knowledge available for those interested and to train professionals, not only so that they can find employment as a band manager or press person, but so that they can be trusted with any relevant task. Although prior to AFRS there had been no such initiative in Hungary, it is important to mention PANKKK (Programme for the National Contemporary Popular Music Culture), which has existed in a ?hibernated? state since June 2010.

We talked to Bal?zs Bihari (AFRS-founder, ex-Sziget.hu, Hippikiller etc.) about the rock school and its plans.

What kind of training begins in January 2013 and is it still possible to apply?

The rock school trains popular music managers and this also applies to the course beginning in January 2013, this is when our next term starts. You can still apply by writing to info@mhrs.hu, but apparently there are fewer and fewer entrance interview slots available.

What does such an interview look like? Is there some kind of basic knowledge that is necessary if one wants to apply?

During the interview, we attempt to ascertain why one is here, what expectations they have, and we compare this to what we offer. The age distribution is very interesting, because we get people who have just completed their secondary school-leaving exam, but also 35-year-olds, we get outsiders, event managers and everything in between. As a result, people arrive with various expectations: some want to build networks, some want to organise their already existing fragments of knowledge into a coherent system, and so forth.

What is the primary motivation behind the school?

It?s quite funny that we were the first to have accredited popular music management as a profession ? it took approximately ten months for it to be included in the Ministry list. This also highlights the reason why we established the course: Hungarian pop music has existed in a twilight zone and this can still be felt in various areas. PANKKK was beginning to sort this out, and an important element of this process is education.

Somehow in Hungarian pop culture a certain continuity, which one can experience in Anglo-Saxon countries, is lacking to this day. This is still a product of the pre-regime change era: there was not much overlap between mainstream and underground, and therefore none between generations either. A consequence of this is the fact that some of those who are interested may be familiar with some elements, but few people have a comprehensive knowledge, few people are able to properly place events, people, references into context. For this reason, we examine pop history primarily from a music industry perspective, we prioritise cause-and-effect relations, as opposed to whether David Bowie released his latest single on the 23^rd or the 24^th of October 1972. We are at the very beginning of a very long process, even if we have managed to cause a stir in young people involved in pop culture: Almost Famous, imPro [School], university courses, Music Networks [Association] all cover a different area of pop, but work towards the same goal ? that is, the acceptance and inclusion of pop as a part of general culture. This is why we originally set out and this is our expectation today.

Isn?t the problem that there are good professionals, but on the part of the audience the desire to find out about things and make use of this opportunity is lacking?

The audience is not aware of how small and inbred the Hungarian pop world is ? but this is okay. You can only think long term, because the people we train will mature in five to ten years? time. The same with a change in the general outlook ? it is a slow process, but you need to recognise that moment where you can take a spectacular step. At the moment we are working on a coursebook, the building blocks and chapters of which could constitute modules that other institutions would also be able to use. We are already doing this in practice, since we act as guest lecturers on other courses and vice versa.

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And here is a recent promo video, featuring footage from our own Budapest Bike'n'Roll ride, as well as the previous one, which I described in a previous post:

Source: http://immhive.posterous.com/campus-online-interview-with-balazs-bihari-al

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