Lőrinc Bubnó, the son of Tamás Bubnó, the founder of the StEFREM vocal ensemble, sat down with me inside ISON, an event and rehearsal space in Budapest’s seventh district. “ISON,” he explained, “is the Greek word for the drone tone given by a singer (while other voices sing above it) that connects Heaven to Earth.”
The StEFREM choir, initially named after Saint Ephraim the Syrian (306-373), became known after their public debut in 2002 as devotees of liturgical chant, will present their version of heaven on earth in a triptych of concerts dedicated to three Hungarian composers: Liszt, Kodály, and Bartók, on October 22, December 16, and March 25. Sporting the title “A Genius is Born,” they will pay tribute to the male choir works written by those three composers. Cleverly, the concerts are taking place on each of their birthdays.
As amusing fodder for the October Liszt event, popular lore has it that the composer’s Leipzig publisher, after receiving Liszt’s brand new 12-piece men’s choral cycle, asked him this question: “Maestro, do you intend to change beer drinkers into demigods with these works?” Liszt replied: „Never mind that, just publish them.” Liszt, one of the most prodigious composers of his generation, wrote many works for men’s choir, and also symphonic and chamber works featuring men’s choirs to the end of his life. His style had a strong influence on the young Bartók, and his legacy can be felt in contemporary works as well. StEFREM’s program will present these reflections and reworkings alongside the original compositions. Whether that specific 12-piece composition converted beer drinkers into demigods, we’ll never know.
This Budapest-based vocal ensemble has seven professional voices from basso to countertenor, and some also play instruments. They have released 18 albums since 2002, and their rich and varied repertoire includes everything from Byzantine chant to Disney/Elton John’s “The Lion King.”
Back to ISON, where Lőrinc and I chatted about the mysteries of chant and other heavenly things.
– What were the choir’s beginnings?
– My father founded the choir in 2002 as the St. Ephraim Férfikar. What we sang was almost exclusively Byzantine, Eastern Catholic, and Orthodox church music. That was for the first ten years, making ourselves known in the church music realm. When we won a choir competition in Poland in 2005, that gave us a big career boost.
At the same time, people started to ask why a choir in Hungary would sing Orthodox music! My answer was that my father, grandfather, and I are Greek Catholics, which is a religious minority in Hungary – probably only a few thousand. But it’s also prevalent in Ukraine – between 8-10 million, actually, and in some neighboring countries. There are some differences among [the varied sects], but the liturgy remains the same. Now, only my dad and I are the Greek Catholics in the group. By the way, this [religious affiliation] is NOT a prerequisite to be in the choir! We are not a religious choir and we are not financed by any church.
– When did the group’s musical choices start to change?
– After 15 years of singing old liturgical music, we began to expand to classical, and then include works by well-known Hungarian composers like Bartók, Kodály, and Liszt, with which we produced many recordings. I would say that in the previous ten years, our repertoire has really broadened to a very wide spectrum that includes folk music and pop music. We are basically trying to steer ourselves away from what was written 200 years ago, and to think about writing our own pieces.
We’re also thinking hard about our musical profile: we’re not the King’s Singers or Tallis Scholars, or any of the well-known choirs. We want to focus a lot on contemporary music written for us, and what’s authentic for us. In fact, our Viktor Papp, who is a Hungarian from Ukraine, wrote us a Requiem Mass dedicated to the victims of the war in Ukraine. We are all well-trained musicians – five from the Liszt Academy, in the Singing, Church Music, and Choral Conducting faculties. Another graduated from Debrecen University and is a trumpet player, and another is a life-long musician and a trained psychologist.
– Because this formerly eight-member group recently said goodbye to your brother, a long-time member, why did you decide not to replace him with another singer?
– We tried out many guys, but couldn’t find another singer that could match my brother’s [secondary] ability to play many percussion instruments on a professional level, as well as match his unique stage presence. We heard many good ones, but [our decision] was less of a musical thing, but more an issue of sensing the ‘click’ that has to happen within the team. And besides, even if we took another on board, we would have needed to rewrite everything, because his voice would not necessarily in the same category [as my brother’s]. So, it’s easier just to rearrange everything for seven.
– I noticed one of your concert pieces included electronics, like loop stations. Any plans to use more tech like that, especially since they can create drones too?
– We’ve added finger drumming on a midi-controller that you can program, and the ‘cajon’ – a box with strings inside, so that when your hands slap it, it sounds like a snare drum. The looping is my thing, since I do pop, electronic music, and production for pop artists. So, I have a deep interest to expand on this for us, since I don’t know anyone else does looping with a choir. Looping is generally used by solo/duo artists like Ed Sheeran, for example.
– This group is so adept at different styles— you’ve even got spoofy stuff like the Turkish mock-up of Mozart/Tarkan — and even just to imagine three magical B’s: Byzantine, Bartok and Be-Bop, do you think you could consider adding be-bop?
– We never tried it, and we like to experiment, So, I really don’t think there’s a genre I would ever say No to!
—-
StEFREM’s schedule of upcoming performances in Budapest are here.
Perhaps you too, will witness the heavenly vibration of their ISON drone tone!