Pécs Jazz Camp

A three-day jazz camp, the first of its kind intended for non-musicians, was organized at the beginning of June in the Sikonda holiday center near the southern Hungarian town of Pécs. The camp, which was sponsored by the local cultural authorities, attracted about 70 young jazz fans from the Pécs region. Hungarian jazz critic Gábor Turi opened the camp with a lecture entitled “The Place of Jazz in the World of Music”. Afterwards, there were programs devoted to jazz history, dixieland, European and Hungarian jazz, folklore and jazz, and jazz-rock. The teachers included Árpád Beke, Gyula Molnár, Géza Gábor Simon, Károly Binder and Csaba Deseő. The camp wound up with a concert by soloists and groups. The camp was such a success that the organizers are already talking about making it a regular event and expanding it to a full week next year.

(Jazz Forum, 1983/4)