Àbáse Reimagines Hungarian Folk on ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’

Àbáse has long moved like a cultural conduit—an artist less interested in staying inside one lane than in building bridges between scenes, cities, and musical lineages. The project is the imaginative world of Hungarian, Berlin-based producer, composer, and keyboardist Szabolcs Bognár, whose work has steadily earned support from tastemakers including Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova, MOJO, Songlines, and Okayplayer. Rooted in an expansive set of global reference points—modal jazz, hip-hop, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and underground electronic music—Àbáse’s sound is defined by motion: a constant push toward new conversations between tradition and experimentation.

With the new single ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’, that outward-looking approach folds back in on itself, bringing Bognár full circle to his native Hungary. Released via Bridge The Gap and Oshu Records, the track is an exploration of Hungarian folk and avant-garde classical music reframed through the instincts of a beat-maker raised on sampling and hip-hop culture. It’s a meeting point between archival beauty and modern low-end pressure—music that honours its sources while refusing to treat them as museum pieces.

At the heart of ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ is a deep collaboration with celebrated Hungarian folk artist Kacsó Hanga and virtuoso cimbalom player Jenő Lisztes. The track’s origin story begins with a chance encounter with the work of acclaimed Hungarian composer Márta István. During a deep-dive listening session with friend and fellow Budapest crate digger Kanada Káosz, Bognár became captivated by István’s orchestration and immediately began imagining a bold collision: expansive classical textures set against a gritty, trap-leaning beat.

In his own recounting of the process, Bognár traced the spark back to István’s 1985 Hearts LP—specifically the opening track, which he says instantly suggested drums in his mind. He drafted the initial idea as soon as he got into the studio, building around István’s composition as the structural core, then layering in drums and bass. From there, the piece expanded as Hanga’s vocals and Lisztes’ cimbalom brought new depth and emotional gravity, transforming the beat-driven framework into something richer, more narrative, and more alive.

That storytelling deepens further through Hanga’s approach to lyrics and melody. For the vocal line, she drew from a folk melody preserved in early 20th-century archives by Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók, then intertwined it with ‘Fekete Szem’, a poem written in 1830 by Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty. The result is a striking act of musical time travel—century-spanning fragments reassembled into a new form, carrying the weight of history while speaking in the present tense.

Determined to give these traditional elements even more new life, Bognár widened the circle beyond Hungary, pulling from his international network to bring in forward-thinking voices from the Berlin and Hamburg contemporary jazz scenes. Bassist Petter Eldh, drummer Silvan Strauss, and saxophonist Otis Sandsjö add a sharp, modern edge—musicianship that doesn’t simply “feature” on the track, but actively reshapes its energy. Bognár has described returning to Berlin for a focused two-day session at Brewery Studios, where the group developed his beat ideas and demos on tape. For him, involving international players wasn’t just a stylistic choice—it was a way of giving the Hungarian storyline a contemporary, outsider twist, particularly in the track’s second section, where the ensemble builds and improvises around Lisztes’ solo.

In many ways, ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ signals the beginning of a new era for Àbáse—one that merges the creative DNA of his 2021 debut Laroyê and his 2024 follow-up Awakening. It brings together the sample-based, heavily produced sensibilities of the former with the full-band, live, analog recording processes of the latter, creating a hybrid that feels both meticulous and spontaneous. It also arrives as the latest chapter in a wider journey shaped by years of collaboration and touring alongside artists such as Wayne Snow, Dumama, Gulty Simpson, and Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange—experiences that have clearly sharpened Bognár’s instinct for connection and his ability to translate it into sound.

With ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’, Àbáse doesn’t simply reference heritage—he reanimates it. The track stands as a bold, layered statement on what it can mean to return home: not by recreating the past, but by sampling it, challenging it, and letting it evolve in dialogue with the world.