Melting Times

The Hungarian acoustic band Melting Times was formed in the early spring of 2010 with the aim to create a unique acoustic sound rich in original musical ideas.

The members of the band had been playing in different formations mostly in Budapest and have finally decided to work together.

Gyorgy Barta (banjo) and Benedek Toth (dobro) have come a long way together. They used to play in a bluegrass formation called Dry Whisky in the late 80’s and early 90’s. After the band had broken up, Gyorgy Barta and Kalman Jambrik (double bass) joined another later disbanded formation called Kekfu in the late 90’s, in which Benedek Toth was later also invited to play for a couple of years. In the meantime, Gyorgy Barta and Benedek Toth have also been busy playing with guitarist and bluegrass veteran Istvan Bocskai in an occasionally performing band called Dad Gave My Dog Away.

Egon Molnar (guitar and lead vocal) is a founding member of The Banjo Jumping Band, a bluegrass band active in southern Hungary in the city of Baja. Kalman Jambrik had occasionally been invited to do backup work for that formation, so with Egon Molnar he has developed a well-established and cooperative relationship.

Gyorgy Barta, Benedek Toth and Kalman Jambrik had another chance to play bluegrass music together for a gig at the annual Abaliget Bluegrass Festival in a follow-up formation of the original Kekfu band under the name Bluesgrass Crossing in 2007. This band transformed into the new formation of Another Ground and Gyorgy Barta and Kalman Jambrik kept up their chops under this new name.

Another Ground  made it to the international stage by winning a third place at the Bluegrass Stage band contest in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2009. The band also got to be selected to play at the annual European World of Bluegrass (EWOB) festival in the Netherlands in 2009. The inventiveness and unique sound of the band has been accepted with high acclaim.

The formation Another Ground changed in 2010, when Kalman Jambrik and Gyorgy Barta decided to leave the band.

Laszlo Majnik, author and composer of much of the repertoire of Another Ground also has to be mentioned, because his prolific musical imagination has been an instrumental force behind the band’s overall success. His songs are kept being adapted, shaped, scored and performed by Melting Times, nay the very band was named after one of his signature songs, Melting Time.

Melting Times has thus been formed and these four musicians of more-or-less shared background are riding new waves again…

Members:

• Barta György - banjo, vocals
• Jámbrik Kálmán - bass, vocals
• Molnár Egon - guitar, vocals
• Tóth Benedek - dobro, vocals

Website: www.meltingtimes.gportal.hu