Last Thursday Nick Palmer and Attila Pozsgai, who have played as the band Foresteros for the last 10 years, gave a great flamenco concert at Treehugger Dan's. Attila provided percussion on a cajon, Spanish vocals and guitar, while Nick concentrated on solo guitar. You could see they were enjoying themselves, and the genuine good- natured patter between the two rubbed off on the audience for a few laughs. With 4 other English-language events in the city that night, and 50% off at many restaurants, the place was still packed beyond capacity with 90 people. There was immediate talk about follow-up gigs, and they are more than welcome. Flamenco is still a rarity in Budapest (compared to salsa mania), and this was at the highest level at that. The set list included:

• 1st half: Sevillanas, Tangos, Soleares,Tientos, Tarantas (guitar solo), Malaguenas,Vaca Vaca (Boci, Boci)
• 2nd half: Peteneras, Fandangos, Tonas (solo voice), Alboreas, 4 Muleros, Bulerias, Rumbas
• Encores: Bulerias por Cajon, Vaca Vaca (again)

Most people in Budapest these days have only met me in the last 4 years of my 19 years here, and have met me through the bookstore. But back in the mid-1990s I was a member of Hungary's only English folk band (that's right, not Scottish, not Irish), Captain Pedantic and the Scurvy Dogs. Nick Palmer was the Captain, and I was one of the Dogs, along with Logan, Fifi (real name Viola, but we could not call her that because she played the violin) and Sandor Kis (now drummer for local Irish band Bran). During one of our best gigs, at Petorfi  Csarnok at a benefit for children with dyslexia, we had t-shirts made with "captain," "dog" etc. printed on them - which caused confusion for some of those children who suddenly found themself facing several odd versions of the Creator at once. The concert was also memorable because the kids liked us so much they would not let us off stage to let Presser Gabor of Hungarian supergroup LGT on to play. He eventually walked on anyway and we played a couple songs with him. Logan, our lead singer eventually waved his telephone card (remember those?) and announced we had to leave so he could call his wife. We even played on the main stage of the Sziget Fesztival (then known as Diak Sziget). After two albums and a lot of bickering, our band broke up in 1997, and I have not touched my guitar since. A couple months ago I met with Nick for a cup of tea, and I suggested he play a flamenco gig (he is a flamenco and classical guitar player by training). It was very good to hear him on stage again. There might even be a Captain Pedantic reunion in the works.