Ektar Instrumental Quintet, vendég: Ávéd János

The Ektar ensemble, active since 2002, performs improvisational chamber music; their compositions are inspired by Balkan, Far Eastern, and African musical cultures, though their more strictly structured pieces also reflect influences from medieval music, European folk music, and contemporary music. Their name is also their artistic credo, as the Indian word Ek-tar means “one string”: the five musicians strive to blend together in expression, melodic variations, and rhythm as if they were truly playing on a single string. Their instrumentarium includes not only traditional jazz instruments but also exotic ones: Szabolcs Szőke plays the gadulka, a 14-string Balkan string instrument, while Dániel Váczi plays the glissotar, a wind instrument he developed himself; both instruments interact harmoniously with the others in both compositions and free improvisations.