Slam Poetry Hungary
The slam movement in Hungary was launched in February 2006 by the Budapest Kunsthalle with an event called Budapest Slam, which is considered a battle of poets and rappers. A year later, Budapest Slam 2 followed, with international guests. A year later, in January 2008, Titanilla Fiáth (Tita), known from Ludditák, and three lesser known but enthusiastic Slam fans - Katalin Mavrák (Hugee), István Matits (Id) and Zoltán Prekopcsák - started to organise monthly Slam Poetry evenings in the basement of a Budapest restaurant, Kőleves. The Slam Poetry Budapest (SPB) was founded, following the pattern of the previous two years, with a theme for each event, but as an innovation, a ten-word competition was also organised, and the open mic was open to everyone.
Following the success of the Műcsarnok and SPB, Tilos Radio quickly became active in the slam scene and, together with Bly Management, which provides opportunities and support to the Hungarian underground scene, also started its random Tilos Slam series and launched its own slam show under the name of Striit Noiz with Chi-Korea as host.
In the autumn of 2009, the First European Slam Days were held in Berlin, with nearly 200 slammer from 17 countries, including several Hungarians represented by SPB and Bly Management, in workshops, performances and competitions. From this point on, SPB and Bly Management have been working together to try to expand the genre in Hungary, and have succeeded to the extent that they have eventually organized events that attract an ever larger audience.
In 2012, the monthly SLAM POETRY BUDAPEST KLUB series moved from Kőleves to the neighbouring Mika Tivadar (47 Kazinczy Street, VII), and in the summer of 2013 to the neighbouring Kolor Bar (13 Király Street, VII), where an open slam competition and other performance poetry shows take place on the last Thursday of every month.
On 7 October 2012, the first National Slam Poetry Championship took place at Trafó, marking another milestone in the history of slam poetry in Hungary. The winner, Süveg Márk Saiid, represented Hungary at the 2012 European Slampionship in Antwerp. This was followed in spring 2013 by the 1st National Team Slam Championship. The growing popularity of the genre in Hungary is demonstrated by the fact that more than 150 competitors entered the 2nd National Slam Poetry Championship. The qualifying rounds took place from 4-6 October 2013 at the Corvintető, and the 25 slammer who made it through will compete for the title on 15 November 2013 at the Trafo.
It is also important to point out that slam poetry is not only attracting more and more people in Budapest, but also in the countryside and beyond the borders of Hungary, where more and more slam events are being organised with great success, including in Pécs, Szeged, Sopron, Veszprém, Debrecen, Győr, Százhalombatta, Kecskemét, Transylvania and Felvidék.
