My musical journey

Letter from Hungary (20-1): Dexler Poppe got into Music Early

Editor: I am glad to introduce Dexler Poppe. Regular readers may have already read many of his comments. He introduces himself here, and will follow up with more articles. He is Hungarian, but writes perfect English! Without further ado:

When John asked me to write something for the blog, I was surprised. And hesitated a little. But I found the idea had an appealing overtone of adventurousness, so I couldn't resist to say yes.

I believe it is just fitting to start with introduction, so here it is. This is the story of audiophile-me.

When I was a kid, there really wasn't that much music in our house. My parents just weren't into it. We had a small Siemens cassette player/recorder and maybe a dozen tapes plus those with the children stories and songs. But it soon turned out, that I was wired differently. I loved music form a very early age on and was quite sensitive to sounds. This went to the extreme of me practically banning a weekly scientific tv program in our household at the tender age of 3, because I hated the voice of the presenter. To complicate things, the intro of the same tv show impressed me quite a bit in great part due to the music (as shown in this youtube.)

But then of course my parents had to switch channel quickly, before the dreaded presenter came on screen.

I was also fascinated by the mechanics of music playback. I just loved the click-clack of the buttons of our little Siemens player, the ability to detune radio stations with a simple turn of a knob and that most fascinating of all features: recording. I don't consider recording magic anymore, but other then that, my feelings towards equipment hasn't changed much during the years. So yes, I admit it openly, that I love the gear - a lot. In fact, I asked for some sort of new playback equipment every time when I could justify it.

Having wandered aimlessly on the musical landscape in my first 9 years, one day after school together with my friends we decided it's time to consolidate things. Since we liked a number of rock bands, we figured they will be best served if each of us chooses one as a primary focus. My band was Guns n' Roses, and so it became my duty to be the expert on all things GNR. This is how I learnt about all the different factors that form and influence musicians from idols, peers, through personal traumas to socio-cultural context.

As I learnt more and more, I got to know more and more bands. In practice, this meant having copied tapes in record stores (re: audiopro) and having pen-friends who had access to more obscure stuff. At a certain stage down this road, we got hold of the album ...And the Circus Leaves Town from Kyuss. I can still vividly remember the hot summer afternoon when we first listened to it. That album has a very unique sound and as a consequence, an atmosphere that was unlike anything I heard before. That was when I learnt that there's more to music than a memorable guitar riff and a catchy refrain. (Even though Kyuss can do catchy very well.)

From this point onwards, things escalated quickly. Music started to become increasingly important in my life. We've published a fanzine with my friends. I started listening to electronic music as I became familiar with - then positively underground - genres like trip-hop and drum and bass. I felt equally at home in rock pubs and techno clubs. One night I heard a program on a small community radio station, that played experimental music. They talked about an upcoming concert by Finnish noise duo, Pan Sonic. I decided to go. I died and reborn that night. That was the most disturbing, uplifting and beautiful musical experience I had up until then. A total assault on the senses, yet joyful and cathartic. I learnt that night that music has no definition and it was liberating.

Soon after the promoters of the Pan Sonic concert reached out via their newsletter in search of volunteers to help organising their first festival. I volunteered and eventually became a core member of the team for more than a decade. I also had two music blogs and wrote album and concert reviews for a now defunct online magazine.
And at some point on this road I found an old Tesla turntable thrown out. It seemed to be in fine condition, so I took it home. While it was in my possession, it worked properly for about 23 minutes in total, but that was sufficient to make me a hifi enthusiast beside being music enthusiast. This is a story for a following post.