The Campus Festival will be held for the 15th time this year. In the anniversary year, festival-goers can expect a higher quality and more exciting selection of programs than ever before. At the festival with the most ambitious music offer, in addition to the outstandingly popular artists, hip-hop and, in a unique way, rock and metal music will be given a separate stage, but in addition, there will also be many musical delicacies and young talents traveling in exciting genres. In addition to the musical offer, those interested in other arts will not be bored either, with a total of more than four hundred programs on offer.
Almost exactly to the day, after twelve years, Marcus Füreder, aka Parov Stelar, returns to the Debrecen Forest. The leading pioneer of the ‘electro swing’ style, which mixes the jazz sound of the 1920s with electronic music, will come to the Campus Festival with his band on July 21. The foreign career of Austria’s best-known artist started in Hungary, and since then he has been coming to us every year, moreover, it is not the first time he has visited Debrecen, he was already a performer on the main stage of the festival in 2011.
In addition to Parov Stelar, the German star DJ and producer Robin Schulz, as well as the French diva traveling in a style mix of French chanson, jazz and soul, ZAZ, will also strengthen this year’s festival. Both performers are chart-toppers, their hits are followed and listened to by millions worldwide, Schulz will arrive in Debrecen on July 20, while ZAZ will arrive on July 22.
In addition to international stars Parov Stelar, ZAZ and Robin Schulz, André Tanneberger – better known as ATB, the German DJ phenomenon who has been among the elite of the international electronic music scene since the ’90s, will perform on Campus. One of the craziest rappers, the Estonian Tommy Cash, is coming, the English Kerala Dust, who combines the atmosphere of psychedelic rock, blues and techno, and the dance diva Minelli, who immediately entered the international dance charts in 2021 with her hit song ‘Rampampam’.
The returning domestic festival favorites – Tankcsapda, Majka, Bagossy Brothers Company, Halott Pénz, ByeAlex and Slepp, 30Y, Road, etc. – everyone knows, new titans have appeared in the last few years – e.g. Azahriah, Carson Coma, Žudló, Elefánt, Krúbi, etc. – and it is worth paying attention even more than before. In addition, in accordance with its tradition, the Campus once again gives space to the many exciting up-and-coming talents of the Hungarian light music scene, whom we will introduce in more detail later.
NOT JUST MUSIC
This year, in a manner worthy of the jubilee, you will have a more serious artistic program at the Campus Festival than ever before. At Performancesz Placco, you can see dance and movement arts and action theater performances, among others with the participation of the Forte Társulat, the Lobotomia Collective and the Modern Dance-Game Studio. The well-known, spectacular street theater parade (Ars Sol Luna) will be supplemented with new attractions this year, several special vehicles, giant puppets, artists and stuntmen will accompany the procession. Our guest will be the famous European aerial and contemporary dancer Ariadna Vendelova from Slovakia, who will give a unique show every night – hanging in the air. This year, the festival area will be decorated with several artistic light installations and spatial objects.
The festival area will be active all day long, it is worth arriving very early and discovering these programs – we are sure to be enriched by exciting experiences and active recreation awaits the festival-goers. The Civil Village is one of the most traditional program locations on Campus. About fifty civil organizations and institutions present their activities in Debrecen, and those interested can learn about important social issues. We are setting up one of Hungary’s largest playhouses here: in the Campus Kid & Art Zone, hundreds of interactive games, attractions, and children’s programs are waiting for everyone, from the youngest to the oldest to the delight of visiting families. In the Agora of the Civil Village, you can meet live podcast discussions, a wind and zither band, a choir flash mob, a dance hall, as well as live television legends such as Előd Juhász, Tibor Dévényi, Judit Endrei, János Horvát, József F. Kaplár and János Egri.
QUALIFIED FESTIVAL
If we look back at the Campus’s past, it can be seen that the festival has gained a stronger cultural color every year, which is why it received international recognition in 2017, the most serious European rating organization, EFFE (Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe), gave Debrecen the highest rating event. Based on its statistics and results, the Campus Festival was included in the five most visited Hungarian light music festivals, it was included in the top list of Google search trends, in the “Events of the year” category.
The jubilee event, starting on July 19, 2023, will await visitors for four nights in a unique forest environment, at the best-equipped and most shaded festival location in the country. The Campus is now one of Hungary’s largest summer cultural events, which was visited by 27,000 people at the time of its launch, and 116,000 in total last year.
Every year, the success of the Campus Festival is greatly strengthened by the location and the features of the city. The surroundings of the Nagyerdei Stadium and the Nagyerdei Water Tower are unparalleled in the domestic festival market. Based on the visitors’ feedback and the public opinion research repeated year after year, in addition to the colorful program offer, the high-quality design of the venue and the safe environment in the Great Forest are at the top of the satisfaction indicators.
KEEP on University Square: focus on high school students
In addition to the family-friendly nature of the domestic festival offer, the Campus Festival is also unique due to the presence of the University of Debrecen. For the institution, in addition to popularizing science, the event is also important for reaching future university students and building relationships.
The University of Debrecen awaits festival-goers at this year’s Campus Festival with a renewed image, 10 thematic locations, an escape room and a Chill Zone. At the 2023 event, the university will present its new university preparatory program for high school students, KEEP, with which the institution addresses those who are about to continue their education. Accordingly, in this year’s festival program, those interested can primarily gain experience with the help of interactive games, and they will also be enriched with countless useful and interesting information about university life.
At the University Square, everything is cooled with liquid nitrogen, among other things. The Earth and the Solar System are presented through VR glasses. Festival-goers can decipher the messages exchanged between Roman legions and German submarines, find out if Freud or Billie Eilish live in them, and choose from the favorite books of Campus Festival performers.
At the medical and health stands, a simple sample will reveal what kind of bacteria live on the mobile phone. After a dermatological consultation, interested parties can prepare a moisturizing cream, body lotion, scrub and various facial tonics suitable for their skin type, which they can also take home.
The university stage offers a colorful program again this year, where it will be discussed, among other things, internet and school bullying, as well as the legal consequences of drug and alcohol consumption. Among the guests are toxicologist Gábor Zacher, emergency physician and agricultural YouTuber Ádám Lenner, here we can meet the podcast of Márkó and Barna Síkideg, as well as the speakers of the Dumaszínház. János Karácsony, Gergő Szakács, Márk Járai, Henri Gonzo, Juci Németh and Hunor G. Szabó, Zsuzsi Kollányi and the Tóth Vera Quartet will also perform on the stage, dressed in a campfire atmosphere for the evening.
What’s new this year is that young people will receive stamps for completing playful tasks, and after collecting three, they can be guests of the Chill Zone on Université tér for a drink, where they can enjoy one of the trendy drinks of the summer, the Mimóza cocktail and small spritz made of dry white wine, as well as elderberry, mint and lavender syrup. will also be offered for the duly completed textbook.
HUNGARY’S BEST FEMALE VOICES IN DEBRECEN
The outstanding attraction of the festival is the colorful palette of Hungarian performers, in which we can be especially proud of our fantastic female performers and bands with female singers. At this year’s event, female energy will rage on the stages, so unforgettable concert experiences are guaranteed.
At this year’s Campus Festival, such fantastic female performers as Agata Angilella (Damara), aZorka, Klárí Balázs, Bíborka Bocskor (Magashegyi Underground), Rita Csányi (The Anahit), Fruzsi Erdős, I am Soyuz, Dorka Jéger, Zsuzsi Kollányi, Viki Lábas (Margaret Island) Kids), Lotti Tímári (Nanana) and Vera Tóth.
The varied music palette guarantees that everyone will find a program that suits their taste and enjoy the impressive performances of Hungary’s best female voices.
The Thursday day of the festival and at the same time the METAL-SHEET Main Stage will be opened by the band Margaret Island with Viki Lábas in the lead. Singer-songwriter Viki graduated from the University of Szeged as an ethnologist. At first, classical music played a big role in her life, as she played the clarinet for 14 years, then folk music and high school “rock band” came, thanks to which she met in 2013 the other two founding members of Margaret Island, Bálint Füstös and Kristóf Törőcsik. They are the authors of such hits as ‘Rain’, ‘Veled minda’, ‘Meddig Maradunk eg’ or ‘Nobody answers’. The band has already received several recognitions from both the professional and the public side, so it can boast several gold records and is also the proud owner of the Fonogram award. In addition, in 2017, Viki became the winner of the ‘Female Performer of the Year’ award at the Petőfi Music Awards.
Another exceptional talent who will take the stage on the Saturday of the Campus Festival in Debrecen is Barbi Schoblocher, the singer of Blahalouisiana. Barbi has been consciously preparing for singing since she was 12 years old, and became really known for her participation in the band. The jazz department in Székesfehérvár brought her together with the members of the former band Jacked, who were looking for a female singer for their new group, and since 2012 they have been making music together under the name Blahalouisiana. We can say that she has been the female engine of the band ever since. Most of the time, she appears on stage in amazingly unique clothes and hats, she loves special pieces. She likes to participate in all creative processes in the life of the band. In addition to the band’s biggest hits, their latest composition ‘Szeressetek’ will also be played for the first time.
Of course, the Hungarian singer Balázs Klári, born in Debrecen and winner of the Phonogram award, is also an essential performer of the festival. The duo of György Korda and Klári Balázs, who belong to the eternal classics, will also be with us on Campus. Klári’s singing career began in 1970 and now she has more than four decades of career behind her. They have achieved huge successes together and separately, but actually they have already pocketed all the important music awards. The audience can see the duo on Saturday, June 22 at the BMW Stage, where their mega-hit ‘Reptér’ will surely be played.
ROCK LEGENDS AND LEGENDARY BANDS ON CAMPUS
The fifteenth Campus Festival will host emerging talents, hip-hop, trap, underground electronic music and, as the only major festival in the country, a stand-alone rock-metal stage will rumble with the sound of electric guitars.
The organizers did not only think about the talents of the present and future, but also invited the great legends of domestic rock music to Debrecen so that the new generation can also get to know the great classics. During the four days, among others, the supergroup Godfather led by Tibor Tátrai, the Hungarian guitar king, will perform. Tibusz played guitar in such legendary bands as Tűzkerék, Syrius, Mini, the legendary band of Ádám Török, who passed away this year, or the former Fekete Bárány festival performer, Hobo Blues Band.
János Bródy, alias Tini, one of the greatest musicians of the Hungarian beat era, a pillar member of the former band Illés, composer and lyricist, also performs on the Campus stage, who has an indelible merit in Hungarian popular music. During his career, he composed the lyrics of nearly 800 songs and the music of 200 songs, of which we hope that as many as possible will be heard at the Campus Festival. The singer-guitarist of one of the most influential bands of Hungarian rock music, János Karácsony, will also come to the jubilee festival, so that the legendary steam locomotive will roll onto the stage and the LGT hits will be played.
The legendary Fekete Bárány festival will not only be summoned by Tibor Tátrai, because one of the main performers of the former event, Beatrice, will be here, who are expected to bring all their classic hits, as well as Gyula Bill Deák, the king of the Hungarian blues, will sing with the whitest black voice. Another legendary figure of blues music, the singer of Karthago and East, Tamás Takats, will join us in Pocsolya.
One of the cult bands of dark music, F.O. System evokes the old underground concerts in Fekete Lyuk, and VHK, i.e. Vágtázó Halottkémek, will hold an ethnopunk, sásmánpunk and magical folk music ritual that spans styles. The iconic figure of alternative music, frontman and lyricist of URH and Kontroll Group, Péter Sziámi Müller and his friends will present the heyday of Hungarian underground music.
The pioneer and emblematic figure of the Hungarian hard genre, Endre Paksi, and the legendary band Ossian will bring their studded heavy metal foundations to the delight of rock fans.
EXPAND YOUR MUSIC PALETTE AT THE CAMPUS FESTIVAL! WE PRESENT YOUNG, UP-RISING TALENTS
The festival continues its tradition and once again gives space to the most exciting up-and-coming talents of the Hungarian light music scene, from rock music, through melodic ballads, to hip-hop and soul genres. It’s time for you to get to know our first-time festival favorites so that you can sing along with them to the biggest hits of the future by June 19!
Who else could we start the line with but the girls! Dorottya Laczkfi or aZorka, who started her second festival season in recent weeks, arrives in Debrecen with poetic texts and melancholic and catchy melodies. The duo of Janka Végh and Major Dorci, Pandóra Projekt, also produces similarly text-centric songs, but their acoustic ballads are replaced by folk, indie, pop and ethno. Singer-songwriter-producer Saya Noé, who is also popular on Twitch, is already well known to the Campus audience, as a recurring guest she will perform her electropop hits such as lodine, Under The River, or the new song Pinky Promise. Rapper Sisi has already proven himself at Keret Kikeltető this year, he swept the entire field off the stage with his songs Yalla and Rappelj jabbar. TikTok star Rita Csányi’s The Anahit, led by Rita Csányi, comes with songs that are a little lighter, but still expressive. The Damara band also boasts a female front. The five-member group led by Agata Angilella recently released their second album, Fény és Boogie, in the sound of pop music from the 60s and 70s. Bogit Nagy was already known to the whole country when she was a little girl, from numerous talent shows, but now she will stand on the Campus stage as a grown woman. Maluridé, the electronic formation formed by Zazie Farkas Virág and Júlia Viszkeleti, complete with keyboards by Milán Hodován, will also arrive there. Bozoky Lili, also known as I Am Soyuz, who lives in Sweden but often visits home, presents her solo project with a space-pop theme. The Made In Debrecen stage also holds surprises for fans of electronic girl music, with the concerts of Hakawai and iRAWEn. The winners of the 2022 Fülesbagoly Talent Search in Debrecen, the band A Flirt, will fill the Great Forest with smoky pop music, with singer Eszter Szarka at the front. Lotti Tímár also sings four guys, most of whom are left over from Quiet Kid & The Speakers, in the band NANANA, accompanied by a post-punk, indie-rock, psychedelic sound. Similarly, the teenage band Raklap from Sepsiszentgyörgy also plays post-punk, mixed with some Székely tradition, with Mihály Dorka on the front line. The concert of the local Water Signs, who presented themselves to the Debrecen audience for the first time last year as a trio, led by Sebestyén Vigóca, promises a brashly young momentum. Wolfolks’ songs are inspired by their shared passion for nature. Their concerts offer everything from peaceful harmonies that soothe the “oriental” soul to self-indulgent dancing and edgy music, so fans of a wide range of genres are welcome at the Campus. Balázs Zságer’s favorites, the bedroom-pop duo Flanger Kids, close our line-up of girls, who have had an amazing career in the last three years.
Let’s turn to the solo male performers! Let’s start the list with the Budapest rapper Co Lee, whose first solo album in Hungarian, Cirque de l’homme, which debuted in January, has already reached more than 2 million streams on Spotify. Similar successes can await Young B!te, a rapper a few years younger than him who started on Soundcloud, and who, in the positive sense of the word, masterfully deals with humanities rhymes and references. We don’t need to introduce the name of Hundred Sins to anyone, we can thank the producer-dj guy for such hits as Beton.Hofi’s Bagirája and Tiszalökje, or the cover of Gyöngyhajú Lány together with Dávid Miller. This year, the masked producer is coming to the Campus with a full band, live strings and collaborators, and he promises the audience a huge hit. Also working together with Hundred Sins and Co Lee was Bognár Bandi, or Kolibri, who as a graphic designer turned lyricist-songwriter could sing the entire festival area with just one string of guitar with his special organ. The name of Kristóf Tóth, or kristoaf, may sound familiar to many people, since his song Melodráma, together with Lil Frak, was one of the hottest domestic tracks of last year. Kristoaf goes wild in his live band lineup, his sound is more and more self-assured and rockier from appearance to appearance. It will also be worth checking out the concert of Bongor, i.e. Berta Csongor, actor-director-rapper, who has been on stage together with Krúbi since his debut in 2017. The team of talent scouts is strengthened by Mehringer and his band, but the guys traveling in pop-punk-rock work hard to dispel all TV stereotypes. Ben T Kadar made his debut as a solo artist in 2020, and since then he has not been able to get away with his demanding, dark electro-alternative hip-hop and trap tracks.
CONVENIENCE, COMFORT AND SAFETY
The five-star festival venue will offer a number of public interest and convenience services, including:
• package and valuables safe
• 0-24 hour medical and ambulance service
• information point
• mobile steering window
• one hundred and fifty flush toilets
• LIDL Festmarket
• BOLT Taxi station
• Campus Eye ferris wheel
• observation deck and climbing wall in the Water Tower
• local producer’s market courtesy of the Hungarian National Rural Network
The festival area is also cash-free this year, you can pay at the counters and merchants with a bank card or a festival card charged for this purpose. In the Campus Merch Shop, which is renewed this year, the special t-shirts and sweaters made for the 15th edition of the festival will have the main role, wearing them we can remember the past fifteen occasions together.
In order to make sure that no one misses a single concert, advance tickets can be exchanged for wristbands from July 15, i.e. Saturday, at the ticket counter set up in Csapó Street, Forum Debrecen, at the temporary ticket office in front of the shopping center and at the information desk of the Nagyerdei Water Tower. From the 17th, i.e. from Monday, also at the ticket counters set up at the entrance of the festival.
The parking capacity around the festival site is very limited, so we recommend that guests come to the event by public transport or by bicycle. We provide a guarded bicycle storage room in front of the entrance, and DKV services also take care of getting home at night.
The organizers would also like to point out that the capacity of our event venues is limited. In accordance with safety regulations, when the maximum capacity of the given venue is reached, the organizers may restrict access to it.
You can find the Campus webpage here and the detailed programs here.
(Campus Nonprofit Kft.)
Main picture: Audience at the concert of Follow the Flow at the Campus Festival in Debrecen on the opening day, July 20, 2022. MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi
