Zoltán Téglás, singer and producer, who was born in California, but raised in Veresegyház, Hungary, has released a new song and music video called Budapest My Love with his eponymous music project, ‘Zoli Band,’ about the homesickness he feels living in America for Hungary and what Veresegyház and Budapest mean to him.
His career as a singer started in Huntington Beach, California, fronting legendary punk-rock bands such as The Misfits, Pennywise or Ignite, with whom he traveled around the world. However, he told index.hu that he feels best at home, in Hungary, in Veresegyház and Budapest.
His newest song is about the same thing, the homesickness he feels in America for Hungary and how he rushes home during his free time:
First, I go to Veresegyház and eat cabbage pasta at grandma’s, drink pálinka at Uncle Feri’s, as I mention in the lyrics as well. And in the evening I go to Budapest, the most beautiful city in the world, to party with my friends, and I get the feeling that I am at home, which is priceless.”
The video includes the trees that Téglás is fighting to save for years now (once he even chained himself to one of them), and he finances their protection from his own money. The reed, which appears in the lyrics funnily enough in Hungarian (Sit by the nád at the tó/lake) is also included in the video.
Index.hu asked Téglás about the Hungarian words in the lyrics. He said most of the tourists leave Hungary thinking how beautiful the city and the buildings are, how good the food is, so they love it. “Sometimes they even learn some Hungarian phrases, so why not catch their attention with new ones? They can learn what ‘tó’ means, or ‘Lánchíd’.”
Téglás meant the song to be a kind of ode to Hungary, but he only wrote the lyrics, the music is by the keyboardist of Kowalsky meg a Vega, Dani Szebényi and Lukács Peta, the guitarist of Bikini. The clip was shot by Mihaszna Films and featured on Zoli band‘s debut album.