At the age of 13 Bootsie became infatuated with hip hop records.On vacation in Germany he scavenged his first record player from a rubbish pile in a well-heeled neighborhood. He began practicing, trying to figure out how to use the turntable as an instrument to draw melodies and rhythms out of record scratches. In 1995 he formed a group called Az Arral Szemben (literally ‘Upstream’) with his pal Benski; he composed the basic tracks, made the arrangements and Benski came up with the words. He has won the Hungarian DMC Championship 1996. That same year Upstream took first place among 110 competitors in the Fila Rap Jam, at that time the only national hip-hop talent contest in Hungary. They subsequently released their first tracks on the Underground label, but were then signed to another record company where their debut album ‘The Flood’ was released 1998, followed by ‘Heavy Water’ in 2000. Both for the novelty of arrangements and social commentary embedded in the lyrics, these albums are considered groundbreaking.
Bands
Yonderboi Quintett
DJ Bootsie has contributed to various tunes of the Yonderboi album Shallow and Profound, which was released in 2000 and received significant international and domestic acclaim. Concert invitations followed and as a member of The Yonderboi Quintett DJ Bootsie has given threedigit live performances from Paris to Moscow, Norway to Portugal.
Zagar
Following the ‘Shallow and Profound’ tour, three members of the Yonderboi Quintett (Balázs Zságer on keys, DJ Bootsie on turntable and Andor Kovács on guitar) extended by the young drummer Tibor Lázár have found Zagar, based on the music of Balazs Zsager. The band’s 2003 debut release ‘Local Broadcast’ is considered a classic, one of the 25 most importaant hungarian album releases ever. Having played over 200 gigs, the band has been touring home and abroad ever since.
Solo album
The Silent Partner
Since 2002 DJ Bootsie has previously been involved in a variety of third party production work, composing film scores and providing basic rhythm tracks and production skills for other local rap performers. In theyear 2003 he began working on his own album which was released fall 2004. It’s called ‘The Silent Partner’ for two reasons: Bootsie has always worked behind the scenes in others’ musical endeavors, and the album itself is a silent partner of sorts which can escort listeners on a long journey.
The engineering, mix down and mastering work on this debut was performed by Gabor Deutsch. Epic tracks on The Silent Partner primarily use classical elements of hip hop and trip hop, as well as giving a starring role to ambient atmospheres and even ‘Hungarian Cowboy’ moods which have proven to be synch friendly and seen manyfold usages in internatinal fashion shows and american action series like CSI.
The forthcoming second solo album „Holidays In The Shade“ is scheduled for release on BBE Records mid decembre 2009. The DJ Bootsie Quartet is intended to go out and perform as much as possible at clubs and festivals.
Live on stage
Bootsie, along with his turntables, programming and mixing is rounded out by classically trained saxophone player János Vázsonyi, guitarist Gergö Kovács and drummer Tibor Lazar. Prior to their album release they have already performed at presitgeous venues like the Cologne Philharmony, the Concertgebouw Bruges, at top jazz clubs like Domizil Dortmund, Casablanca Riga, at festivals like Wetterleuchten Innsbruck, Pohoda Trencin, Nowy Horizonty Filmfestival in Krakow Poland, or Sziget in their hometown Budapest.