BALKAN FUNK, JAZZFOLK AND TRANSYLVANIAN POP
Electric Eclecticism, Energetic, Fresh And Creative, Koszika Is A Live Performance You Won’t Soon Forget
Koszorus Krisztina, also known as Koszika, is a Transylvanian-Romanian born and based Hungarian ethnic singer-songwriter. She has a BA in Classical Violin Interpretation, but she feels most at home in jazz with folklore influences. Her culturally colorful background certainly adds a twist to her approach to any kinds of music, but she tries to remain true, humble and respectful to what she considers to be values. The love for ethnic sounds kept driving her to push her musical boundaries and made her reuse the inherited knowledge on Hungarian, Romanian and Gypsy cultures in her musical projects, mixing and combining Hungarian traditional songs with Soul, Bossa Nova, Swing, Reggae or even electronica, creating a distinct multi- and intercultural musical palette. Being a minority always inspired her to connect cultures through music, so she sings in a variety of languages: Hungarian, Romanian, Gypsy, English, Spanish, Portuguese etc.
She is a triple awarded Jazz Vocalist, winning Best Singer, Best Vocalist and Best Vocal Soloist at international Jazz festivals. She also received three times the Communitas all-year round grant for her activities in preservation of Hungarian culture. She was awarded the Silver Pine Award (Ezüstenyő díj) for working as a minority in Transylvania in 2022.
Szász Csaba, a self-taught musician started playing the guitar in 2006 after hearing his first jazz records. He remained mesmerised by the phrasing and sound of the old and modern jazz classics and kept aspiring to that level of musical knowledge.
In the present he is active in the romanian jazz, funk and rock scene with several projects he takes part of, such as their duo with singer Koszorus Krisztina, their band Koszika and the HotShots, indie-rock band Moonfellas and several other projects. His versatile guitar playing allows him to accompany soloists in a very varied way, bringing on the surface the bass line, the perky rhythmic components the harmonies of a song, as well as improvise in many different styles.
Together with constant musical partner Koszika they have founded the 7 piece eclectic Funk/FolkFusion/Reggae-band Koszika & The HotShots in 2011, which is now known and successful in Romania, having played all the mainstream festivals in Romania and having toured in France, Italy and Hungary.They played several Symphonic Shows of their originals and rearranged Hungarian and Romanian folk tunes together with the Targu Mures State Philharmonic and the Brasov State Philharmonic, called Transylvanian Symphonic Tales.
A new concert concept that proves to be very successful is "Transylvanian Tales" - a bouquet of folclore inspired songs and local stories and feelings that go straight to the audience's heart. (The program can be played both in duo or as a whole 7 piece band - drums, bass guitar, guitar, keys, vocals, trumpet, tenor saxophone.)
The talented duo won several awards (Confirmation of the Year in 2017 - Jazz Gala Muzza, Bucharest; Most valuable composition - International Jazz Competition - Jazz in the Park 2017.)
They have had concerts and tours together in Austria, Italy, France, Hungary, Brussels and Canada.
They are one of the winners of MOST - Balkan Music Export mentorship program in 2022.
