Zságer Balázs

First I wanted to have a career as a visual artist, but soon I exchanged my pencil and paintbrush for a Commodore 64 and a Russian upright piano. In the middle of ‘80s I was programming music on a C64, beside of that I began to play the piano for myself. At the age of 18 I started to play in a band, we played blues cover versions. After that I kept switching groups and mingling styles through blues, progressive rock and acid-jazz. First real success was the Garderobe project (12” vinyl, Future Sound of Budapest vol 3).

Then I started to contribute on Yonderboi’s debut album Shallow and Profound which was distributed world wide and it won the Golden Giraffe prize in Hungary. As a member of the Yonderboi Quintet I have played on more than 160 concerts all around the continent. We formed another project with Yonderboi called Trevira Modern(10” vinyl maxi). Some tracks of this project were licensed by the BBC and the CHANNEL 4 Television. Presently I am the keyboard player of Yonderboi and the Kings of Oblivion on the Splendid Isolation tour.

Since the beginning of 2001 I have been producing own tracks under the name Zagar . Together with guitarist Andor Kovács, scratchmaster DJ Bootsie and drummer Tibor Lázár and the featuring vocalist György Ligeti the Zagar has become a real headliner stage band in Hungary. Our debut album, the Local Broadcast was released in 2002 in Hungary (UGAR/UCMG) and in Austria (Universal Jazz) now it is distributed world wide by the Berlin based MConnexxion. This album was selected for the chart of the 50 all time’s most important Hungarian records by the music magazine WAN2. Presently we are working our new studio album.

I compose music also for feature and short films (Szezon.Eastern Sugar, Tower, Beautiful Wilds, Monuments, Live…), TV series (CSI, CSI: NY, Las Vegas) and theatrical plays (Hungarian National Theater, Csiky Gergely Theatre, TÁP Theatre…) Besides I contribute many artist in the independent music scene in Budapest (The Puzzle, Erik Sumo, Gábor Deutch, dj Mango, Sena, Albert Márkos, Skeg).

DISCOGRAPHY

COLLABORATIONS

COMPILATIONS

VIDEOGRAPHY

Escape from the Earth // directed by Menzkie 2009

Wings of Love // directed by András Nagy 2007

Three Seasons Fall // (werk video) directed by Menzkie 2007

Sounds and Lights // directed by Fabricius 2006

Screen Cowboys // (live video) directed by Sándor Kristóffy 2005

Bossa Astoria (Erik Sumo rework) // directed by B.A.L. 2004

Taste of Snow // directed by Patyomkim 2004

Eastern Sugar // directed by Daniel Garas 2004

Bossa Astoria // directed by Fabricius 2003

Cosmic Disaster // directed by Fillcell 2002

FILMOGRAPHY

Mission London // UK-Bulgarian-Hungarian feature film // (dir. Dimitar Mitovski) 2010

They Came From // Norvegian snow board documentary // Factor Films 2010

Adrenaline and Turbulence // documentary DVD 2009

CSI – Commutted Sentences // TV series 2007

CSI New York - Go To Hell // TV series 2007

CSI – Blindflight // TV series 2004

Live by Fabricius // Image film about the Sziget Festival (dir. Fabricius) 2006

Szezon.Eastern Sugar // feature film (dir. Ferenc Török) 2004

Tower // short film (dir. Fabricius) 2004

Monuments - The Bottle Opener Lady // documentary (dir. Ferenc Török) 2004

Beautiful Wilds // TV film (dir. Ferenc Török) 2005

Bossa Astoria // animation film (dir. B.A.L.) 2004

Taste of Snow // animation film (dir. Patyomkim) 2004

MUSIC FOR THEATRE

Apaches (G. Bereményi, K. Nagy, dir. Ferenc Török) // Radnóti Theatre 2009

New Year’s Eve (Gy. Spiró, dir. László Keszég) // Hungarian National Theatre 2008

Tales from the Wienna Woods (Ödön Von Horvath, dir. László Keszég) // Hungarian National Theatre 2007

Henzáp! (dir. Nina Umniakov) // Mu Theatre 2006

Susogó ligetek ünnepe (Koenigsmark, dir. István Znamenák) // Csiky Geregely Theatre 1999

PRIZES

Best band of the year 2009 by Antropos Culture Magazin

Regional Awards Nomination in MTV European Music Awards 2009

Best Local Act Nomination in MTV European Music Awards 2008

International Songwriting Competition 2008 second prize for Wings of Love

Fonogram Prize in electronic music category for CWFI album 2008

Album of the Year 2007 for CWFI Album by Radiocafé Audience Voting

Song of the Year 2007 for Wings of Love by Radiocafé Audience Voting

Zagar as a brand is selected in the CoolBrands Year-Book 2006

Zagar the Best Band of the Year 2005 in Hungary by Antropos Culture Magazin

The Best Hungarian Producer and Band 2005 by e-Vote online competition

The Hungarian Film Critics‘ Prize for Szezon.Eastern Sugar Soundtrack 2004

Nominated for Fonogram Prize for the best soundtrack category 2004

Brazilian Fluxus Film Festival First Prize 2005 for Bossa Astoria video

Hungarian Flash Animation Tender First Prize 2004 for Bossa Astoria video

San Francisco Flashforward Contest Finals in Story 2005 for Bossa Astoria video

Hungarian Flash Animation Tender Second Prize 2004 for Taste of Snow video

Local Broadcast is selected for the chart of the 50 all time’s most important Hungarian records by the music magazine WAN2

ZAGAR IN CSI TV SERIES I.

ZAGAR IN CSI NEW YORK TV SERIES II.