Illés Együttes

About Illés Együttes

Illés are the founding Hungarian beat band, the Magyar answer to the Beatles, formed around Levente Szörényi and János Bródy in Budapest in 1965. Their nine-year run produced the first Hungarian-language rock standards ("Sárga rózsa", "Az utcán", "Miért hagytuk hogy így legyen?") and the songbook that every later magyar rock band quoted. Folk modes filtered through electric guitars, Bródy's literary lyrics, and the kind of polite official disapproval that turned the band into a generational symbol. Disbanded in 1973 with a famous farewell concert at Kisstadion.