COMPACT DISCO SPEAK TO OIKOTIMES.COM
Compact Disco will represent Hungary in Eurovision Song Contest 2012 after their victory in A Dal, the National final, which was held 11 February. Directly after the show, we did this interview with Behnam Lotfi in the group.
First of all – congratulation for winning the Hungarian National final! What is your first impression after the victory tonight?
We are really, really happy but of course we can also feel the pressure on our shoulders in representing a whole nation. We want to do our best, do a great show and most probably we have to redo the performance before going to Baku. The arena will host almost 40.000 people and the stage will be ten times bigger than here in the studio. But first we need three days of rest. After that we can start to figure out what to do and how. Luckily there are still three months time.
Can you present the members in Compact Disco?
We are four persons in the group. The lead singer is Csaba Walkó, on keyboard Gábor Pál, on bass guitar Attila Sándor and myself Behnam Lotfi doing the sampling, drum mapping, effects etc.
How long have you been existing as a band and how come that you started playing together?
We have had this band for almost four years now. I worked as a DJ and started to produce my acts which were more a kind of underground music. Our singer Csaba was participating in the Hungarian talent show Mega Star – a kind of X-Factor show. After he was eliminated I asked him to do some vocals on my DJ-tracks. It worked out well and we talked about doing something more together in the future. Two years later we met again and started Compact Disco.
Have you released any albums?
Yes we have two albums so far and they can be found on Itunes and other webshops.
Tell us something about your winning song “The sound of our hearts”?
Most of the songs on our previous albums are about love, relations etc. This time we felt that we should do something more serious, based on what is going on in the world, not only here in Hungary. The situation is not good and our message is that we have to take care of each other and the relations around us. If we fail in this it will be even worse.
Do you have any role models for you music?
Depeche Mood is a favorite to all of us, as well as Jamiroquai and Michael Jackson.
You have now won the ticket to Baku and an event that will be seen by approximately 120 million people. Does it scare you?
Yes! We are really scared about this but we have the country and the supporters behind us and that will give us power. If you ask this question in a few weeks time, when we have started to work with our act, I will most probably say ‘no’. But right now – ‘yes’ we are scared.
Do you already now have any plans for how to promote your song?
For the moment we have no ideas. Right now I just want to open my champagne and hang around with my friends. Later on we will start to figure out.
Where is the winner’s party tonight?
In our rehearsal place. In Hungary we have very strict non smoking rules in the clubs and we are all smokers so we decided to stay in our own place.
Congratulations once more and we will meet again in Baku.
