Hungarian musicians and bands are 'invading' the world, thanks to a new subsidy supported by the Hungarian Music Export Office. At the end of 2009, PANKKK (Program for the National Culture of Popular Music) launched a very successful export subsidy program. Over 130 bands applied for tour supports and other export-related projects funding and 22 of them won a total of 75,000 Euros.

Implementation of the projects was due in the first half of 2010 and some bands already got home from their international tours.

Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra played at a big festival in Zürich, Switzerland. 'There were amazing Ska bands around,' says KRSA, the singer. 'We saw a Canadian band that blew us away. We think that we will invite them to Hungary. We played on the main stage of the festival and we had a lot of much fun. Without this subsidy program we couldn't make it. Right now we are organizing shows in Moscow, too!'

The jazz phenomenon Peter Sarik Trio's just got back from London where they played in the famous Soho Pizza Express. 'We had stand-up success, Jazzwise magazine released a great review of our show', says Peter the leader of the band. 'After this concert they invited us back for two important jazz festivals in the summer and it seems that we're going to play at the legendary Ronnie Scott's jazz club where all the most important bands played already.'

The metal band with the funniest name ? Superbutt - played in London. 'We traveled 3,000 kilometers to play in a club for Hungarians,' says Andras Vörös the singer with a smile. 'It was like giving a show in the countryside somewhere in Hungary: I was speaking in Hungarian throughout the show.' They played another show in England. 'It was the other way around there were no Hungarians and the English audience seemed to love our riffs and grooves - we had so much fun and success.'

All the musicians we asked loved the idea of having more support for international touring. This is just the beginning: in May other Hungarian acts will hit the road. The Moog (indie) will tour in the USA, Djabe (Jazz, World) in Asia and Parno Graszt (Etno) will play in Mexico City.

We hope that in the future more bands from Hungary can prove that they can bring the noise on, too!