About Toldi Mike

The Toldi Mike Story

Toldi Mike is a Hungarian Alternative Rock Band based in Luxembourg. They write their songs in Hungarian and perform to an international audience. Most of their audience do not understand a single word, but they do enjoy the music.

Toldi Mike was formed in 2015 by three friends Béla, Krisztián and Miklós. They started to rehearse and write their songs. The band was performing without a drummer in the beginning. Later on Vilmos joined the band as the drummer. Zsolt is a really good friend of the band and he is joining the band as featured artist on gigs and on recording sessions as well.

In 2017 the band had a major success as they were the supporting act on the CinéEast Eastern European Film Festival's opening party.

In 2019 a documentary was made about the Toldi Mike story by Mate Papp. You can watch the movie on Youtube by clicking here!

In 2019 Toldi Mike had the opportunity to represent Hungary on the Musiqcité intercultural, musical festival and performed unplugged in front of hundreds of people.

The Toldi Mike guys started to work on their first album in 2018 and successfully launched it in the end of 2019. The album titled "Pusztába kiáltott szó" was released in every major music platform on 16/12/2019.

Toldi Mike
Toldi Mike

Toldi Mike Influences

Each band member was influenced by and favors different musical genres. Nevertheless, when they're writing songs together these differences contribute to discovering new ideas and creating some truly original music. When listening to their music you can easily notice the different influences in the songs. You can also experience the influence of the Hungarian culture on the music and on the lyrics as well.

Special thanks to

  • Michel Rinnen and the Spirit of Music for having us
  • Fred Faber for the album recordings
  • György Papp (@zorrawphoto) for the great photos about the band

Toldi Mike Band members

Béla Balogh
Béla Balogh

Béla Balogh

(rhythm guitar, lead vocal)

Béla is from Kazincbarcika, an ex-mining town in Hungary. This might be the reason why he's got a thing for underground metal music. He learned to play the guitar all by himself, and supports Krisz's melodic basslines with colourful chords. He also likes writing poems, which often end up as Toldi Mike lyrics, and since the band could not find a singer, he has also become the frontman.

Alternative instrument(s): ukulele, bass guitar, kalimba

Miklós Bárdos
Miklós Bárdos

Miklós Bárdos

(solo guitar)

Miklós (Májk) was born and raised in Budapest. In the ‘90s, he has learned playing guitar all by himself and created with his friends the band named Iván Lendül. They performed in some of the main alternative bars of the city, but also at the first NapNap festival, ancestor of today’s Sziget Fesztivál. He has also published short novels and translations in young literary reviews at that time. Two decades later, in 2013, he moved to Luxembourg where he works as a translator. He has rediscovered his forgotten ambitions of amateur musician after meeting the two other founding members of Toldi Mike. His solo guitar melodies are intended to illustrate and fortify the poetic lyrics of the band’s songs.

Alternative instrument(s): vocals

Krisztián Vámosi
Krisztián Vámosi

Krisztián Vámosi

(bass guitar)

Krisz was born in Csepel, the cradle of Hungarian industry. Being a dreamer, he was lacking the ability to get by in such an environment as a decent working class hero, so he soon filled his days with reading, bird watching and idleness. His artistic vein was first used in a choir and on wind instruments, then after a 20-year break from music, he stumbled upon a bass guitar, which he instantly fell in love with, probably due to its tone (he used to sing alto). He is a self-taught, amateur musician, who still profits from the solmization skills his teacher, Ms. Ilonka gave him in primary school. He is a true background person, who prefers to hide in the shadows on stage and who likes taking care of the logistics of the band.

Alternative instrument(s): drum, alto flute, ukulele, triangle

Vilmos Kovács
Vilmos Kovács

Vilmos Kovács

(drums, backing vocal)

Vilmos is from Tolna county, Hungary. He learned to play guitar when he was 18. Later he formed his first band in which he was the lead vocalist and played the rhythm guitar. During this period he felt in love with drums (at first sight). Vilmos moved to Luxembourg and started to learn to play the piano and the bass guitar. He joined Toldi Mike after he broke his first drum stick and posted this experience on Facebook.

Influential genre(s): pop, rock, jazz, latin, rock'n'roll, hip-hop, electronic

Alternative instrument(s): piano, bass guitar, guitar

Zsolt Varga
Zsolt Varga

Zsolt Varga

(solo guitar, featured artist)

Zsolt is from Tatabánya, an ex-mining town in Hungary. Now he mines data in Luxembourg for a living, builds his own electric guitars for pleasure, and he's not afraid to play them. Influenced by Lou Reed, goths and Hungarian undeground rock bands of the '80s, he plays simple riffs, psychedelic soundscapes and undeground covers as a permanent guest of Toldi Mike gigs.

Alternative instrument(s): synthesizer