‘This is one of our favourite venues of all time,’ says Christian Garrick as his band opens their latest gig at York’s National Centre For Early Music.

Review and photo by Miles Salter

The Budapest Café Orchestra specialise in ‘Balkan, Russian, Hungarian and Romanian gypsy and folk music,’ although this description, from their website, is a little solemn and doesn’t do justice to the variety of the evening.

They take the music seriously but are willing to have a laugh at themselves. They are all deft, experienced, and superb musicians. Garrick is a likeable and good-natured presence – English and moderate in appearance but with a twinkle in the eye. He is a leader but not a dominator, allowing his band members plenty of room to showcase their skills.

He studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music and has contributed to numerous movie soundtracks as well as Strictly Come Dancing. He’s an extraordinary musician. Think of the virtuosity of Stéphane Grappelli and you’re (kind of) on the right lines.

Eddie Hession (button accordion), Kevin Cantlon (double bass), and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar and assorted stringed instruments) join Garrick. Dressed in fifties-style attire, everyone apart from Christian wears a hat. One imagines alter-egos for the band based on their attire.

Cantlon, with his wide brimmed hat and beard, channels Fagin (or possibly Freud), Zolotuhin is Philip Larkin with a six string. Hession, hunched over his accordion and sporting a beard, might be a Russian undercover agent stalking the cafes of Budapest.

This is a hugely popular outfit, constantly touring the UK (tonight was part of a run of three back-to-back gigs in the north). They make the music palatable, partly because the numbers are brisk, partly because of the catholic approach.

We get a Scottish ballad that has an air of melancholy, a snatch of The Beatles Can’t Buy Me Love, even a burst of Blancmange from the 1980s. On the band’s latest CD is a cover of Ghost Town by The Specials. I would have loved to have heard their take on this classic.

The other characteristic of this evening is the humour. The audience enjoys the novelty gestures and musical gags, which are frequent. The band try to out-do each other in little ‘call and response’ routines. The shades on the tall lamps on stage spin excitably when the music gets going. There’s a tall tale about discovering Rachmaninov’s ‘Squeezebox Concerto’ at a car boot sale near Doncaster.

‘We don’t take requests unless we’re asked,’ deadpans Garrick. Zolotuhin pushes his Russian accent, telling us about the exotic saz instrument, threatening a lecture that will be ‘the most engaging fifteen minutes of the evening.’

Nobody in the audience dances, which is a shame, but there’s plenty of laughter. I’d love to see this show in a festival environment, a little smoke in the air, and a few vodka bottles on tables.

The audience is mature (where are the youngsters?) but appreciative. This is the band’s 7th or 8th visit to York. I hope they come back – if I can I’ll take my friends. This was a hugely enjoyable (and sold out) evening with superb music and a lot of laughs. Captivating stuff.

The Budapest Café Orchestra played at The National Centre For Early Music, York on Friday 20 March 2026.