Many families have a piano. It might not be the most valuable of instruments but it may hold memories of generations who have played it. Perhaps it’s revered and left alone, never touched, just polished like a piece of furniture. Or perhaps it gets played often and well.
Not many families, one would imagine, have a piano like Roxanne de Bastion’s family.
‘It’s a baby grand and it has teeth marks that my dad left when he was teething,’ said the singer-songwriter and now author. ‘It’s scratched and there is warping in the wood. It’s really nothing short of a miracle. We had it tuned for the first time recently and all the original parts are still there.’
According to Roxanne’s father the piano had been in the family since 1905. Its most prodigious player was Roxanne’s grandfather, Stephen de Bastion, who was a successful pianist in his native Hungary before the Second World War.
‘I never knew my grandfather, he died not long after I was born. But I grew up in a musical household. My mother was a music fan and my father taught me to play our family piano. He installed in me my love of music.’
Roxanne’s father died in 2019 and the loss left her longing for a connection to the stories the family piano had to tell.
And while her and her sister went through her father’s things after his death, she found it.
‘It was a treasure trove of memorabilia about my grandfather’s life – documents, photos, handwritten sheet music, concert pamphlets. There were also boxes full of old cassettes.’
On these cassettes, Stephen had told his story. From his privileged upbringing as the son of textile merchants to his hedonistic, cocktail-swilling, womanising lifestyle.
‘He could be a difficult character and he had a large ego,’ said Roxanne. ‘Not the easiest person to approach with ease. But I was fascinated. We are all multidimensional. And pre-war Budapest had a brilliant night life.’
Throughout the 1930s, Stephen composed prodigiously and performed in hotels, bars and concert halls across Hungary and Switzerland. He also scored Hungarian films. But this promising career was brought to a sudden halt. Stephen’s real name was Istvan Bastyai Holtzer and as a Jew, in 1942, he was sent to the front and suffered terrible abuse as a forced labourer.
‘When the Russian army broke through in January 1943, Stephen’s group fled and he made his way back to Hungary on foot. Imagine that, walking through Russia. Out of the 1,070 Jewish men sent, he was one of eight to return.’
However, he was captured and deported to Mauthausen and then Gunskirchen concentration camps in Austria. Here he survived until liberation.
‘With the gift of hindsight, just to hear, it was so moving listening to his story in such detail, like getting to know a new family member. But equally, not easy to listen to.’
Having gone through such brutality and suffering, Stephen had his biggest hit in 1946. His song, Emleszel Meg (Do You Remember), was recorded by Hungary’s famous jazz singer, Kato Fenjesh, and became a defining anthem.
Despite this success, Stephen felt unsafe in Hungary so, through refugee charities, him and his wife – and the piano – relocated to Stratford-upon-Avon. Although he never stopped playing, composing or recording, because of xenophobic attitudes, he couldn’t continue his musical career.
‘That’s the refugee experience,’ said Roxanne. ‘Sadly, these attitudes are very much part of human nature.’
While writing the book, The Piano Player Of Budapest, Roxanne would listen to the recordings.
‘As well as tell Stephen’s story, I realised people could also hear his music. And bringing his music back to life has been my greatest joy.’
I told Roxanne I had listened to the song Remember Me and it sounded like a classic.
‘It is a classic,’ she said. ‘It was also a big hit in Hungary, in its original version. It’s so bizarre, it has such a pure melody. It was really fun to write and sing in this style.’
To create an album of Stephen’s songs, Roxanne got together with guitarist/producer Simon Tong, a member of The Verve, and guitarist for Damon Albarn from Blur and they digitised the cassette tapes. They then recruited pianist Xenia Pestova Bennett, travelled to Roxanne’s family home in Berlin and recorded six of Stephen’s songs on his piano, using the original found sheet music. Sally Herbert arranged and played strings, while highly regarded singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt features on the lullaby Sleep, Sleep Little Boy.
‘Working with Xenia was super special,’ said Roxanne. ‘She’s a brilliant pianist and also from an immigrant background.’
When Roxanne appears at St James the audience are in for a unique experience. A talk about her book with Rob Shepherd will be followed by her singing her grandfather’s songs accompanied by Xenia (not on the family piano, but on St James’ Steinway).
‘Stephen’s music has only been performed like this once before, at the book and album launch last year at the Albert Hall.’
Meanwhile, Roxanne has recorded two albums, Heirlooms & Hearsay (2017) and You & Me, We Are The Same (2021), the latter was praised by none other than Iggy Pop on his BBC6 Music show.
‘I’ve been listening with a great deal of interest to Roxanne de Bastion… Beautiful. There’s quite a few good things on this record,’ said the Godfather of Punk.
‘I’m still not over Iggy Pop saying my name,’ she said.
‘That was a good day.’
Roxanne de Bastion: The Piano Player Of Budapest – A True Story Of Music, Survival And Hope is at St James on Tuesday 29 April at 7.30pm. Tickets are £16 (subject to booking fee) and are available through guernseyliteraryfestival.com.
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