Underground Music Man Zsolt Palotai
On the very day of the award ceremony of Budapest’s Pro Cultura Urbis Award, Zsolt Palotai (a.k.a. DJ Palotai) died suddenly at the age of 62. He was one of the awardees, but could not attend the award ceremony. He came to be known in Budapest as DJ Palotai, but he was not a traditional disc jockey. Clearly not for those true boomers who came to know disc jockeys as entertainers in old-style discos playing disco genre – whatever that music is. From bubble gum to Ra-Ra Rasputin, from Sugar Sugar to the Roof that mother fucker roof.
In the 1990s, DJ Palotai turned to alternative music, underground and techno (whatever techno is). First, he began playing discs in a hangout called Tilos az Á (the Hungarian version of Trespassers W – for clues: W stands for ‘Will Be Prosecuted’). Then he was associated with an underground or alternative radio station, Tilos Rádio (Forbidden Radio), where he could experiment with many new styles of music.
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