TEENAGER PARTY – Or What Your (Grand)Parents Partied To during the Cold War

Do you like music? Do you want to know what were the banned “western music” and the most popular domestic songs during the Cold War? Do you like to investigate the labyrinth of history? Would you like to take part in a digital project that evokes the past? Then this is the place for you! Join the Teenager Party team and discover what your (grand)parents partied to during the Cold War years. The program offers a unique opportunity for 10 enthusiastic students to explore a unique archive collection, an exciting period of history and its full musical palette in a creative workshop. We’ll read letters, search (and mix) music and YouTube videos, collect period photos and stories, and make it all available to all on a digital platform. All the while, we play all sorts of creative games, speak English and even have a retro party to finish!

Become a curator of the first online Teenager Party collection!

Date: July 16–20, 2018 (Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
Who can apply: Students aged 14–18
Application deadline:  June 8, 2018.
Venue: Blinken OSA, 1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 32.
For more information and registration: kovecsia@ceu.edu

What was the Teenager Party?
In the 1960s and1980s, thousands of young people waited for Radio Free Europe (Radio SZER) to play “László Cseke at the microphone and turntable. Welcome to the Teenager Party. Again, I wish you good reception and a good time.” The DJ received bags of letters from young people, who used pseudonyms (“Ditta, the girl with the mortar”, “Toothbrush with a bump”, “Yo-Yo and Miki, the two fish-eyed beaver champions”) when sending their music wish lists, usually along a nice, emotional, or even silly story explaining why the requested tracks were important to them. They would then tape the music on the radio and the party was on! Blinken OSA holds more than 3,000 letters and postcards sent to the Teenager Party’s Munich and London postboxes by music lovers between 1971 and 1976.

Participation is free! Due to limited numbers, early registration is recommended. Breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge.
The workshop is in Hungarian.