How Hungarian refugee Leslie Mandoki changes the world with music and music legends

Picture a typical 17-year-old with dreams of pursuing a music career and changing the world. But to actually do it?  Not so typical.

Leslie Mandoki decided to do just that, after following his dying father’s advice to “live your dreams,” and narrowly escaping his native Communist Hungary through a tunnel. From that moment, he made it his life’s mission to use music as a vehicle for change. In the process, he brought together some of the world’s music legends from the 70s and 80s rock and jazz worlds under one supergroup: The ManDoki Soulmates. In the interview below, Mandoki talks about his incredible journey as a young refugee working his way to performing on stages of packed arenas throughout Europe. Today, he is ready to bring his supergroup to their first US public performance at the Beacon Theatre in NYC on Monday, January 29, 2018. Read on to learn more about this amazing artist, his vision and his “Wings of Freedom” tour…

First, congratulations on successfully leading the ManDoki Soulmates for the past 25 years! How would you describe your emotions bringing your Wings of Freedom concert to the U.S. for the very first time?

Leslie Mandoki:  Thank you! We are very pleased about the honor and privilege to play at the Beacon Theatre. On this year’s concert tour “Wings of Freedom”, five concerts played to packed houses at the iconic venues of L‘Olympia in Paris, the Hammersmith Apollo in London, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, and at Budapest Park, where the ManDoki Soulmates returned for the 25th anniversary of the Sziget Festival so it was only natural to go to the Beacon Theatre as this is an equally prestigious and iconic venue. The ManDoki Soulmates have only played 2 shows (Detroit Motor show, Art Basel in Miami) in the USA, which were not open to the public so we are very excited to play our first public gig at the Beacon Theatre in New York on January 29 th . It is like a dream come true.

Having escaped from Communist Hungary as a youth, how did your music play a role in helping you share your political sentiments?
LM:  First I wanted to be a painter, then a poet, but when I turned 14 it became clear that I am going to be a musician, just like my father. I started studying music at the conservatorium and later at the academy. In my teenage days, I was the musical voice of an anti-communist movement. We were renitent rebels back then and I still hold on to those ideals and this mission today. My father told me on his deathbed: “Don’t dream your life, live your dreams.” So I know, a dreamer is not a fool. I learned that dreams can only fly on the wings of freedom. In 1975, together with my Hungarian friends Laszlo Bencker (Musician) and Gabor Csupo (Filmmaker), I escaped through a tunnel from communist Budapest, dictatorship and censorship into the freedom of the West. In our hearts, we took with us the idealism of our teenage years, the dreams and visions, the music and the art, and still today we remain committed to living these dreams.

More than ever before, I feel such a deep gratitude for the chance I got as a refugee to find a new home in liberty, and for the luck—and freedom—to pursue my youthful aspirations, and indeed to make some of them real. All these dreams came true through music.

You have such an impressive roster of international artists you have collaborated with throughout your career, including iconic American artists such as Lionel Richie, Chaka Kahn, Toto frontman Bobby Kimball, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band frontman Chris Thompson as well as jazz artists Mike Stern, Randy Brecker and Bill Evans…the list goes on. Was it a deliberate choice to work with so many US artists?  And why wait so long to perform with them in their home country?

LM:  After I fled to the West in 1975, at the intake center for asylum seekers, I was asked as a refugee what I would like to do for work after our adventurous escape. And I just answered that I had come to the West to play music together with my idols and musical heroes including Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, Cream’s Jack Bruce, and Al Di Meola. At the time, people just gave me an odd smile. Less than 20 years later, those 3 became the founding members of my “new” band-project: the ManDoki Soulmates.

With the “ManDoki Soulmates” project, I was able to make my dream come true. We have played countless concerts all over the world and were joined by legends like: Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce, David Clayton-Thomas, Chris Thompson, Bobby Kimball and Steve Lukather, Nick van Eede, Eric Burdon, Nik Kershaw, Greg Lake, Al di Meola, Randy and Michael Brecker, Bill Evans, John Helliwell, Mark Hart, Mike Stern, Anthony Jackson, Chaka Kahn, Victor Bailey, Pino Palladino, and occasionally we were joined by Paul Carrack, Robin Gibb (Bee Gees), Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), and Peter Frampton.

After making music together for more than 2 decades and on more than 10 albums, deep and meaningful friendships have developed among the many legendary icons of jazz and rock in the band. However, to come to the USA means to me: to say thank you. American Rock music and the spirit of Woodstock tore down the Berlin Wall and helped us to bring the torch back home.

Unfortunately, many of our readers will not be able to attend your US debut at the Beacon Theatre in NYC on Jan. 29th. Please describe for them what the show is like. And I hear it’s 3 hours long!

LM:  The ManDoki Soumates embody the creative spirit of the 1970’s, when artists were striving not only for individual virtuosity in musical expression, but also for unlimited and unrestricted individuality and freedom. The ManDoki Soulmates is a group of musical rebels and idealistic freethinkers who continue to endeavor to be authentic and honest, and support common global values for free people in a free and tolerant world by playing sociopolitical relevant Jazz-Rock and Rock together as a community of shared values on one stage with one band. Notwithstanding the pervasive talk about what divides people, we have chosen to focus on what unites us. This is the spirit of the ManDoki Soulmates.

Musically, please be prepared for a long show with some of the greatest Jazz and Rock-musicians in the world performing together their Soulmates Songs as well as world hits of the individual members of the band with fantastic improvisations. Mental laziness blocks the perception. Especially in times of echo chambers, filter bubbles, and alternative facts, we non-compliant musical rebels and idealistic freethinkers feel directly involved,
as we’re in the middle of it all. We do not claim the only objective truth for ourselves, we simply try to be authentic and honest, and support common global values for free people in a free world. All day long we hear about the things that divide us; however, we must focus on what unites us. That is what “Wings of Freedom” and ManDoki Soulmates stand for.

It is very important to us to send a signal from the stage to show how we can build bridges and overcome boundaries through music, and foster the values that make up our tolerant society. “No tolerance for intolerance” in our societies’ futures.

What other artists would you still like to collaborate with?  Any other US artists you plan to work with?

LM:  Honestly, I am very happy with all the legendary icons I am playing with. It is a privilege and honor that they all join me whenever I ask them to. I could not be happier with the way things are.
 
Any plans for a new album?
LM:  2017 was a fabulous year. In fact, we are privileged and honored, that during the last 40 years, every year was better than the one before. It’s going to be challenging in 2018, because creatively 2016 and 2017 were such outstanding years, with so many great projects like our first book and Arthouse Documentary “Longing for Freedom” (the first time I was not only creating music with my team), our “Wings of Freedom” tour, we also had great success with our title music for TV and E-Mobility sounds for the car industry. However, in fall of 2018 we are going to release a new ManDoki Soulmates album, which I am writing at the moment.
 
Will you be performing more shows in the US after your debut on Jan 29th?
 
LM: For sure. This is only the very first step.

The ManDoki Soulmates perform at 8 pm at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Monday, Jan. 29th. For more info: mandoki-soulmates.com/gig/nybeacon