Attila Baukó, better known by his stage name Azahriah, has recently done three sold-out shows in Hungary’s largest stadium, the Puskás Aréna. Over 100,000 people combined showed up on the three nights on 24–26 May.
News of his astonishing success has apparently travelled across the ocean, as The New York Times published a profile piece on him on its website on 15 June.
It starts by writing that even Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, despite his conservative views being at odds with some of the themes in Azahriah’s music, has claimed to be a fan. Given the paper’s political leanings, the piece contrasts the crowd at the Azahriah live shows with one of PM Orbán’s speeches,—without specifying which one—claiming that only a few thousand showed up to see the long-reigning Prime Minister. It fails to mention that around two weeks prior to the publication of this piece, PM Orbán actually drew a crowd of hundreds of thousands at his traditional Peace March.
Azariah is quoted to say he is ‘uncomfortable’ with PM Orbán’s praise of his music, given that many of his fans despise the Prime Minister.
The popular artist is definitely in opposition to PM Orbán and the long-ruling right-wing Fidesz party in Hungary. He was present at a demonstration at Heroes’ Square in Budapest in February 2024, organized by leftist-progressive influencers. Shortly after, he was received by US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman, a notorious critic of the Orbán government.
Who Is Azahriah?
Azahriah’s background and career path were also covered in The New York Times piece. As they write, he started creating YouTube videos at age 12. He grew up in an underdeveloped part of Budapest, raised by a single mother. He transitioned into music in 2019, and took on the stage name ‘Azahriah,’ a biblical name ‘roughly meaning helped by God,’ as NTY put it. In 2020, he teamed up with fellow Hungarian rapper Desh.
In the piece, even Azahriah admits that his music career got a huge boost from a dubious incident. In May 2022, a video was posted online of him having sex with a female fan backstage. While also in the piece, Azahriah calls the incident ’embarrassing,’ he admits that the subsequent tabloid attention helped his music career a lot.
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