Livin’ the Budapest dream – meet Andrew Ace, the Colombian musician finding his path - English

With the global rise of Latino music and cuisine, almost every big city in Europe has a Latino district nowadays. Budapest is no exception. And, along with food and cocktails, the city's authentic bars and restaurants offer one more essential ingredient: music. Bringing the sounds of his native Colombia to Hungary, Andrés Acevedo, aka Andrew Ace, has also just released a new video while playing a string of dates around town. We sit down with this singer, songwriter and bass guitarist.

Based in Budapest since 2017, Andrew Ace started his musical career here. First he came for a short visit to see his family, then soon he found it hard to leave. Andrew’s been fond of music since childhood. He started with bass guitar in his home country and originally wanted to continue with jazz or gospel music, but things worked out otherwise. Upon arriving in Budapest, to his surprise he found that the taste of the local audience was for covers of Latino songs.

“When I left Colombia, I was sure I wanted to continue with music and I was convinced it would either be jazz, funk or gospel, but when I performed the music of my own land as a street musician in Budapest, people said: It suits you and we love it…”

On 25 February, Andrew released his first video with beautiful shots of the Hungarian capital. The film features Liberty Bridge, Heroes' Square, the Műcsarnok and the Museum of Fine Arts. The song, titled Cómplice ('Partner in Crime') captures a bittersweet mood and homesickness referring to the current situation in Colombia. The singer feels desperate for not being able to contribute to the change in the Latin American country as he is somewhere else chasing his own dreams.

“I want to send a message with this song, to encourage my compatriots in Colombia. I want to contribute to a better future in my home country…” says Andrew.

Previously, the Andrew Ace band appeared on major Hungarian talent show X Faktor and Andrew released his first album, Iluminada, with his own original songs in 2021. Of course, the band regularly perform in the major Latino clubs of Budapest. Their music can often be heard at El Cañonazo de la Habana and Vicky Barcelona, popular nightspots in the party district, just to mention a few…

They play at House Bar & Kitchen too, with the next concert on 26 March. Other upcoming dates include shows at busy nightclub Ellátó and the prestigious Four Seasons Gresham Palace.

“After doing lots of covers, I decided to stick to my own music. I know I can and I also want to create my original songs…”

The future is promising for this musical journey as Andrew has major projects planned. After the release of Cómplice video, the goal is to create more clips for other original songs. The follow-up to his Afro-Latino debut, Iluminada, will be a new album of his own Latino songs, scheduled for April-May.