A new live video session from Sam Lee captures his performance of ‘Meeting is a Pleasant Place’ at the House of Music Hungary in Budapest. Filmed in the venue’s concert hall, the video is part of their ongoing Live Session series, which showcases standout performances from their programme and makes them accessible to global audiences online. Released in collaboration with Songlines, the session offers an intimate glimpse of one of the season’s most celebrated concerts.

Lee is not only known as a performer but also as a song collector and conservationist. He draws on songs collected from the Gypsy and Traveller communities of Britain and Ireland, bringing a contemporary spin to them. The song, ‘Meeting is a Pleasant Place’, is rooted in the English Romani tradition, which Lee has adapted in his distinctive style.

Reflecting on the recording, Lee praised the venue’s approach to folk music: “There are very few venues in Europe like the House of Music Hungary. The whole venue is filled with incredible knowledge and wonderful ways of connecting how folk music is part of our contemporary as well as ancient culture.”  He added that the song reflects “the power of song, the land and its connection to us humans and our voices, and how ancient and important that relationship is and how it is shared through our folk songs.”