Author: Sándor Czakó | Translated by Diana Senechal
Paperback: 124 pages, 2026
Literature | Memoir
ISBN-13: 9781947175846

Sándor Czakó is a Hungarian engineer, researcher, and managing director of his own engineering consultancy. He holds a Ph.D. from the Technical University of Budapest. Drawing on decades of musical experience as a founding member of Vágtázó Halottkémek (Galloping Coroners), he explores the transformative power of music and its profound effects on the human mind through the lens of art psychology.

Diana Senechal (Translator) is the 2011 winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities and the author of two books of nonfiction, Republic of Noise (2012) and Mind over Memes (2018), the poetry collection Solo Concert (Serving House Books, 2025), and numerous stories, essays, songs, and translations. Her new book, More and Less than a Friend: The Songwriting Partnership of Tamás Cseh and Géza Bereményi in Hungary, will be published by Serving House Books in 2026. Since 2017 she has been living and teaching in Szolnok, Hungary. For more about her work, see dianasenechal.com

“For those of you who remember the Galloping Coroners, their music was beyond description; they were amazing, but I can’t tell you what kind of music it was. It was different every night, and quite often they would tour with us. Then one time I had a night off, and and [our manager] Dietmar had this great idea: we would go to Budapest… The Galloping Coroners were doing one of their shows here, a huge stage show where everyone comes out in their big outfits. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen in my life.”

—Henry Rollins, introduction to his spoken word performance, A38 Hajó, Budapest, 2010.

“The Coroners’; music is basic and elemental and filled with obsessive, galvanizing passion. There were pounding drums, drones and two-chord guitar workouts topped by feedback, ethnic whistles and shouted lyrics. It didn’t hurt that the drum sound was as good as anything from a Western studio.”

—Jon Pareles, The New York Times, February 28, 1990

“Our writer’s oeuvre to date is a perfect and authentic example of how breaking conventions can coexist with civic values, and how they can complement each other in a valuable way and even pass on the spirituality explored in the book.”

—Dr. Katica Bene, physician, Gondolatolvasó (blog), May 16, 2020.