Muzsikás, 1996

The seeds of Muzsikás - in a similar way to the folk dance-house movement - sprang from the Bartók Dance Group in 1972. The Bartók Dance Group had broken from the traditional choreography which until then had characterized Hungarian folk dance and was in form similar to a variety show, taking little from actual folklore. Tímár began his work in a scientific manner, building on silent films and tape recordings, which made the study of instrumental music indispensable. Until then only vocal music had been accessible, in the tradition of the Kodály and Bartók collections, and the new generation had to focus on the Székely region (Transylvania) for its instrumental music.

Muzsikás officially came into existence in 1973. Péter Éri and Sándor Csoóri both gave up dancing in favor of instrumental folk music and joined up with Mihály Sipos and Dániel Hamar, who until then had accompanied folk dance. Around 1979 Éri managed to entice Sebestyén to join Muzsikás. From the beginning of the 1980s, however, Márta began to receive offers (both for stage appearances and recordings) which didn't involve Muzsikás. The group supported Márta's desire to expand her solo career and she left the group for a time in 1985. Since returning to Muzsikás, if they play togoether they appear under the name "Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén" reflecting the group's ongoing support or Márta as a solo artist.

The band broke onto the international folk music stage in 1978. First they were invited regularly to perform in Holland, and later they came to England via an invitation from Fairport Convention. With the exception of South America, they have since travelled the entire world. It is by no means an accident that they are commonly referred to as the "Travelling Ambassadors of Hungarian Folk Music". London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Barbican, Paris' Theatre De La Ville, New York Town Hall and the Los Angeles House of Blues (among many others) can attest to this.

The first major Muzsikás record came out in 1977 as the third installment in a series entitled Élõ Népzene (Living Folk Music). The album was a reflection of the evolution of the folk dance-house movement. It contained songs from the 'dunántúli', 'mezõségi', 'széki', 'moldován', and 'szatmári' styles. Muzsikás II came out in Holland 1979. On this album, they tried a female singer Zsuzsa Vincze, who has a special rural colour in her voice.. The third album, Nem Úgy van Most, Mint Volt Régen (It's Not Like It Used To Be) came out in 1981 and was recorded with Márta Sebestyén. This is the first album to contain non-original material and out of their reconstruction of personal traditions on this record emerged the unmistakable sound which has characterized the group ever since. 1984 saw the release of Nem Arról Hajnallik (The Dawn Is Not Over There), which travelled the same road reconstruction, while including lyrics with an element of social criticism.

In 1985 Márta Sebestyén brought out a solo album, Dúdoltam Én - Sebestyén Márta (I crooned to myself - Márta Sebestyén) which included some songs accompanied by Muzsikás. The style and instrumental arrangements of the album brought a marked change from previous work. This was the album that caught the attention of Joe Boyd and led to the working relationship between Hannibal Records and Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén. After releasing Dúdoltam Én, renamed Márta Sebestyén with Muzsikás (HNCD 1330), Boyd re-released Nem Arról Hajnallik under the title of The Prisoner's Song (HNCD 1341). This was followed by the release of Blues For Transylvania (HNCD 1350) in 1988, after which, lovers of Muzsikás had a five-year wait for another record.

The wait was not in vain, as the next album, 1993's Máramaros - The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania (HNCD 1373), brought to listeners enchanting, and previously unknown, music that had been lost in the Holocaust. Since the Second World War traditional music from Transylvania had become more or less an unknown entity. Out of five thousand Jewish families from the Máramaros region, not one musician survived the Holocaust. According to musicologists, Transylvanian Jewish music did not even exist. They claimed that Jewish musicians from Transylvania were products of Hungarian Folk Music. Muzsikás disproved this theory. They managed to find Transylvanian Gypsy musicians (Toni Árpád and Gheorge Covaci) who had played with Jewish musicians before the war. Then they went home and prepared the songs for the record in part from memory and in part with the guidance of Zoltán Simon (a student of Kodály).

1997 has seen the release Morning Star (HNCD 1401) which reflects the traditional Transylvanian repertoire which Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén often play in concert performance. Audiences who have seen the wild and sensual centuries-old dance movements are given a visceral access to the jagged and syncopated rhythms of the csárdás. Extended tracks show the beauty of Márta's singing and the slow and fast dances which evolve from the same melodies. The recording also features an acoustic version of 'I Wish I Were A Rose', a beautiful Siberian song from Márta's highly acclaimed 1996 release Kismet (HNCD 1392).

With such an impressive array of recordings and sold out tours throughout the world, it is no surprise that so many well-known film directors have requested the collaboration of Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén. These include Costa Gavras (The Music Box), Simon Broughton (Dancing Room), and Anthony Minghella, whose film The English Patient won 8 Oscars (including the music) and brought the music of Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén to millions of people across the world.

Having played consistently with the same line-up, 1996 saw a change in Muzsikás. The dance-house veteran László Porteleki replaced Sándor Csoóri, who is now concentrating solely on teaching.

From the last few years in most of their concerts two virtuuso dancers-coreographers present the extraordinally beautiful and difficult dances of the Hungarian tradition. Zoltán Farkas and Ildikó Tóth were the solists of the Hungarian National Folk Ensemble till 1990, when they established the Kodály Chamber Dance Group collecting the best professonal folk dancers of Hungary. Farkas and Tóth collected the dances in villages for years learning not only the steps but the deep meaning of the dances which express the emotional contact between the Men and the Woman. The critics sometimes say that their dance visulaise the music.

The group released their most sophisticated record The Bartók Album (HNCD 1436) in 1999. This record was their secret dream from the beginning. The great Hungarian composer and musician Béla Bartók is acknowledged worlwide as one of the most important musical personlities of the 20^th century. The majoity of his works exhibit his influence of folk music of the Carpatian Basin where Hungarians and other nationalities and minorities live (like Slovakians, Gypsies, Rumanians, Serbians, Jews, Germans, etc) and their cultural interaction produced on of the richest folk tradition of the World. Encountering with the folk music dramatically changed the life of Bartók. He declared the traditional songs and music performed rurally by village people very modern.

Similarly to Bartók, the encountering the folk traditions nearly 70 years later has changed the life of the musicians of Muzsikás. They try to express their positive experience with musical tools. This record based on the melodies colleded by Bartók is like an "ars poetica" of Muzsikás. They selected some original recordings made by Bartók on phonograph wax-roll and three violin duos from the 44 to link the nearly hundred-year-old recording to their music and the compositions of Bartók. The duos are played by Mihály Sipos, the fiddler of Muzsikias and Alexander Balanescu, the world famous violin virtuoso from London.

The response of this record and the concert they make based on the Bartók Album was overhelming by the fans and experts of classical music and folk music. The first performance of this repertoite was in the Royal Festival Hall of London. Then they played it in many concert halls and festivalsall around the World, as far as possible with Alexander Balanescu.

Ater this record many possibilites opened for Muzsikas to play together with classical musicians or to play for classical audience. Roel Dieltiens, cellist from Belgium, Jenõ Jandó, pianist from Hungary, The Balanescu Quartet from London, and lately thr Takács Quartet from USA are among those.

Currently, the group is working on their new album which will be again a surprise of their fans.