Artist database

Balázs Szokolay spent his childhood years in Tótkomlós in Southern Hungary. After his agricultural and art studies, he took up music. He began playing blues and then folk music on bagpipes, recorder and saxophone. After intensive studies of the folklore of the Carpathian Basin, he became interested in folk music arrangements. This led to his own compositions, primarily jazz works, and their improvisatory musical basis which bear the imprint of ancient Hungarian, Romanian, Serb, Croatian, Slovak and Gypsy culture as well as a modern contemporary sound. In 1994 he won the Young Master of Folk Music award. Between 1990 and 2000 he performed with such groups as Kündü, Magyar Pipe Band, Békés Band and Vasmalom. His experimental work with the Dél-alföld Saxophone Goup, which explores the borders between jazz and folk music, has been particularly influential. He also has his own group, Dongó and Friends. He regularly performs with Téka, Vujicsics, Makám, and and the Dél-alföld, Csík and Vízöntő bands. Since 2003, he has taught pipe playing at the Óbuda Folk Music School.