Hungarian Folk Music Band |
| "Three Nights Three Days"*** | "You Know My Dear"*** | "Two Roads"*** |
– Our sites are sponsored by Soros Foundation –
SALAMON Beáta - voice, fiddle
NAGY Zsolt - viola, guitar, clarinet
MOHÁCSY Albert - double-bass, koboz, gardon
In the first two years of its history, MÉTA played in Pécs, then since 1985, Budapest has been the headquarters of the
group. The ensemble was founded by Beáta Salamon whose singing voice and virtuosity on the violin are the
specialties of Méta ensemble. Followed in '87 Zsolt Nagy, virtuoso on the viola and the talented Albert
Mohácsy, double-bass, in '89. From '85 till '97 István Berán (wind instruments) worked for the band.
As a result of playing together regularly and the varied tasks and tours, beside having a well-established sound, we have become a cheerful friendly group. The very base of our work is playing in dance houses that gives an opportunity to know each other's musical style and enables us to express ourselves with music. We can measure our influence in our own club, our Sunday evening dance house, which has been operating since 1985.
The Méta-táncház has become a real club as in the intervals between dance teaching and free dancing we have guests, almost every weekend we invite tradition preserving performers, folk or blues musicians, choreographers , film makers, etc.
As a representative of the Hungarian folklore movement, our band regularly gives concerts at home and abroad and also performs at international festivals and musical competitions.
We learn our musical repertoire from archive material and from our own collections. From our masters we learn not only the unique way of performing but can also see the inner laws of music and dance. We try to pass on our personal experiences to our students in the Nádasdy Kálmán Art School , at our courses in folk music and in our summer camps. In '96, we finished our four years' study at the Bessenyei György College in the faculty of music-folk music.
As for playing in theatres, we have performed in the Gyulai Várszínház, Játékszín in Budapest, National and Thália theaters, Petőfi theater in Veszprém, in the productions of the Summer Festival in Szeged and the Honvéd Dance Theater. We often play together with Kálmán Balogh, the world famous cimbalom player. Our adventure into world music is the Heavy Méta formation, in which such experts of the Hungarian blues-life perform as Tamás Takáts, Zoltán Sipeki, György Ferenczi and Gábor Molnár.
The important points in our career:
1983:The title of the "Young Masters of Folk Art"
from 1983: National Dance-house Festivals
1986: International Bagpipe Festival – Strakonice (Cz)
1987: Korea, Egypt
1988:"The House of the Rising Sun" Folklore Festival, Szeged (H)
1989: Kieler Woche - (D)
1990: MTV (Hungarian Television) Competition for Folk Ensembles - first prize, Kaláka Festival - Diósgyőr(H), Dranouter - (B), Folklore Days in Pécs (H), MR Interfolk Festival (H),
1st Vajdaság Dance House Meeting - Ómoravica (YU)
from 1990:Opening Dance House Balls (H)
1991:The Day of the European Bagpipes - Bourgogne (F), MR Interfolk Festival (H),
Folk Music Meeting at Bonyhád (H), Alps Festival (I)
1992: Labadoux (B), Rotterdam Danst (NL),Festival of National Music (H),
Vujicsics Revival Festival - Szentendre (H), MR Interfolk (H),
Simmberg (A), Kaláka Festival (H), Flensburg (D)
1993: Santiago (E), Istanbul (TR), Interfolk (H)
1994: Zielona Góra (PI), Strakonice (Cz), Student Island – Budapest (H) , 1st Budapest Folk Festival
1995: Moers (D), Wien (A), USA, Istanbul (TR), Freiburg (D), Italy, Holland
1996: Freiburg, Staufen (D), Porto (P)
1997: Participating on Living Village Music CD anthology; National Dance-house Festival
Releases:
Szabad madár LP-MC Hungaroton '90
Songs and Dances from Hungary LP-MC-CD ARC-Hamburg '88
Gipsy Music from Hungarian Villages '88
Winter and Xmas Songs from Hungary '89
Spring Breeze '90
HeavyMéta MC Duo Sound, Bp. '93
Ten Years MÉTA MC-CD '94-95