Together for more than 25 years, MUZSIKÁS are not only Hungary's premiere folk group, but also are considered one of the world's leading traditional ensembles. Singer MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN has been featured on the soundtrack of the Oscar®-winning film The English Patient and the Grammy®-winning BOHEME by Deep Forest.

MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN has been compared in the press to Sandy Denny, Jane Siberry, the McGarrigle sisters and the goddess Persephone. Critics from the globe's four corners have fallen over one another to exceed their rivals' superlatives. Guitar Player summed up their acclamation in a simple sentence: "If the transcendent beauty [of her performance] doesn't take your breath away, you're dead, man." More than half a million people have been enchanted by her voice, a versatile instrument described by Musician magazine as possessing "otherworldly beauty, as expressive as it is exotic."

MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN grew up in Budapest, Hungary, surrounded by folk music. Her mother had studied with the great composer Zoltan Kodaly, taught music and collected folk songs. MÁRTA learned to sing before she could talk. As a little child she was already performing in concerts, on television and on records. By the age of 12, she knew her life would be music.

When she was still in school, she began singing at Budapest "dance houses." At that time, the "dance house movement" was growing in Hungary as a kind of protest against the uniformity of culture under the

Communist government. Students and scholars, musicians and dancers began exploring the roots of Hungarian culture, particularly that of Transylvania, a former Hungarian province which is now part of Romania. Transylvania is to Hungarian culture what the deep South is to America-the truest repository of the country's folk soul.

Folk dance and folk song became the cultural currency of a generation of Budapest students and intellectuals, and MÁRTA was at the center of the movement from an early age. She joined the Sebö & Halmos group in 1975 and eventually became part of Hungary's leading folk group, MUZSIKÁS, in 1980. She has also sung with another renowned Hungarian group, Vujicsics, for more than 15 years. In 1984, she sang in a folk musical based on the life of Hungary's legendary King Stephen and was awarded the title of Female Singer Of The Year in Hungary. In 1991, she was the first Hungarian folk singer to be awarded the prestigious Liszt Award.

During the 80's, MUZSIKÁS, featuring MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN, toured around Europe, performing in Britain, Italy, Spain, Austria and Germany, as well as Australasia. Their scope has widened in the '90s, and they have toured extensively in Japan, the US and throughout Europe, playing concerts and festivals to standing ovations. Over the years, SEBESTYÉN has collaborated on recordings with both MUZSIKÁS and Vujicsics, as well as releasing the hypnotic APOCRYPHA, in 1992, and the heralded KISMET in 1996.