Péter Éri was born in 1953 in Budapest, Hungary. As a ten-year old child he won the first prize of a dance competition with dancing the Lads’ Dance of Kalotaszeg, accompanied by his schoolmate Andras Schiff, who is currently a world famous pianist.
His stepfather, Dr György Martin, a well-known ethnographer, brought young Éri to his trips where he collected Hungarian traditional dances and instrumental music and consequentially Éri as a child made his first connections with living musical and dance traditions.
At 14, Éri became the dancer of the Bartók Dance Ensamble where he was an active dancer for six years. His interest in the music continued. He became the bass player of the first Hungarian folk revival band, the Sebő Group. At that time the singer of this band was a young woman called Marta Sebestyen.
Meanwhile when the band Muzsikas was formed in 1973, Éri became the guest musician of the band. In 1978 he became a full member.
Éri graduated from Eötvös University of Budapest as an ethnographer and philologist of Romanian language and literature.
He plays the viola, the three-string “kontra”, mandolin and different types of flutes.
Discography
* Living Hungarian Folk Music I. Muzsikás (Hungaroton Gong)
* Kettő Hungarian Folk Music (Munich Records)
* It is not like it used to be (Hungaroton Gong)
* Márta Sebestyén and Muzsikás (Hannibal/Ryko, 1987)
* The Prisoner’s Song (Hannibal/Ryko)
* Blues for Transylvania (Hannibal/Ryko)
* Maramaros, the Lost Jewish Music (Hannibal/Ryko HNCD 1373, 1993)
* Morning Star (Hannibal/Ryko, 1997)
* The Bartók Album (Hannibal/Ryko, 1998)
* Live at the Liszt Academy (Muzsikás)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
