Katan

Popular music has been having the kind of rebirth that classical music had at the beginning of the last century. Composers who are searching for new paths have found a flood of inspiration in the basic foundations of musical resources, most of all in folk music.
In this amazing record by Katan you can find adaptations of Transylvanian-Moldavian-Hungarian folk themes and motifs.
Kata Horvati and Ancsa Papp sing these songs in such a pure, strong and powerfully expressive way that is a characteristic of performers who have truly mastered the forms of Hungarian Folk songs.
And the musical "accompaniment" is an equally important companion to the new and well formed structures.
It's one of the peculiarities and strengths of this album that different great artists who represent different genres of music play together. For example Mihály Borbély, a prominent figure in Hungarian Jazz culture, Ferenc Kisvári, who has played the drums on records that count as milestones in the history of Hungarian popular music, András Hajós, the singer songwriter of the band Emil.Rulez!, or Kit Walker, the American Jazz pianist, who played on Jai Juttal's record that has been nominated for the Grammies: they all gave to this record their own uniqueness and the atmospheres of the genres they play in, creating an interesting fusion with folk music.

There is a great variety of what is on offer in the markets of so called "World Music". Many "musicians" use melodies from folksongs and they just insert them into popular material without any imagination, in a shallow way, without making much mental effort. The producers of Katan, Csaba Faltay and Ferenc Kisvári didn't just use the foundations of folk music, but they enriched the songs with their own special contributions and with incredible musical arrangements and unique musical structures.

The musical heritage the great Hungarian composers, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, the world famous adaptors of Hungarian folk music, was the inspiration for this album. The world of these great composers can be felt in the harmonisation and in the motifs of these songs, which is a kind of respectful bow from the creators of this album to those great musicians of the past.

Kata Horváti

A folksinger who was born in Kolozsvár and studied folk music in the Conservatoire. Kata has play in many groups and her unique singing style and voice has made her fans everywhere. She has won many prestigious prizes including first place in the National Folksinging Competition and she has been honoured by the national award of Young Master of Folk Art. She was a key member of the Singing Humming Group and since 1999 she has appeared as a solo artist and before joining Katan she contributed to many popular releases and played the lead part in Szomjas’ film, Vagabond.

Anikó Papp

After specialist musical studies at school Aniko studied song and folk dance. Originally trained in classical techniques she later joined folk music to her studies and the folk music finally took over! Many prestigious competitions as the member of a group and as a soloist brought her many awards. She has won first place in many many festivals including highly valued wins on Duna Tv and Hungarian Radio. She has been honoured by her country with the title Young Master of Folk Art and with her twin sister was a member of the amazing Song Telling Double Singing Group and the twins winning the award was unparalleled. It’s important for Aniko to keep singing and dancing together and to take the best from both fields by working in different groups and in different styles. She is only 30 years old but thanks to her huge talent she is often invited to festivals abroad to perform and also to teach.

Mihály Borbély

Is one of the most famous Hungarian saxophone artists on both tenor and soprano sax. He is a founding member of the Vujicsics Music Group and has played as a member in many groups and as a solo artist, in the fields of folk music as well as jazz. He has contributed to many recordings in Europe and in the United States and has worked with great performers such as Herbie Mann, Trilok Gurtu, Márta Sebestyén, Saxophone Summit (Michael Brecker-David Liebman-Joe Lovano), The Sebő band, Károly Binder, Mihály Dresch, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, Michel Montanaro’s Vents d’Est band, Jirí Stivín, Zbigniew Namyslowski, the National Philharmonics and Group 180.
He plays concerts, and records with bands like Borbély Műhely Quartet B where he is the leader, and he performs with Károly Binder pianist in a duo. Amazingly talented, he combines performing with teaching at the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy Jazz Faculty in Budapest.

Ferenc Kisvári

Is a drummer, a popular session musician and a music producer.
He contributed in the live performances of such great performers like János Bródy, Zsuzsa Koncz, Róbert Szikora, Szandi, St.Martin, Tamás Hevesi, Előd Császár. He has been a permanent drummer for the band Emil RuleZ