SEBESTYÉN MÁRTA

She was born on the 19th August 1957 in Budapest, Hungary. She learned how to sing before she even knew how to speak. Márta speaks seven languages fluently !
Her mother, Ilona Farkas, a music teacher and collector of folksongs, was a pupil of Kodály Zoltán (a famous hungarian composer). At the age of 6 she already recorded an album. She quited her studies at the Budapester Art Academy in 1975 to spend more time with singing. She began to sing at the "Táncház" (House of Dance). A movement used as a form of protest against the cultural oppression of the Communist government. Students, musicians and dancers began to explore their hungarian musical roots. This movement became very popular to the whole generation of students and intellectuals of Budapest. Though she said in an interview that she only sang the songs because of their beauty and not because of political reasons. She was impressed by the power of the music that pulled people together. Around 1980 she joined the music group "Muzsikás", with them she recorded albums through the years. In the beginning of the 1990's she gave worldwide concerts with them.

In 1995 two french gentlemen, Eric Mouquet and Michael Sanchez, better known as "Deep Forest" were listening to records from all over the world. They phoned each other one day and said they'd found something wonderful, and then they realized they both were listening to the same songs. It were the songs of Sebestyén Márta. They were very impressed and sent her a demo tape, asking her what she thinks about it. Her reaction, taken from an interview, was: "It was really shocking to me and strange to my ears. But I tried to forget about being a folk singer and listened to it the way a young teenager would listen. There are so many ways to reach an audience, so I let them use it and we became friends". "People sometimes like to use my voice in pop music, it is never my idea. When I am able to do what I want to do, to say what I want to say, it is always through folk music. Ordinary people who listen to music on the radio all day to not know it is all lie. It is noise, the noise of money. I pity people who have grown up never having heard honest music. Mixing music with business is not for me".
So her voice can be heard on Deep Forest's album "Boheme". One of the songs, "Marta's Song" also appeared on Robert Altman's "Pret-a-Porter" soundtrack.
In 1996 another international success, in the movie "The English Patient" a traditional Hungarian song can be heard under the opening credits, "Én csak azt csodálom" (Lullaby for Catherine). Another of her songs used in the movie is "Szerelem szerelem" (Love, Love).
She also sang for the Japanese emperor and the Spanish King. She also received every prize a Hungarian artist can receive. Her repertoir also includes folk songs from Ireland, Greece, Bulgaria, Bosnia or even Indian Hindu songs.