- The celebration of folk music has been organised at the end of January every year now in the Palace of Arts since 2008. How did the idea for such a prominent event come about?

- The first celebration of folk music was organised to mark the opening of the folk music faculty at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Because of the major success the event enjoyed it was decided that it would be worth launching an annual festival with the participation of several ensembles. Since then the very best in the profession have put on performances and young talent has also been given the opportunity to play on this prestigious podium.

- Are things easier or more difficult now for young musicians than they were for Muzsikás 37 years ago?

- It's easier to the extent that you can get hold of the materials to play folk music as virtually anything can be accessed. What disturbs me is that although there are more and more bands, Hungarian folk music is still barely a part of the public consciousness. Moreover, it's easier to be successful if somebody only plays "almost folk" music and tailors it to whatever's in vogue. Few people dare to stick to the original authentic sound.  At the same time I recognise that they have to get used to it and love it.   

- In the special singing lessons you hold in schools you have proved on numerous occasions that it is possible to teach people the love of folk music and in the big concert halls of the world one can see how folk music has the same effect on the English, the French and the Americans as it does on the Hungarians. 

- Music is a universal language, an incomprehensible mystery, and audiences can relate to Hungarian folk music everywhere, from the United States to Japan. One of the greatest singers of Szék (inTransylvania) once said that singing for him was like praying. Marika Petrás said how when she is troubled she just sits down with her daughter in the ceramics workshop, lights a candle and holding hands they sing ballads for hours, and through doing this their worries simply vanish.

- Still, as you said, folk music isn't a part of the public consciousness. Is there a real danger that it could even fade away altogether?

- I do fear that it could, especially because I witnessed how Szék's traditional culture collapsed before my very eyes. Inthe 70s everybody wore costumes but these days you can hear synthesisers at celebrations instead of their own music too often. Theprocess of erosion can't be stopped. Although in 1929 Béla Bartók predicted that Hungarian folk music would last a mere three more years, fortunately it's still going - even if a lot of people regard it as a trendy subgenre. We Hungarians have been blessed with an amazing heritage but it is up to us whether or not we are capable of preserving, enriching and passing it onto our children. The other day I read an article that had been conducted with Sándor Szokolay, and as he put it: it's time that we learned to copy ourselves and not others. Or in other words we should try to be ourselves and represent our own culture by drawing on our own legacy. Hungarian folk music is an important part of our identity. By safeguarding our own culture we enrich Europe's diversity too. Hungarian folk music is one of Europe's treasures and whoever knows their own culture can appreciate other people's cultures.

- And vice versa: two years ago Muzsikás received the Womex Award for world music.

- Buena Vista Social Club won the first such prize and we won the tenth and were the first European ensemble to do so. Although it is a world music award, one of the reasons we won it is that Muzsikás placed Hungarian folk music on the music map of the world. Our efforts to break down the wall between classical and folk music were greatly appreciated, as were our bringing the folk musical roots of Bartók's works to the world. At the ceremony, even the strong political overtones of our early records were mentioned, the fact that folk music could be a tool for resistance.

- Having taken on the EU Presidency Hungary will be able to present its culture and roots to the world. Did folk music get included inthe programme?

- The Jánosi Ensemble will perform in London, while Söndörgö and Kálmán Balogh will play in Brussels - the latter two will be performing at the Balkan festival.

- The English are organising their own concerts: there will be concerts connected to Bartók until November, and Muzsikás will play a part in the programme.

- This was completely initiated by the English. Malcolm Gillies, the spiritual father of music history, managed to gain the support of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and their world renowned conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen, for this idea. We will be performing twice, and initially in the Royal Festival Hall. We have been in contact with the organisers for months and we recently had a meeting with Salonen in Vienna. He took a keen interest in the pain that can be felt in Bartók's music and how it might be rooted in our folk music. So we told him about old Hungarian traditions such as the funeral dirge and the farewell to the bride. We explained the importance of these and how through them Hungarian folk music can console and heal people's spiritual wounds. In the olden days people cried and sang their way out of pain. Folk music operates on a wide scale, which is perhaps a little frightening because these days it is not usual to show one's deeper emotions at such levels as we have experienced in folk music.  

- This depth of emotions can still be experienced in dance houses, can't it?

- Yes, by two hundred people. But what about the other nine and a half million? That's why we are happy to be able to perform in schools. We have 45 minutes to dispel the children's initial reluctance in regard to folk music so that by the end they are crying out: don't go! It's great work and hard, but so far it has always been a success.

- Muzsikás is referred to as a national institution. Do you experience any of this?

- As far as cultural policy is concerned not really; for example, we were not included in the Pécs Culture Capital of Europe programme. But as far as the audiences are concerned, we definitely do: our concerts in Müpa(Palace of the Arts in Budapest) were sell-outs and we even needed extra seats, and it was the same at our biggest concerts abroad too.  

- It's hard to believe that you could stop doing this from one day to the next.

- In this genre there are no upper limits; as long as audiences want us we'll play music, and as long as we're able we'd like to make people happy. This year the Muzsikás album of selected songs will come out in London, and we have invitations to go on a concert tour of the Far East, Australia and Japan in 2012. We still have a high degree of recognition and acceptance in the world, and as long as this remains the case, we can be emissaries of Hungary. 

- Have you never felt that you had to make a choice between Muzsikás and your profession as a geophysicist and space researcher?

- I have never had to make that choice but at times when Muzsikás had an extremely busy schedule it was difficult to stand my ground in my profession. However, since scientific research is intellectual work and does not tie me to a place it has somehow always worked out.

- Do the two things, i.e. folk music and space physics, complement each other?

- Actually there are three things: my family comes first, and these three things maintain my balance. My work is very interesting and my family provides a stable background. I have been playing music since the age of six, but it was only at the age of 21 when I started dealing with folk music seriously, that I fell in love with the genre. And it will soon be 38 years ago that Muzsikás came into being.
 

MUZSIKÁS - The Muzsikás Folk Ensemble was formed in 1973. Its members are: Mihály Sipos, László Porteleki, Péter Éri and Dániel Hamar. They are continually performing at folk and world music events and at concert halls such as the Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome as well as the New York Carnegie Hall. Their music embraces traditional folk music and Hungarian serious music of the 20th century.

Main awards: Franz Liszt Award (1995), Kossuth Prize (1999); Hungarian Heritage Award (2000), Womex Award (2008), Prima Primissima Award (2008).

Guests frequently appearing at their concerts are Mária Petrás, born in Moldva, as well as dancers Zoltán Farkas and Ildikó Tóth.