Four years ago we were invited to do a concert in Redentore
Church in Venice. The amazing enormous Renaissance building –
built on Guidecca Island after the plague – oozed the historical and
musical sources that guided the selections for our show. We chose
the folk melodies from our experiences which, because of their performance
style and vitality, could be performed in a sacred space.
Churches, castles and historical locations have attracted me from
childhood. The beautiful Arpád period (13th century) church in
my father’s native village of Csempeszkopács has had a lasting
effect on me. This prominent historical monument means even
more to me: It is ’The church’ where my ancestors have prayed and
sung for 700 years.We have been able to play the material on this record – these religious
and secular songs – in countless wonderful locations, sharing
many cathartic moments with the audience. We performed some of
this material in the Spanish royal couple’s palace. Another amazing
experience was singing in the mountains of Catalonia in the
Cistercian Monastary, Vallbona de Monges, at the sarcophagus of
Jolánta of the House Árpád (wife of Aragon King Jacob I.) with the
famous musician Jordi Savall.
It is a great pleasure to work together with the outstanding young
colleagues who have been my partners on this musical-intellectualspiritual
journey. “Dongó” – Balázs Szokolay, is a man of few
words, but produces miracles on whatever wind instrument he picks
up. Mátyás Bolya – a great talent of his generation and master of
plucked instruments – aptly put our thoughts into words like this:
“We feel that folklore is a process through which its participants
roll values from the past onward. It is a community genre, not a
performance of passing waves of fashion. We use this heritage as
the basic material of our own artistic creativity. We are convinced
that those in the past kneaded their creative energies into the inherited
musical forms in the same way.”

Márta Sebestyén - voice, tin-whistle, drum
Balázs Szokolay Dongó - bagpipes, shepherd’s flutes, fujara, tárogató, saxophone, overtone chanting
Mátyás Bolya - oriental fretless lute, zithers

1. Látomás / Vision
2. Örökség / Heritage
3. Virágszedők / Flower gatherers
4. Bú-küldöző / Sending off sorrow
5. Könyörgés / Invocation
6. Válogatott vitézek / Valiant knights
7. Jó Mátyás király / Good King Matthias
8. Estéli ima / Evening prayer (Bonus video)

Márta sings Christmas carols arranged by Károly Cserepes Featuring Levente Szörényi, Sándor Csoóri Jr. (Muzsikás), Tibor Donászy, László Hortobágyi, Ferenc Kovács, Róbert Mandel, Zoltán Krulik (Makám).

Sebestyén Márta
Szörényi Levente
Cserepes Károly
Cserepes Anna
Csillag Anna
Dobszay Márton
ijf. Csoóri Sándor
Donászy Tibor
Hortobágyi László
Hules Tamás
Huszár Mihály
Kovács Ferenc
Kürtös Rita
Mandel Róbert
Mózes Tamás
Jiří Stivín
Szörényi Szabolcs
Torda Gábor
Krulik Zoltán
Mezei Júlia

Márta sings folk songs about love arranged by Károly Cserepes. Featuring Judit Lovas, Levente Szörényi, Örs Szörényi and Vízöntő Ensemble (Károly Cserepes, János Hasur, Mihály Huszár, Ferenc Kiss).