Márta Sebestyén has long been known in her native land as the greatest interpreter of Hungarian folk music and it is decades since Márta Sebestyén has been introducing the wealth of Hungarian culture to the world. There is no other artist who could represent better the authenticity of the Hungarian folk music.
Born in Budapest in 1957, Márta grew up surrounded with music. Her mother, a music teacher studied with the great composer, scholar and ethomusicologist Zoltan Kodaly. At 12 years age, she already knew that her life would be bound to music.
Most popular in the West as the lead singer for the Hungarian group Muzsikas, Hungary's best-known folk music ensemble, since the early 1980s. Márta Sebestyén is one of Hungary's most celebrated music stars, gained a wider international audience when two of her songs were used on the soundtrack of The English Patient, the 1996 Academy Award-winning film.
She considers herself "a translator," she told Tim Lloyd, a writer for the Advertiser of Adelaide, Australia, "Because people who have never heard folk music in the city at the end of the 20th century need a translator. We are so used to video clips and so on that sometimes we no longer understand the power of the pure voice and pure harmony."
She has toured all over the world with Hungarian bands and recorded many albums. Márta Sebestyén has slowly but surely made her way to the very top as an international folk performer - a position she has achieved even before her exposure in the film "The English Patient", awarded with 9 Oscars (also for the music!) in 1997.
Her collaboration with the French group Deep Forest "resulted" a Grammy Award in 1996 for the album 'Boheme'. She recorded with Peter Gabriel 'Big Blue Ball' and has been discovered by other genres as well such as the film. She also sang for H.M. Queen Elisabeth II., the Japanese Emperor, the Spanish Royal Family upon diplomatic events.
She is one of today's world favorite traditional singers.