Folk Bands

András Benkő and his Folk Bands

From 1998	Sültü Band - Hungarian Csango Folk Music
Katalin Bakó (voice), Gábor Újvári (flute), Zoltán Böjthe (drum) and András Benkő (koboz - kobza) have been playing together since the end of 1997. The members of the Sültü Band have been hugely successful in the past, individually as well as in other bands. They give special concerts, programs and play at festivals, in camps and in clubs. The newer members of the Band are Zsófi Bajna (dance), Angelika Szilágyi (voice). They played (2003-2011) every second Saturday evening in FMH (XI. Fehérvári út 47.) from September to June.
1998-2002	Csürrentő Band (founder)
Tamás Novinszki (flute) and András Benkő (kobza - koboz) won the I. prize of the Hungarian Radio Rt. I. Folk Music Competition in the Instrument Category. They founded the Csürrentő Band in Budapest together with Katalin Klopp (voice), Szilárd Horváth (flute), Bálint Kárpáthegyi (drum) after the competition in 1998. This formation was very competitive and successful: they won the I. and II. Prizes of the Hungarian Radio and the Hungarian Duna Television too. They appeared in international folk festivals in Europe and they made a record "Kövecses víz közepibe" with Moldavian Csango melodies and songs. The group changed in 2002 and there is nowadays only one man from the founders and from the original Band.
1997-1998	Mokányos (founder)
The Mokányos Band was formed in Budapest in 1997 by László Németh (flute), Arnold Tóth (flute) and András Benkő (kobza - koboz). After the International Dance-House Festival in 1997, Lídia Draskóczi (fiddle) and László Széles (drum) joined the group. They performed at several Moldavian Csango dance-house events in small clubs but they played in the Liszt Academy of Music too.