Legendary Rock Band Edda Művek Celebrates Half a Century of Music

This year marks 50 years since the formation of one of the country’s best-known rock bands, Edda Művek. The band’s enthusiasm is still unbroken, with a massive fan base supporting their position in the popular music scene. It is no wonder that the legendary band led by Attila Pataky will celebrate the occasion with a major concert on March 9 at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena. The frontman gave an interview to  Magyar Nemzet about the past decades and his creative work.

The lead singer of the rock band first talked about how well he can live up to the expectations of five decades of fans. “You get love all the time, it is a very good feeling, but there are expectations that really do arise and that every performer has to deal with the necessary mental strength,” Attila Pataky began. He stressed that it can be quite difficult to navigate between a professional career and a private life.

If you are interested in my Edda life, you will find all the answers on the Edda 35 album,”

he highlighted.

“There I am the real Attila Pataky, Edda’s singer, lyricist. And the other Attila Pataky is just like anyone else who lives down the street or hundreds of kilometers away.”

The five decades of Edda Művek started in 1974, when the frontman was called up for military service, hence the group was looking for a singer. That is how Pataky got into the band. “I became a singer in no time at all in the group of József Halász, Katalin Beély, Zoltán Ferenczi, and Zoltán Fancsik. From there I started the journey that continues to this day.”

By the end of 1974, the formation already had some of their first original songs. As the singer recalled: “one after the other came the parties, the clubs. I quickly got involved in organizing gigs and we were off and running in the county. In six months we became well-known.”

As time went on, the first line-up of the band ended due to different career choices. However, Pataky decided that he would “go down the path of making music professionally.”

I approached the best musicians in Miskolc (northern Hungary) to persuade them to continue at Edda. That is when Edda Művek was born.

This was the second great era, the beginning of the real golden age,” he noted.

To be precise, from 1978, the band members were István Slamovits, Alfonz Barta, László Zselencz, and György Csapó. They started to get invitations from several cities and venues. “We went to Csepel, Gyöngyös, Nyíregyháza, and then to Budapest,” the singer listed. Pataky said that “many people were amazed at how ready we were as a group. We went, played music, and proved ourselves everywhere.”

After five years, the line-up of Edda changed again. The second formation lasted until December 17, 1983, as one of the members, István Slamovits, wanted to explore U2 music, and then wanted to play more jazz and rock music, the frontman noted. “I gave it a try, but after six months it turned out to be totally unlivable for me.

After half a year of “trying” I started writing new songs, now with Tibor Donászy, István Alapi, Gábor Pethő, and Zsolt Gömöry, who has been my partner for forty years.”

Five decades have passed, but Edda Művek is still here and still going strong. “I am proud that I never gave up. I have had people around me who have told me, with good intentions, that when I am forty or fifty I will give up this big rock and roll feeling and get tired of playing concerts. They were dead wrong; it is more important today than it was at the beginning,” emphasized the lead singer. About what is the most significant for him when he goes on stage, Pataky underlined that he always aims to show his creed, his “Hungarianism,” and his love of the Carpathian Basin.

Our most important task as Hungarians is to bring love and freedom to the Carpathian Basin.”

I have been doing this in my own way with my songs, with Edda, for fifty years now.”

Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Wikipedia