How to Pronounce Béla Babai
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Apr 27, 1914 Died on 01 Oct 1997 (aged 83)
bandleader
TaurusBéla Babai - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
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About Béla Babai
- Antal Béla Babai (April 27, 1914 – October 1, 1997) was an ethnic Romanian Romani musician and interpreter of romani music.
- Babai was born in Austria-Hungarian Empire and emigrated to the United States late 1930s, where he became famous as "The King of the Gypsy Violin".Babai was born in Graz, Austria-Hungary and grew up in Kaposvár near a large community of Romani.
- He learned to play the violin at a young age.
- At age 12 he would play in a local cafe, and in later years he would keep a clipping about those performances. After he emigrated to the United States in 1937, he noticed that the music from his country was played in Hungarian restaurants.
- Babai started an orchestra in which he played the violin, accompanied by a kontras (second fiddler), a bratchas (violist), a bogos (double bass), a cimbalom-player, and a cellist. In 1953 he left Chicago for New York, where he performed in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Babai was married to Emma Horvath, who was of Bashalde Romani descent, and had a son and two daughters.
- He died in Nesconset, New York.
