Béla Babai, Date of Birth, Date of Death

Béla Babai

bandleader

Date of Birth: 27-Apr-1914

Date of Death: 01-Oct-1997

Profession: conductor, bandleader, violinist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

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.