A few days after László Benkő and Tamás Mihály, the corona virus captivated another rock legend. At the age of 69, the master of lyrical rock, the Hungarian singer and musician of the Kossuth and Liszt Ferenc awards, and the founder of the Korál ensemble passed away.

“We announce with deep sorrow that Ferenc Balázs, musician, father, husband and fellow Kossuth award winner, and Liszt left last night. Despite many prayers and all the efforts of his doctors, he gave up the fight after 13 days of fighting, ”said Attila Várkonyi, the host of Retro Radio, on behalf of the family. Ferenc Balázs’s funeral will be organized later. The musician’s relatives ask that their pain and pain be respected.

Sand in the wind, Backyard puppies, Never stop, It was a year of silence – Several generations have been fans of the work of Balázs Fecó. He was best known for his lyrical songs, although he was also a puppet at the birth of hard-rock in Hungary, and progressive rock was not far from him. In fact, it was he who popularized rock music to a wider audience in the 70s and 80s with his contemplative-ballad songs.

It is a fantastic feeling that wherever I sit at the piano, I can read in the looks and postures that this song has brought the person to a memory, to an atmosphere. They are magical moments and I cannot give them up. Seriously, they’ll definitely take me off stage

Balázs Fecó said last year.

If not literally, but it really was. Although he was in a life-threatening condition four years ago due to a heart rhythm disorder that had to be operated on as soon as he could and for as long as he could, he performed to the end. “Agreement is my medicine,” he said, and his doctors accepted it.

Warehouse Concert, August 2020

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He also performed with his band on the Warehouse Concerts series on August 24, where he was able to present the most distinctive compositions of his diverse work, ranging from progressive rock to lyrical songs. He was in distinctively good musical form in this strange and neglected performance of the coronavirus epidemic. (By the way, the 2021 dates were tied on their concert schedule.)

He always considered himself a “sad musician”, he had many lyrical compositions at a young age and this was typical of his career throughout. “After a certain age, one usually calms down, but I also had intense periods. Since 1979 we had 450-460 concerts a year with the Choir, and in the meantime, women and pleasures were not lacking either. There were actually a lot of cigarettes, but I was never an alcoholic or a drug addict.

I almost touched the other side of the moon anyway, but the lyre remained for me. “

He remembered last year.

On March 2, 1951, he was born the only child of a hospitable couple in Ferencváros. At the age of four, she lost her mother, was raised by her grandmother, whose neighbor was a piano teacher, and was aware of the boy’s talent early on. Fecó attended the Bakáts tér primary school for singing and music, then the Béla Bartók secondary music school, where he was already a member of the school’s orchestra.

And from here, rock music defined his life.

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In 1967 he became a member of then still progressive rock Neoton, in 1972 he left Som Lajos and founded the first Hungarian hard rock band “with Hungarian Jimi Hendrix” with Béla Radics. The short-lived Taurus XT only existed for a year, but it had an indelible effect on Hungarian rock music.

In 1973, he worked abroad for two years, but as he later said, “I can only play from the bottom of my heart for those who understand Hungarian.” In 1976 he joined the Zsuzsa Koncz backing band, then in 1978, starting from this group, he founded the Korál group.

They had their debut concert at the Buda Youth Park in 1978, but by then only the founder Balázs Fecó remained one of the ancients. Later, the band that played a more melodic version of the hard-rock style underwent many member changes. They have performed in Bulgaria, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. At the 1981 Dance Song Festival, they had great success with their song Sand in the Wind.

Balázs Fecó was elected best keyboardist of the year six times in a row between 1979-1984.

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In 1986, Coral disbanded. Fecó began his solo career. He composed music for several films: Providence, Laura, Blindfold, The Spiders, Eight Seasons. He was at the center of the renovation of the ruined Sitke Chapel, for which he organized the Sitke Chapel Cultural Association. Concerts were held, the product of which consisted of the cost of renovation. Complete rebuilding was completed in 1991.

His solo career has been immortalized in about 10 albums. Fecó was known for his support of today’s ruling parties, for which he was thanked. Most recently, Miklós Kásler supported the jubilee concert of the Korál ensemble on CD and DVD with 10 million HUF from his ministerial budget, but he already received 15 million from Zoltán Balog for the concert.

He received the Ferenc Liszt Prize in 1998 and the Kossuth Prize in 2016.



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