Kalyi Jag

Kalyi Jag ("Black Fire" in English) was a popular Hungarian gypsy band formed in 1978. They became one of the best known representatives of Hungarian Romani folk in the world.

Kalyi Jag released their debut album in 1987, selling 30,000 copies in a week and receiving a gold disc award. At the time, members of the band were Gusztáv Varga, József Balogh with his wife Ágnes Künstler, and the dancer Béla Balogh (who was replaced after the second album with József Nagy).

Following the great success of the band, Hungaroton released three more albums. Kalyi Jag toured internationally in the 1990s, also regularly performing back at home, where artists would play not only at concert venues, but even at private christening and wedding ceremonies. In 1993, Kalyi Jag participated in German-Austrian superproduction Magnetenshow. For this project, they did traditional choreography with Romani folk music, and participated in over 130 shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in just six months. This experience also opened doors to the prestigious World Music Festival for them.