Family E2
Boross
Boross Lajos — prímáskirály
Hungarian Roma — Budapest
Style: Hungarian Romani music / Cigányzene
Lajos Boross, Kossuth-prize primás, perpetual honorary főprímás of the 100 Member Hungarian Gypsy Orchestra. The 100 Tagú English page names him as the “King of Primás” who conferred that title on Lendvai Csócsi in 1998.
HVG / MTI, 9 July 2014: Lajos Boross died in hospital on Tuesday night, aged 89 — so born 1925. Confirmed to RomNet by Beke Farkas Nándor, president of the 100 Tagú. Violin from the age of five, first from his father Boross Géza, then from Rácz Laci, “prímáskirály.” 1938–40 in the Öreg Rajkók; already on Hungarian Radio. 1940–42 at the Music Academy, teacher Zatureczky Ede.
At seventeen he formed his own orchestra at the Trombitás étterem in Buda. Kodály Zoltán backed his appointment as leading primás of the Állami Népi Együttes in 1950. Népművészet Mestere, 1953. From 1958, leading primás of the Magyar Rádió folk orchestra. Halászbástya étterem, 1972: HVG says he met Yehudi Menuhin there, who asked to play Brahms’s Fifth Hungarian Dance with him; Menuhin later wrote of that playing in The Music of Man. Margitkert on Rózsadomb from 1981.
In 1985, HVG: he was crowned king of the primáses, and the same year became alelnök and főprímás of the newly founded 100 Tagú Cigányzenekar. He stepped down in 1998 for health; kept as örökös, tiszteletbeli főprímás. Kossuth Prize, 2006, for work popularising Romani performing arts. The 100 Tagú English page still names him as the man who conferred the Chief Primás title on Lendvai Csócsi in 1998 — that orchestra’s own wording.
Elhunyt Boross Lajos Kossuth-díjas prímás, a 100 Tagú Cigányzenekar örökös, tiszteletbeli főprímása. A kórházban ápolt zenész 89 éves korában halt meg kedd éjjel. Boross Lajos ötévesen kezdett hegedülni, kezdetben édesapjától, Boross Gézától, majd Rácz Lacitól, a prímáskirálytól tanult. 1985-ben a prímások királyává koronázták, majd ugyanebben az évben lett az akkor alakult 100 Tagú Cigányzenekar alelnöke és főprímása. A cigány előadóművészet népszerűsítéséért végzett munkásságát 2006-ban Kossuth-díjjal ismerték el.
Lajos Boross, Kossuth-prize primás, perpetual honorary főprímás of the 100 Member Hungarian Gypsy Orchestra, has died. The musician, in hospital, died on Tuesday night aged 89. He began the violin at five, first from his father Boross Géza, then from Rácz Laci, the king of primáses. In 1985 he was crowned king of the primáses, and the same year became vice-president and főprímás of the newly founded 100 Member orchestra. In 2006 a Kossuth Prize for work popularising gypsy performing art.
Hankó Ferenc — the brács beside him (Limberger)
A home tape from a Dutch tour, kept as a teaching copy among Budapest café players.
Tcha Limberger (Belgian Manouche; Limberger family on this archive — not Boross kin) uploaded a clean transfer of a private recording of Hankó Ferenc (brács) and Boross Lajos (violin / primás) on 9 December 2020. Limberger’s own YouTube description (https://youtu.be/8Mw2Ay4FBSE):
The pair were touring in Holland in the 1960s (“I believe”).
After a concert, in someone’s home, they had been drinking and argued. Boross claimed Hankó could not accompany him well if he could not see the bow arm. They stood back to back and played.
The tape is revered among musicians who play Magyar nóta — Limberger calls it “the bible for all brács players.” Every self-respecting Gypsy musician in Budapest has a copy; many circulating copies are distorted. Limberger first heard a bad copy via Koen De Cauter; the clean one came from collector Edely Pitios, from the man who recorded it on a Revox. That hearing, Limberger writes, made him go to Budapest to learn the style.
Spelling: Limberger writes Boros; this archive keeps Boross (also Boros on Hungarian plaques). Same primás.
These revered recordings should be admired and known to all who like Magyar Nota, Hungarian Chanson. They are known to all the musicians who play the style as being the bible for all bracs players.
Lineage
Birth and death on a vertical line — generation by generation. Places are listed where we could find them.
Generation 1
Lajos Boross (Boros Lajos)
Violin, főprímás · 1925–2014
Kossuth 2006. Died Budapest, 8 July 2014. MTI/HVG.
Orchestra years
When the band was founded, when it split, when a new generation took the stand.
1950
New generation leads
Kodály backs the chair
Magyar Állami Népi Együttes
Leading primás of MÁNE. Magyar Rádió folk orchestra from 1958. Halászbástya 1972; Margitkert from 1981.
1985
New generation leads
Főprímás of the new symphony
100 Tagú Cigányzenekar
Alelnök and főprímás from the founding. Stepped down 1998 for health; kept as honorary perpetual főprímás.
1998
New generation leads
Title passed to Lendvai
100 Tagú Cigányzenekar
At the Pesti Vigadó he granted Lendvai Csócsi József the title of Chief Primás — the orchestra’s own wording.
Neighbours
Same country or city, but a different way of playing.
Limberger (Manouche; transmitter of the tape, not this family).
- Limberger — Manouche / Sinti — Belgium (and the Dutch border)
- Veres (Sárközi) — Hungarian Roma → Rotterdam / The Hague
- Lakatos — Hungarian Roma — Budapest (and Belgium, for a time)
- Sárközi / Sárközy — Hungarian Roma — Budapest
- Czinka — Hungarian Roma — Kingdom of Hungary, eighteenth century
- Kalyi Jag — Hungarian Roma — Nagyecsed / Budapest, from 1978
- Járóka — Hungarian Roma — Kisvárda / Budapest
- Danyi — Hungarian Roma — Budapest