Ági Szalóki and Multiethnic Femininity

Chapter 2 details how female performers with Romani (Gypsy) and Magyar ancestry face constraints of mixed ethnicity and gender, discussing the career of singer Ági Szalóki. The chapter outlines how Magyar female performers singing music of all regional ethnicities contributed to the folk revival in Hungary from the 1970s to the present; the international star Márta Sebestyén gave inspiration to young minority performers such as Szalóki, who then oriented their solo careers toward the liberalized society and the middle class. The chapter details how Szalóki left a Balkan Romani-style band to pursue solo projects that blended folk song and jazz, resisting expectations that Romani and other folk music should sound rustic. The chapter argues that Szalóki’s projects got the best response in feminine spheres such as children’s music, even as her solo work challenged ideas around male leadership. It describes ways in which Szalóki spoke out against far-right nationalism.