Artists

Gergő Borlai

Gergõ Borlai is one of the most talented drummers in Hungary. Born in 1978. Gergõ started playing on his dad’s hobby drum set when he was three years old, listening to Dave Brubeck and Herbie Hancock records. His dad got him into jazz and jazz-rock at an early age, and at the audition to Postás Music School in 1984, the little Borlai already had the skills to play Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.

He is now one of the most sought-after musicians in Hungary. Beyond drums, he is a self taught bass and piano player. He has also been composing and arranging music since he was twelve. His first album was released in 1998 called ‘17’.

Gergõ lists his main inspiration as John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth, Weather Report and Frank Zappa. One of his most admired idols is Jaco Pastorius. He also learned from some of the best Hungarian artists including Gábor Presser, Gyula Babos and Tibor Tátrai.

Although Gergõ is most famous for being a jazz musician, he is at ease with a lot of contemporary genres. He formed the band European Mantra in 2001 playing what he defines as ‘trash-metal-pop-funk-jazz-rock’. In the band, the two songwriters are Gergő and Péter Lukács on the guitars, while János Nagy plays the synths and Péter Papesch the bass. Their contemporary instrumental music attracts sell-out concerts wherever they go. 
 

In 2004, Gergő released his second solo album on Tom-Tom Records entitled ‘Sausage’, with contributions from artists such as Gábor Winand, Jamie Winchester, Kornél Fekete Kovács, Zoltán Zana, or Mihály Borbély. It is a fascinating album for a wide audience with the influences ranging from traditional jazz to synthesised music, while also experimenting with a lot of popular contemporary genres. As an open-minded artist, Gergõ manages to build in an amazing variety of musical forms, sounds and emotions to his songwriting.