Sandor Mate grew up in Almasmalom, where the population is split equally between Hungarians and Rumanians. Starting his musical education at the
Rumanian Students Folk Ensemble he studied with Dumitru Farcas, the famous Taragota player, with whom he is still close friends.
In 1987 Sandor moved to Budapest to be the soloist of the Duna Art
Ensemble, on the Taragot, whistle and pan-pipe.
This collection of instrumental tunes originate from Szamos-Maros region, the musicians, led by
Kálmány Urszuly, being recruited from the best in Kolozsvar. Instruments played are
tarogato, clarinet, panpipe, violin, viola, cimbalom, double bass and
accordion.