As one of the very few remaining expressions of Palatka Music, the Palatka Gypsy Band can be considered the last avatar of a centuries-old tradition. But this is precisely where the distinction lies: within the táncház-revival, little or no emphasis has been laid on artistic personalities among vernacular musicians: in spite of growing integration into an international and commercial performing pattern (nowadays, vernacular folk musicians from Transylvania tend to earn more from non-traditional performances, held in cities, or in summer camps organized in rural locations of the area, but generally not for locals), their (mostly improvised) management tended to treat them as ethnological “hold-outs,” which is partly in keeping with the idea some of those musicians have of themselves, but ultimately risks freezing their reputation and activity within the diminutive frame of a relatively small group of folk aficionados, which is unable to sustain a number of events and/or a level of remuneration sufficient to guarantee the future of those bands and, therefore, the survival of their musical traditions. In other words: under-marketing the artists for the sake of authenticity might prove to bring the opposite result: seeing even more folk musicians migrate towards mass-market genres, or abandoning music altogether for more gainful occupations.

This is why the creators of the Palatka Gypsy Band “brand”, Raoul Weiss and Lóránd Boros, decided to switch to a more realistic management approach, marketing the band by contemporary means to deliver its music to a broader public: advertising through designed posters, multilingual presentation texts, website[2] etc., introducing the individual musicians with all the attributes of professional performing artists (artistic and civil name, photographs) – and educating the musicians as to modern practices of show-business (written contracts, regular fees, etc.).

1st violin: FLORIN, officially Martin CODOBA was born in 1977. In the early 1990s, his musician father MARCI (Martin CODOBA sr.) was successful enough to be able to send him to music school in Cluj-Napoca; this is why Florin is one of the few Palatka Gypsies with a double musical culture, being equally at home in vernacular and in written music. After completing music school in Cluj-Napoca, his father offered to pay for further studies at the Music Conservatory. This would have meant intensive training in classical music and acquiring a social status hardly compatible with the Gypsy routine of playing at peasant weddings, funerals etc.. Florin, while very grateful for the opportunity, nevertheless told his father he preferred to keep playing with his family and learning Palatka music from him and his uncle Béla. And so he did. In the early 2000s, after the death of Marci and Béla, Florin, already a star of the folk scene, inherited the throne of the Codoba fiddle dynasty. His 3 year-old son, Martin Codoba III, already owns a small-sized violin.
Florin Codoba

Background information
Birth name Martin Codoba
Also known as Florin
Occupations musician
Instruments Voilin

Having learnt Romani and Romanian at home, long stays in Hungary during his youth and, later on, an intensive concert routine there, gave him the occasion to become (unlike his fellow musicians) fluent in Hungarian as well. He is the only member of the band who chiefly resides in an urban centre (Cluj). His higher educational level allowed him to develop a keen understanding of the values contained in the cultural heritage of his family and village community, so that Florin can reasonably be described as a folk purist. His style (particularly his sense of rhythm) is further influenced by his exceptional dancing skills. He already performed in Australia (http://www.kulcha.com.au/0601/index.html), Canada, Finland, the Baltic States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Serbia and Slovakia.

2nd violin: LŐRINCZ, officially Laurenţiu CODOBA, Florin’s uncle, was born in 1947. Seniority (a very important value in Gypsy communities) allows him to share the leadership with his nephew; it is generally admitted that, whereas Florin is the leader in the city and the outside world, Lőrincz is the boss at home in Palatka. Experience, a huge repertoire, and much complicity with his public are some of Lőrincz’s most appreciated artistic qualities. For some of the concerts held at Aux Anges, he shared this position with Ignat “Náci” Matingo, a more versatile fiddler, now prímás in the other Palatka band.

1st viola: ŞTEFAN, officially Ştefan MOLDOVAN, was born in 1943, is the senior kontrás (Hungarian name of the musician playing kontra, i.e. viola) of Palatka, and the oldest active musician of the community. In recognition of his expertise, each year he is a kontra instructor at the Mezőség Summer Camp organized by the Kallós Zoltán Foundation (http://www.kallos.org.ro/joomla/) in Válaszút (Răscruci, in Romanian), whereas the fiddle play is generally taught by Florin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-K2qrfXhqQ&feature=related). Once a very good dancer, at the age of sixty-six he still indulges, from time to time, in short dance performances to please his public. After the bass-player Martin “Puki” Covaci retired due to hand paralysis, he remained the only musician left from the mythical band that Marci and Béla Codoba led until the end of the 1990s.

2nd viola: REMUS, officially Mihai RADAC, was born in 1977, the son of another Palatka musical dynasty, the Radacs (or, on some documents, Rádák, according to a Hungarian orthography). Florin, Ştefan and Remus have played on all concerts held by the band under the Palatka Gypsy Band brand.

Bass: NELU, officially Ioan BOLDI, was born in 1954; an experienced bass player, he is nevertheless a newcomer in the band, which he joined after Mircea Covaci (Puki’s son) left the band to accept a better-paying job in turkey farming.

The above text represents the synthesis of various texts by György Martin, Gyula Pálfy and Raoul Weiss.