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Mihály Tabányi was born on February 1, 1921 in Pilis, Hungary. He began his musical studies on the violin at the age of five , and then on the piano at the age of eight. From 1933, he studied accordion for seven years with Lajos Bobula, while attending the Academy of Music and graduating in organ and gordon due to no accordion department. He then became a church organist.

1940 saw Mihály winning first place in the first National Accordion Competition as a professional. Two years later he won the National Accordion King Competition and the Tango Accordion Olympics. He later made his first jazz recordings for the Radiola Electro Record label.

Before 1945, he mainly performed in trios and later with György Cziffra with whom he played in the Bristol Hall orchestra, before founding his own band called Pinocchio that included two guitarists, Elek Bacsik and Attila Zoller, with which he performed in many countries. After 1945, he expanded the trio to eight members.  In 1946 he received a contract in Switzerland and two years later he founded his own accordion school. From 1949 he played with his band at the Emke Café for seven years before disbanding in 1956.

In 1950 he was awarded the title of the country’s most popular jazz musician. In 1957 he made the first Hungarian West Coast recording for the Qualiton label. From 1960 he spent years in West Germany and gave concerts in many European countries and made several large formation recordings. He worked with many singers that immortalized his playing on their records. In 2017, the National Accordionist Society established the Mihály Tabányi Award.

Accordionist Mihály Tabányi, who was an Emerton-award winner and the most popular accordionist of the Forties and Fifties, died on July 2, 2019 at the age of 98.

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