Thank God that my parents made me study music!
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Gejza Horváth was born on 15 April 1948 in Písečné na Moravě. He had spent his early years in the Slovak Roma settlement of Kolinovce. His father was a joiner while his mother was a housewife. His parents supported his musical talents, teaching him to play the accordeon and sending him to a musical school. He played in a school orchestra and later in a professional one. He even applied for the conservatory in Košice but never enrolled there. Along with a friend, he decided to leave via Yugoslavia and look for better life abroad. In the end, only his friend emigrated since Gejza could not bear the idea of leaving his family. In 1967, he started his military service in Znojmo, serving on the company orchestra. He also witnessed the August 1968 invasion there. In the second year of his service, he was transferred to Slovakia where he worked in a factory dismantling military machinery. After that he moved to Brno and lived with his relatives. After a while, he found a job in Prague and got married. Ever since 1970s he has been living in Brno. He performed with many Roma bands. In 2000 he undertook a journalism course and became a founding member of the Romano hangos magazine. In 2006, his book of stories Trispras was published. He is also active on Facebook where he keeps publishing stories.
