Just like many young adolescents his age in 1983, the fair-haired twelve-year old is taking the few steps down, leading into the outdoor area of Budapest’s second Olympic swimming pool – originally a lido. He is barefoot, landing on each smooth concrete step with caution, a large striped towel in many colours is over his shoulder. This is well before any club-themed gowns or sets were made available to junior athletes his age. The parents may have rummaged the wardrobe for a suitable piece, or have paid a short visit to the fashionable baths-and-bedroom section in one of Hungary’s communist era department stores.
He arrives in the swimming pool twenty minutes early, after taking the local train straight into the sports centre, with not enough time left to drop his school bag at the house after his lunch in the school canteen. He is wearing a synthetic blue jacket as a school uniform, the staple garb of 80’s era socialist schooling, totally abandoned later.
Hungary’s warm and sunny spring weather is irresistible to those longing for some sun, for an early tan or a light breeze.
Various folk frequent the outdoor pool area: former Olympic champions – the likes of Dezső Gyarmati and his former spouse, Éva Székely; former swimmers, beer-bellied retired water polo players, some senior citizens, journalists, fabulous-looking young women with carefully shaped hair and in sleek black swimming dresses, alongside many others.
This story’s main character, Misi Farkas (pron. Mishi Farkash) is enjoying the April sun too, in his dark blue Speedo swimming trunks typical of the 80’s.
His long, hippy-esque hair has an Apache-style scarf around it, possibly to make some impact in the presence of other guests, or to compansate for his lack of athleticism that the pool’s young water polo players and swimmers all clearly possess. Though with no friends at the start, Misi soon strikes up conversations with several teenage athletes as well as with the fair-haired twelve-year-old now holding a water polo ball, who has several minutes to burn before the tough training begins. Misi cannot impress him with any feats inside the pool – a complete amateur -, he therefore decides to show some poolside kick-ups, which meets the adolescent player’s veneration.
Misi also makes friends with other athletes with a more manly appearance. Some 16-year-olds have already grown seven feet, with huge shooting power. Misi asks to join them in a single-goal shooting game inside the pool, and gets accepted, which is in itself hilarious as the outsider can barely tread the water, let alone take proper shots at the goal. Misi will tease them and make comments like „Fine, I ain’t gonna let you win this time...” The young water polo players, many of whom later turn professional, cannot take Misi seriously: he pulls a yellow rubber swimming cap over his soggy hair, which will emphasise his clumsiness further.
What almost nobody knows is that he is a qualified jazz pianist and composer who wonderfully arranges for the jazz orchestra.
He lends tapes and vinyl records to some of the younger dudes, which - at the zero availability of western records - is probably the greatest favour an experienced musician or enthusiast can do for an acquaintance. Misi gives them some musical guidance on the bands and on the records passed around in Budapest’s elite circles of music lovers. Though not banned by communist party leadership, the influence of corrupted western popular music is not welcome in Hungary at the time, and the occasional tourist travelling to the global west brings back original records and sleeves of the most progressive bands of the period: Santana, Weather Report, Return to Forever and the like.
My friend, the fair-haired kid, Skinny is now a personal trainer and a water polo coach. With exactly the same facial features and spiky hairstyle he had forty years ago, only his physique has changed. He is now muscular, broad shouldered and arrives for our five-yearly club meetup with a big smile and biceps, visible to most of the old-style restaurant’s waiters. In our 2022 meeting I want to impress him by breaking him the news that his then kick-up tutor is in fact an established jazz musician playing with ensembles such as Brass Age and Silent Way.
I try to find Misi’s online photo on the internet but am shocked to find two investigative articles: (https://hvg.hu/itthon/20160831_fulladas_nincstelen_zenesz_atruhazas_rc_invest_fauszt_zoltan_farkas_mihaly, https://www.economx.hu/magyar-vallalatok/szarnyal-a-kozbeszerzeseken-a-halott-zenesz-cege.636821.html), which I will try to sum up below.
Misi had been having issues with alcohol and finances, supporting himself by playing with occasional jazz outfits or playing some elegant restaurants.
Every few years he completely got his act together – began jogging along the riverbank, trained to run a marathon, and transformed into a devoted endurance athlete.
In November 2015 he disappeared, a change totally unexplained – according to his close friends – as he had no relations, seasonal work or commitments abroad or outside Budapest. He was the sole owner and occupant of a spacious Buda-side apartment near he swimming pool, left to him by his father. Despite the drinking, he was never homeless or in need of help weekly. He led an active life despite the sparse earnings and resources. He had good personal hygiene and was able to sustain himself.
His body was found in the Danube months later, in spring 2016.
The coroner’s report was unable to determine a cause of death. It took another few months before his body could be identified. The articles point out too that Misi was neither lethargic, nor withdrawn or strange before his disappearance. All personal belongings were found in the apartment and, as expected, no letter was left behind either.
A further oddity is the fact dug up in the Hungarian state records of businesses and companies that Misi was the single owner of SDA Informatika Plc., the main company within the SDA Group.
The corporation has been the beneficiary of several public tenders, contracted – among other projects - to develop Neptun, a major university software used country-wide. The company boasted a net profit of c. €40 million in 2015, and reached a positive balance of €250 000 besides winning consecutive government tenders in similar fiscal altitudes.
Simultaneously, the person acting as managing director in other companies within the SDA Group, Zoltán Fauszt became the official owner of Misi’s inherited property serving as the musician’s home practically and officially from his childhood until the his disappearance.
It would be impossible to identify guilt or responsibility in most of the story. Nevertheless, all of Misi’s friends remember him as a ready-to-help, loveable character, an immensely talented musician who would have deserved infinitely better. His close friends – who are to this day convinced the musician did not take his own life – meet yearly in his memory at Lórév, by a village further down the Danube, where his body was found.
For some of his compositions visit one of his friends' YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?CSDaA7BovA&list=UULF5fCJPy7pTTHZx01n8n_c8A&index=9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r0oMtZ4u-U&list=UULF5fCJPy7pTTHZx01n8n_c8A&index=8
(with more information on the compositions on the channel itself)