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‘I’m bringing his music back to life’: the singer whose grandfather was silenced by the Holocaust

Singer-songwriter Roxanne de Bastion is honouring the memory of her brilliant Hungarian ancestor to keep his legacy alive

Amid photo albums and letters, we found more unusual keepsakes, such as stacks of handwritten sheet music, concert pamphlets and original film scripts from the 1930s, as well as boxes of ageing cassette tapes. Stephen took me by the hand and walked me through his entire life – from his privileged upbringing (his parents ran a successful textile company) to his youthful escapades, outlining his hedonistic, cocktail-swilling, womanising lifestyle in roaring Budapest in great detail. Improbably, he landed his biggest hit in 1946, when Hungary’s famous jazz singer Kato Fenjesh recorded his song Emlegszel Meg (Do You Remember) and it became a zeitgeist anthem.

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