Lujza Blaha

Lujza Blaha (Ludovika Reindl; 1850–1926) was a Hungarian actress and singer. She was known as "the nation's nightingale", an epithet given her by writer Mór Jókai.

Personal life Ludovika Reindl was born 8 September 1850 in Rimaszombat (today Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia).

She died 18 January 1926 in Budapest.

Career Blaha's parents were travelling actors, and she first performed aged 15 in Szabadka (today Subotica, Serbia). She received acting training from the Budapest School of Dramatic Arts.

She joined the national theatre five years later and between 1871 and 1900 she played almost 200 parts in plays, mostly Hungarian "folk plays" or "", patriotic plays celebrating peasant life.

She also appeared in two silent films. The first, A táncz ("Dance", 1901) was an educational documentary short by , while the second, A nagymama (The Grandmother, 1916) sees her play the title role in the Alexander Korda film.

She played an important role in popularizing Hungarian gypsy songs. Her Neoclassical summer home in the resort town of Balatonfüred, on the northern shore of lake Balaton, has been turned into a hotel bearing her name and is a minor tourist attraction of the town.

Her tomb in Kerepesi Cemetery has been described as "one of the finest pieces in the Hungarian national pantheon".

Hungarian indie-pop band Blahalouisiana was founded in 2013.