In the beginning Péter Szalai was the student of the magnificent Anthony Dass (Delhi gharana) between 1982 and 1984 in both Budapest and India.
In 1987 he played as a guest performer at the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw with the S. Kulpowicz International Band on tabla and on other percussion instruments.
In 1988, during a longer Western European tour and recording, he played alongside Albert Mangelsdorf, W. Dauner and the Family of Percussion.
Parallel to this, he also developed a special master-student bond with Pandit Ravi Shankar, who he considers his guru (master) not only in the field of Indian classical music.
In 2000 he contributed together with violinist Zoltán Lantos, jazz guitarist Gábor Juhász and his own student Iván Nyusztay to the establishment of the Samsara Quartet.
He considers teaching at RIMPA (Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts) an important part of his work.