SLOVAKIA: MUSIC AND DANCE

Because of Slovakia's history of being part of many different cultures and kingdoms, there have been many different groups of people living in what is known as Slovakia. And all of these cultures contributed something to Slovak music, making it similar to the musical traditions of neighboring countries.

Early instruments found in this area are related to the Celtic influence. Music must have been an integral part of their society because archeologists have found evidence of drums, bone pipes, bells (made of both iron and bronze) along with their own variations of the jaw harp, bagpipes, and an instrument called the fujara (like a contrabass fipple flute). As we head into the Medieval Period, sacred music is the big thing, and often sung in Old Church Slavonic. Like other areas in Europe (I'm thinking of Germany and Austria), Slovak composers and musicians also utilized polyphony into their compositions. Bratislava became an important city under the Hapsburgs, which helped to really define formal music and bring it to the smaller towns around the countryside.

Even throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the church remained one of the more important patrons of music during this time, but the court music and members of the aristocracy were also important in commissioning music as well. As a musician and composer, this was where the money was at. However, as things were changing politically, 19th century composers didn't want to completely give up on their national pride and started integrating more folk songs into their classical works. One of the more important names from this era is Ján Levoslav Bella, a composer working around the same time as the well-known Czech composer Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček. Bella wrote the first opera ever to be performed in Slovak (performed in 1926), even though it was originally written in German during the 1880s.

Many composers of the 20th and 21st centuries took the traditions of those who set the stage and built upon them, following the musical trends in modern Western classical music. To get a good grasp of Slovak composers during this time, take a listen to Eugen Suchoň (one of the more important 20^th-century Slovak composers), Alexander Albrecht (important during the first half of the 20th century), Ján Cikker (widely known for his operas), and Vladimír Godár (known for his contemporary classical and film music).

Folk dance has long been a source of entertainment, especially in the rural areas. And while some of the dances may seem ubiquitous to Central Europe, regionally speaking, the variations and nuances differ within different areas of Slovakia. For example, in the Orava Region, two dances that are popular are the Cepovy (an energetic harvest dance acting out the threshing of cereal grains) and the Olasku (a girls dance with sticks). And the Saris Region has an energetic dance by the same name as the region, The Saris, and is performed by couples. The Horehron dance from the Horehronie Region is an energetic dance characterized by stamping out rhythms.

I came across quite a bit of music from Slovakia on Spotify. The first one I listened to was April Weeps. It is a metal band with some guttural screaming in it, but it reprieves itself by adding piano and a female singer to it. In the midst of loud rock, there is a slight classical element to it. I actually kind of liked what I heard.

Then there were several rock bands I listened to. The lead singer for Dorian Gray has a very deep voice that reminded me a little of the band Crash Test Dummies. However, their music had a strong 80s sound to it at times. Dežo Ursiny’s music sounds like a cross between disco and rock. I really liked what I heard from Desmod. They just had a nice driving rock sound. But they also use strings in their songs, and that always wins points with me. I’m normally not a fan of live albums (because of the sound quality and audience participation), but I listened to a live album by I.M.T. Smile, and it wasn’t too bad. It also seemed like it was all-acoustic from what I could tell, maybe?

There’s an odd genre called art rock. It sometimes works and sometimes not. I listened to an album by Marián Varga, and it reminded me of having to sit through the Contemporary Music Festival when I was in college listening to god knows what. Just because you can do it on an instrument, doesn’t mean you should. It was… interesting, though. 

I was also happy to find a few punk bands from Slovakia because punk makes me happy. One I listened to was Slobodná Európa (which literally means “Free Europe”).  Horkýže Slíže is another one I listened to that leaned more toward a heavier metal-punk sound, while Inekafe had more of a skateboard punk sound to it. 

There are a couple of rap musicians I sampled as well. The first one I listened to was Kontrafakt. The music underneath it seemed simple (not a lot of layers to it or mixed with a ton of effects), and I noticed that the lyrics were in both Slovak as well as a bit of English mixed in there at times. I also listened to Miky Mora. There were more effects mixed with this one, but it was done well. I thought his flow was done fairly well. Some rappers sound like they’re just trying too hard to be rappers. But I like this.

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