Majstri (Masters - book about manufacturers of Slovak folk music instruments) - sold out

The book combines text and picture to give you an insight into the fascinating realm of Slovak music folklore. Selecting 31 stories about manufacturers of authentic folk music instruments, the author has used an atractive journalist approach full of precision and perseverance which, combined with his own expertise (being a manufacturer himself), produced a truly representative piece of work in the form of this book Majstri - Masters.

The warp of the vast project are profiles of several manufactureres of the fujara of Detva - those original representatives of the tradition, who had been the most recognized masters in the 70s to 90s of the 20th century.

The fujarists and pipers from the Podpolanie region form the biggest group in the book. The isolated community of the people of Kamenec pod Vtacnikom made their living by collecting rags. The indispensable of their breadjourneys was the ancient signal pipe made of the bone of lamb, ram or pig. It is the smallest aerophone instrument of the Slovak people.

String instruments include the zlobcoky from beneath the High Tatras and the korytkove huslicky (through fiddle) from the Liptov region.

The reader will be interested to witness how the son of one the once renowned masters of Kysuce improved the ancient method of making the cimbal dulcimer.

The third prominent group is represented by the bagpipers of Lehota and Orava regions and the manufactureres of the gajdica (a varation of bagpipes), the forgotten instrument of Eastern Slovakia. The drunbla (jew's harp) was mentioned in the Detvan, the famous poem by Andrej Sladkovic, as musical instrument for girls. The true expert for these instruments has been found as far away as velke Kapusany in Eastern Slovakia.

Each chapter is enriched with photos of manufactureres clad in traditional costumes, of the musical instruments, sometimes even drawing of the ornaments. The score of the particular master's favourite song is attached at the end of each chapter. The final summaries, along with giving basic data, testify to the masters contribution to the national heritage of Slovakia's folk art.

Unfortunately, the text is in Slovak only, but book includes English summary.