Modern music in Slovakia
In
Slovakia there are several well-known singers and bands - leaders of Slovakia
modern music - who has been part of Slovak modern music for many years and are
still famous. These singers include Marika Gombitová, Paľo Habera, Miro Žbirka,
Jožo Ráž with his music band Elán, Tublatanka music band, Paul Hammel, Dara
Rollins an so on.
Among the unforgettable Slovak pop music performers certainly belong Richard
Muller, Peter Nagy, Maťo Ďurinda or Robo Grigorov, although these artists
produce music rather irregularly.
In the last decade, there have been many new music bands that became famous in Slovakia including No name, Desmod, Gladiator, and so on. Among the outstanding Slovak pop singers belong Katka Knechtová, Zuzana Smatanová, Jana Kirschner, Mário Kuly Kollár, Ivan Tásler, Kristína, Rytmus or finalists of well known television competition Slovakia seeks Superstar (Slovensko hľadá superstar) - Peter Cmorík, Zdenka Predná and many others.
Folk music in Slovakia
Slovak folk music has regional character – songs and orchestras are different from region to region. The regional variations of the same songs or musical motifs are common, with more versions of the same text with the different music. Music in various regions differentiates also by instrument composition (string or more brass).
The very specific instrument, which originated in Detva region, is high shepherd pipe, the so-called fujara. For its excellence, brilliant simplicity of the design and the basic operating, it was also included on the list of UNESCO. Folk Music influenced many composers of classical and modern music. Slovak folk songs inspired the popular music composer Mikuláš Schneider Trnavský, the author of numerous church songs. Even the Slovak national anthem was written on the theme of popular folk song Kopala Studienku (Digging the Well).