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FUJARA People all around the world keep mailing us questions about fujara, an old Slovak musical instrument that we have presented to HRH Prince of Wales. So, here is a brief information describing fujara from the perspective of a foreign artist - instrumentalist Jan Marmenout. You can also hear a sample from the MC tape record "Fujaristi z Kokavy (Fujara-players from Kokava)" produced and provided by Akcent Records (Záhradnícka 93, P.O. Box 48, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia, Fax +421 / 7 / 5541 4293). The complete record is also available on a CD.
"During one of my recent travels through the East of Europe, I heard about the existence in Slovakia of a huge (± 1,70 m) overtone-flute, called "Fujara". The first time I saw that beautiful flute in Austria and tried to play on it, I was at once fascinated by it’s warm deep Archaïc sound. I fell directly in love with it and although I didn’t now anything about the traditional way to play it, I set of with a friend to Slovakia, bought one there and started to play on it every day. Later I’ve met some local musicians playing it for me, and also I listened frequently to some recordings from the Fujara, played in purely traditional style. Although, having a deep respect for tradition, I discovered that this instrument can also be played and used in many other ways. It has a definite "meditative" quality and also a lot of "rhythmical" possibilities. Being myself originally a percussionist, I’m appreciating this very much. It’s undoubtedly the strangest, biggest and most majestic flute of Europe and maybe it isn’t wrong to say it could be our Western equivalent (although much taller, differently shaped and with another playing technique) of the world-known Japanese Shakuhachi. Traditionally it’s made totally by hand from deciduous trees (elder tree, maple tree). It’s a typical folk instrument and it’s native home is a small region in central Slovakia, called Zvolenska country. The fujara belongs to the solo-instruments. It consists of two main-parts; a whistle pipe and an air-pipe and there are only three holes for finger playing. In general it’s also beautifully decorated and it can take up to one month to build a good Fujara. I also hope that, far from being a traditional fujara-player, I can contribute a bit to the discovery and appreciation of maybe one of the oldest flutes from our Western culture. Fujara is one of the oldest flutes of eastern Europe. A real discovery!" By Jan Marmenout
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