Hraj noha a hrá Banda
Banda is an amazing Slovak world music band performing ethnic music with modern arrangements. After their show, the former WOMEX Festival Director, Gerald Seligman, wrote: “Banda are a group of excellent musicians who’ve figured out how to add contemporary elements to age-old tradition without losing the excitement of the former and the integrity of the latter.” You can move your feet to Banda’s music on Friday, 5 PM, at Nay House of Dance, where they will be playing together with a women’s vocal band Trnki.
29. June 2016
There are very few bands for which the term world music is as fitting as for Banda. The band takes inspiration from Slovak traditional music, but also from genres such as blues, jazz, beat, pop, old music and music of other nations (Balkan, Celtic, Slavic, African and Latin American). Slovak folk songs are complemented by Polish, Spanish, Moravian, Rusyn, Ukrainian, Roma melodies and their own music.
Banda use acoustic instruments in the production of their music: cimbalom, viola, violin, contrabass, helicon accordion, mandolin, bouzouki, drums, various percussion instruments and samples of acoustic instruments (keyboards). They use rich vocals with respect to tradition, but also in a new, original form. The group significantly contributed to creation of score for the film Tanec medzi črepinami (Glass Splinters Dance). They have two successful albums, BANDA jedna and hraBanda, under their belt. Song “Nadeja” from the latter reached number one in Top 40 Tracks of World Music Charts by Ethnocloud (from July until October 2015). The group occasionally cooperates with Trnki, a women’s vocal group of Banská Bystrica specializing in authentic vocal expression. They will be performing with them at Pohoda 2016.
Band members:
· Samo Smetana (violin, mandolin, vocals)
· Alžbeta Lukáčová (cimbalom, helicon accordion, metallophone, vocals)
· Ivan Hanula (viola, mandolin, bouzouki, vocals)
· Peter Obuch (contrabass, vocals)
· Igor Ajdži Sabo (percussions, drums, vocals)
· Eva Brunovská (vocals, keyboards)