My name is Julius, I come from Prešov.
Mainly from a family of musicians.
Our grandfathers, fathers were musicians,
both on my mother's and father's side.
And mainly they were musicians of a dulcimer music, the traditional music.
They played violin, dulcimer, accordion, violas, basses.
I come from Prešov, our grandparents also came from Prešov.
They lived in Prešov.
And when we were little kids, we grew up with the music.
Our grandfathers, fathers played for us, we listened to the music all the time.
That's how I grew up.
And finally, when I started the school,
I got very interested in the dulcimer.
My grandfather played the dulcimer.
And since my father also played the saxophone, the clarinet,
he started teaching me the clarinet.
I was about 7-8 years old then.
And I didn't enjoy it very much, I was still drawn to the dulcimer from a young age.
Then they also tried the violin, they didn't want such a big instrument for me.
But I didn't enjoy anything else anyway, just the dulcimer.
So they decided to buy me a dulcimer, I started school and began to learn.
The traditional Roma songs, at the beginning.
Then I learned a sheet music.
Of course, I had to learn when I wanted to go to school.
And the years went by, one year, the second, the third.
I also took part in the dulcimer competitions.
Then the children's folklore ensemble Šarišanček was founded in Prešov.
I played the dulcimer there.
There were four of us Roma from the family, cousins and an uncle.
What we were was the base, a dulcimer player, a violinist, a bassist and a violist.
We formed the core of that band, that ensemble.
And the others were all non-Roma.
We were there until we were fourteen.
After that, we went to an other schools.
I joined the Ukrainian theatre as a professional at the age of 15.
I was also accepted there as a dulcimer player.
The uncle left there, he went to Bohemia.
They didn't have a dulcimer player, so I took his place.
Of course, I had to audition to see if I knew the sheet music.
They accepted me, I was already playing, I was reading the sheet music.
And what else can I tell you about my history?
Then I had to join the military service.
Also, to the Jánošík ensemble in Zvolen.
I was also a dulcimer player there.
I was in the military service for a year, then I came back.
I got married and then the children came.
And then I started to motivate my first son as well.
I put the violin into his hand.
He picked up that violin, and he still plays it.
He also graduated, he has a bachelor's degree.
Now he teaches violin at the conservatory.
But since we have a family band, the Ďusi Band, I am the leader of that band,
so I had to solve it by dividing them.
When it was necessary to fill the viola, I put Kristián on the viola.
He learned and now he plays perfectly, there are few violists like him.
I am surprised and it makes me happy.
And I also put my younger, middle son on the dulcimer.
To follow in my footsteps, so that the dulcimer does not disappear.
He also graduated, he finished the school.
He is now studying dulcimer at the Academy in Banská Bystrica, he´s already in his second year.
I'm happy they like it.
He plays the bass in the band, he is smart, he also enjoys the bass.
And he also plays the piano.
And finally Samuel, the youngest, came.
At the age of three, he also picked up a violin in his hand and pulled and pulled.
The three of us played at home, as a band.
Not as a real band, but with the kids, I was motivating them, teaching them the songs.
They tried the Roma, the Hungarian, the Slovak ones.
We also practiced sheet music together.
And he grew up here with us and now it's all gone into him that we're surprised.
He joined the school where I enrolled him.
Such a thing happened, that they were rehearsing him, the clapping, his sense of a rhythm.
And he was tested by the director, Mr. Kakaščík.
So not he was giving him the rhythm, but Samko was testing him.
The whole room was laughing.
They accepted him, he couldn't even write yet, he learned to read.
We were surprised that he was doing so well that year.
He had a good teacher too, that's the basis,
that a good teacher had him under her supervision.
During the first year he took part in some concerts,
he had the first concert, the second concert, he learned.
My wife and I used to go to competitions with him.
We still have to accompany him.
We are hardly without him, so we are used to from his young age.
He finished the art school
and now he is going to the conservatory in Košice.
We are very happy
that she is already starting at the conservatory.
Teachers have been demanding him, writing to us, calling us to see if he will really join.
- I want him, let him be my student.
So I told Samko to choose
who he wants to go to, it's up to him.
So he chose a top professor.
So I hope he'll help him become even better violinist than he is now, so we'll see.
Back to the military service.
I joined the basic military service and there was a military ensemble.
The military art ensemble it was.
They danced, sang and the dulcimer orchestra must have been there.
There was a turnover of people, after a year they went into civilian life
and new people came in, it was necessary to fill the place.
When a dulcimer player was needed, we were two dulcimer players there.
And, when there were three violinists, there were three.
We didn't have a double bass, we had to take one from another company.
He knew the bass guitar, so we taught him how to play the big bass, the double bass.
To have that set, the whole band.
That's why the dulcimer band was there, because it was a military art ensemble.
Back then. there was a Slovkoncert, it was an agency.
They used to send us, for example, to the Tatras for three months to play.
With complete strangers musicians.
We didn't know each other, we met at that place
and we got straight to work.
We played in Prešov.
There was also a restaurant where a Roma band played.
There was a hut in Košice in Dargov.
We also met unknown musicians there.
Eventually it ended up that I got tired of it.
And, when my boys grew up,
I thought, let's try to get it together,
start our own band, see how it works.
And it started with the first show for your library.
From what I remember, Samko was I don't know how old.
And he already started playing three, four songs with us on the violin.
And so it went on gradually.
We saw that it was possible, we weren't afraid anymore, we added more songs.
They kept inviting us to these performances, festivals.
In Prešov there is a Roma festival every year,
so we were invited there every year, as a Ďusi Band.
We also recorded our first CD together.
The feedback was good,
we had to send the CDs all the way to the USA, from where they requested them from us.
So, we were surprised that there is so much interest in our music.
Now we are mainly invited to the festivals by both Roma and non-Roma.
So let's see, we want to continue developing with our music.
Roma melodies
The way it works with us is that I am usually the one who reminds them
of the older Roma tunes that come to mind.
Sometimes you forget about it, but I still get those thoughts.
When I think of an old melody, I try to show it to them.
Or we find that tune somewhere,
everybody would listen to it, if it can still be found.
But then we usually have new ones, we have our own song recorded too.
We have it on a music video we made ourselves, too.
Most of the time Samko is so inventive that he makes up new arrangements.
We compose it, we try how it sounds.
If we like it, we keep it, if we don't, we change something, modify it.
But mostly by are inspired by those old Roma tunes.
Also from Hungary, Hungarian melodies are very nice, so interesting, melodic.
So, we are drawn to that.
My dulcimer
My dulcimer comes from Romania.
It's a Romanian manufacturer, it has its own brand, Aurel.
I got to the dulcimer
when we were traveling to England for an unnamed event.
And since we already have contacts there, well-known musicians,
we agreed that I don't have to bring a dulcimer from Prešov, from such a distance.
They lent me a dulcimer from there.
I just liked it, it has a good sound, it plays, it's in a good condition.
So on the way back I bought it and we brought it to Prešov, Slovakia.
So it came to me, from Belgium, but the manufacturer is Romanian.
And we have other dulcimers, originally from Hungary.
So we don't just have one, we have more.
And since my son is studying the dulcimer,
he bought a new one on order from Hungary.
So that he has a good quality instrument, so we have more of it.
Of course, from the beginning you need to practice, to learn.
Just like any instrument to master.
Once the hands are used to it,
it is no longer a problem, where and how to play it.
Even on the piano you have to learn the fingering, that where to put it, the keys.
Every instrument has its specifics, even on the dulcimer it works that way.
First of all, he has to learn the fingering, drumming,
and then it's not a problem.
Traditional Roma music
The way I see it, this dulcimer music,
is that now few people want to continue
the traditional Roma dulcimer music.
That it is slowly disappearing.
But I am surprised that non-Roma dulcimer bands
play at every celebration, every week.
Because I also play with non-Roma.
And almost every Saturday we play a non-Roma wedding.
And the only condition is the dulcimer band playing.
And I am surprised
that the non-Roma are dedicated to it, it works, it continues.
They don´t even want any kind
of an electronic music.
They prefer the dulcimer bands.
And here, among the Roma, they call us
and there should be three bands at one celebration.
They demand personal songs with violin, dulcimer.
We have lot of invitations, now it is a little better than it was two years ago.
But it's going so slowly.
Sometimes, in the time of our parents,
they called the dulcimer band for every celebration.
It didn't have to be a dulcimer, a violin, a bass, a viola were enough.
"Gypsies come play for us."
They also used to go to the non-Roma,
there weren´t bands like that, only violins and dulcimers.
We and the Roma language
Of course, I speak Roma, since we are Roma, we must know the language.
But our young generation mostly speaks only Slovak.
We don't speak Roma with them at home, only Slovak.
But they understand, I talk Roma, my wife talks,my parents talk.
Grandparents also talked Roma.
Plans for the future
We are planning to release a second CD in the near future.
I hope that we will still operate in the kind of lineup we are now.
We already have an expanded band.
And I want us to play at various events, we are especially interested in festivals.
Because that's where one shows up on stage.
People perceive us better standing on the stage than at a party.
There are performances, singing and dancing.
It's better for us to play at a festival.
We have enough of such an invitations now.
We are glad that people have started to perceive us now.
And that they want to listen to our music.