DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2021500109 TRADITIONES, 50/1, 2021, 151–171
This study examines changes in the expanding environment 
and functions of the instrument known as the fujara, the 
first element of intangible cultural heritage added to the 
Representative List of Slovak Intangible Cultural Heritage. 
The text looks at Slovak legislation on safeguarding intangible 
cultural heritage as well as at terminology, which, from the 
point of view of national protection of cultural heritage and 
research, in being increasingly unified. The change in the 
natural environment has also changed the functions of playing 
the fujara and passing on the fujara tradition. From the point 
of view of changes in the distribution of culture from the 
rural to urban environment, the authors paid attention to 
new ways of learning to play the fujara as well as the ratio 
of vertical, horizontal, and indirect modes of transmission. 
Keywords: fujara tradition, rural area, urban area, 
sustainability, transformation, inventory, Representative List 
of Slovak Intangible Cultural Heritage, Slovakia
Cilj raziskave je pokazati na okolje in funkcije fujare (ljudska 
pastirska piščal) – prvega elementa nesnovne kulturne 
dediščine, ki je vpisan na Reprezentativni seznam nesnovne 
kulturne dediščine (NKD) na Slovaškem. Članek je pozoren 
na slovaško zakonodajo o varovanju NKD in na terminologijo, 
ki z vidikov državne zaščite kulturne dediščine in znanosti 
postaja vse bolj poenotena. Spremembe v naravnem okolju 
so prav tako vplivale na funkcije fujare in igranja nanjo. 
Glede na spremembe in razširjanje kulture iz podeželskega 
v mestno okolje sta avtorja pozorna na nove načine učenja 
igranja na fujaro in na deleže vertikalnih, horizontalnih 
in posrednih načinov prenašanja.
Ključne besede: dediščina fujare, podeželje, mesto, trajnost, 
transformacija, inventar, Reprezentativni seznam Slovaške 
nesnovne kulturne dediščine, Slovaška
CHANGES IN INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN 
SLOVAKIA 
THE CASE THE FUJARA
KATARÍNA KOŠTIALOVÁ AND IVAN MURIN
INTRODUCTION
Culture, as understood in its distributional sense, is characterized by an adaptive process. 
Its typical characteristic is adaptation to changes, which are natural and gradual. Within 
the concepts of preserving heritage, its transmission, and social promotion of its sustain-
ability, it is ideally presumed that heritage content in communities is vital and alive, and 
thus sustainable and able to adapt to changes. In the concept of living heritage, the distribu-
tion of culture is understood within the criterion that the phenomena of culture are either 
continually passed on in connection with the past, or they are revitalized in the current 
context. The inventory of intangible cultural heritage in Slovakia is ongoing.1 In general, 
inventorying intangible cultural heritage is seen as an important act of national fostering of 
culture in Slovakia. Inventorying cultural heritage is recommended as a strategic approach 
1 International projects: ETNOFOLK 3CE296P4 Central Europe Program project. Preservation and 
Enhancement of Folk Culture Heritage in Central Europe, Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on Cultural 
Heritage and Global Change: A New Challenge for Europe JHEP no. 277606; national research project 
VEGA 1/0655/15 Cultural Heritage as a Phenomenon of Identity.
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to fostering culture as an essential tool for understanding how the phenomena of intangible 
cultural heritage are stabilized, transferred, and distributed.
This article is based on the authors’ research, conducted as part of several projects. 
These projects were carried out in rural and urban environments. This study examines 
changes in the expanding environment, the bearers of the tradition, and the functions of 
the fujara. This musical instrument was the first element of intangible cultural heritage 
added to the Representative List of Slovak Intangible Cultural Heritage and the List of 
Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and today it is part of UNESCO’s 
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The authors recorded 
current fujara players discussing the state of the fujara tradition in Slovakia. The research 
focuses on the representation of older and newer cultural features, and on personal attitudes 
of individual generations of fujara players, who expressed their views on the sustainability of 
the tradition. They feel that the increase in the number of fujara players—a clear phenom-
enon in recent decades—is an indicator of change. This traditional musical instrument of 
shepherds from central Slovakia has spread outside of its natural environment: mountain 
settlements in central Slovakia. The authors assumed that the change in the instrument’s 
natural environment and traditional players has led to changes in the functions of playing 
it as well. From the viewpoint of cultural transmission (Henrich, Gil-White, 2001), they 
also examined the generational view of the spread of the fujara tradition.
THE DISTRIBUTIVE MODEL OF CULTURE AND LIVING HERITAGE
The preservation of traditional culture in rural and urban environments in Slovakia takes 
the shape of varying degrees of collective sharing of values, interpersonal and intergenera-
tional relationships, and communication links. In both environments investigated, relatively 
closed cultural environments were created, which could still be recognized in the 1950s. 
In this period, their members selected, passed on, and accepted cultural content mainly 
through contact, which took the form of recipients engaged in mutual communication. In 
the second half of the twentieth century, globalizing changes—and for many local cultures 
also culturally leveling changes—gradually started to be accepted, resulting from the ability 
of individuals to adapt their meanings. Strong local traditions allowed the preservation of 
multiple elements of intangible cultural heritage. This development is informative regarding 
universal processes of transmitting the content of local culture through individual genera-
tions. Building on the distributive model of culture (Doubek , Levínska, Bittnerová, 2013), 
the authors presume that during favorable periods certain generations stabilized elements 
of local rural and urban culture, whereas in other ones they shaped and innovated it. Thus, 
cultural configurations were created, within which older and newer features were preserved. 
Gradually, coherent frameworks allowing mutual local, regional, or ethnic identification 
and integrity were also created.
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During periods of major changes such as migration or displacement, processes of 
cultural assimilation and acculturation prevail. They are the first step of a community in 
coping with ongoing cultural changes and in absorbing them. These processes are continu-
ous; they do not stop but instead continue until another type of assimilation occurs (Ngo, 
2008). Anthropological and ethnological interest in studying intangible cultural heritage 
in local communities lies first and foremost in the premise that it is not an ethnography 
of a common aggregation of features and behavior. The aim of field researchers is to dia-
chronically and synchronically understand developmental changes in accordance with a 
distributive understanding of culture. The content of intangible cultural heritage, which 
indicates its stability to the authors, is stored in human memory for long periods of time, 
symbolically expressed in communication, and ritually expressed in behavior. It is latently 
preserved in the form of ideas, and manifestly in communication. The preservation of the 
content of intangible cultural heritage, as opposed to material artifacts, is more complex 
(Rodseth, 1998; Smith, Akagawa, 2009).
TRADITIONAL CULTURE AS LIVING HERITAGE
The definitions of the terms intangible cultural heritage, traditional culture, and folklore 
vary considerably among anthropologists, ethnologists, and folklorists. This situation can 
mainly be characterized by the lack of a uniform theoretical and methodological basis, 
postmodern tendencies of deconstruction, and, recently, the fragmentation of the term 
heritage.2 In terms of intangible cultural heritage, the increasingly used term living heritage 
now has the antonym built heritage. The categorization of heritage content is hindered by its 
very nature; that is, the mutual overlapping of its content. Among other things, these can 
be associated with heritage: historical and artistic heritage, natural heritage, and cultural 
heritage—folk art, folklore, traditions, and language (Prentice, 1993). From the point of 
view of the authors, more important than further theoretical contextualization of intangible 
cultural heritage contents is the observation of the following criteria in the field: the direct 
link between newer and older intangible cultural heritage content and rural and urban 
communities, and developmental changes in functions and forms as well as preferred man-
ners of transmission. In ethnography, content accepted by three participant generations of 
a local community is considered an indicative criterion of living heritage.
Among the lines of argument forming part of heritage studies, from which the authors 
take inspiration, is the Critical Heritage Studies initiative.3 It emphasizes an interdisciplinary 
2 Attention has been drawn to cultural heritage since approximately the 1970s together with the deve-
lopment of UNESCO documents. Here one can find multiple classifications, above all the older 
classification into movable and immovable heritage, and the newer classification into tangible and 
intangible heritage.
3 See http://www.criticalheritagestudies.org/.
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approach to heritage research, which aims to completely rebuild the ways in which heritage 
is selected, preserved, and presented. Discussions of a very wide geographical area were 
responsible for the establishment of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies in 2012 
as well as a manifesto whose unconcealed aim is to trigger a new and extensive discus-
sion on the concept and safeguarding of living cultural heritage. In the past, concepts of 
cultural heritage were created first and foremost by the traditions of archaeology, history, 
architecture, and art history. The goal of the manifesto is to spark constructive criticism to 
build a new agenda of understanding heritage from the perspective of multiple disciplines 
and multiple (geographical) traditions of research, and to do so before it is swept away by 
a criticism of everything existing, which has been done in research on cultural heritage. 
Criticism mainly leads to a static perception of the subject matter of cultural heritage in 
the opposition of two main approaches: the antagonistically extreme heritage belief and 
heritage atheism. Naturally, there are many other intellectual approaches, which can bring 
new findings into heritage research. One such approaches is heritage agnosticism: “heritage 
is a socially ascribed and therefore constructed category no doubt, but placing things and 
practices in it is usually based on factual claims about their provenance, age, continuity 
and authenticity” (Brumann, 2014: 180).
A critical approach to heritage research raises a question also asked by the authors of 
this study: What functions are fulfilled by preserving heritage across historic periods until 
the present? Its application should tell us a lot more about the present than the past. The 
aim of critical approaches is to understand the different ways in which heritage is created 
and vitalized across various cultures and periods: how actors (recipients) are involved in this 
process, and what the role of individuals and groups is in this process. Relevant questions 
include who perceives and evaluates heritage and how, and why some of its elements—
objects, places, knowledge, or practices—are considered more valuable than others. The 
most frequently used term is not cultural heritage, but simply heritage itself. This term is 
understood as a symbiosis of cultural and natural heritage, which, just like tangible and 
intangible cultural heritage, is inseparable from the point of view of long-term field research.
TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE IN SLOVAKIA
In Slovakia, cultural heritage is legally anchored and defined in the Declaration of the 
National Council of the Slovak Republic on Safeguarding Cultural Heritage as irreplace-
able wealth of the country and its citizens, as proof of the development of the country and 
society, philosophy, religion, science, technology, and art, as historical and cultural develop-
ment, and as a record of the educational level of the Slovak people, other peoples, national 
minorities, ethnic groups, and individuals that live or have lived in Slovakia.4 In Slovak 
4 See http://old.culture.gov.sk/kulturne-dedicstvo/ochrana-pamiatok/vsledky/deklaracia-o-ochrane-pamiatok.
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research and ethnology in particular, the term cultural heritage overlaps with traditional 
culture. Both of these terms have their own nuances. Traditional culture is considered the 
basis for a wider interdisciplinary understanding of the creation of cultural heritage. The 
term is derived from central European characteristics of culture. Their common feature is 
tradition as a collection of norms, values, and ideas passed on from generation to genera-
tion. The act of passing on traditions and generational transmission are thus understood 
as the most natural transfer of culture, which explains researchers’ further interest in it. 
Traditional phenomena are a natural part of every community’s culture; they exist in either 
a latent or manifest form (Luther, 2015). The latent form of preservation of cultural heritage 
is not time limited, and the manifest form manifests itself in a specific communication 
output. Both of them allow for the return of forms of traditional phenomena as well as 
variability in them.
Traditional culture is preserved thanks to values it encompasses, and it is still in the 
process of developing a) in natural forms as an undistinguished part of everyday life (cultural 
tradition); b) in deliberate bias toward traditional phenomena as opposed to modern ones 
(traditionalism); and c) in deliberate or institutionalized preservation, reviving, interpretative 
performance, artistic adaptation, commercial use, and so on, or “folklorism” (Luther, 2012).
The common overlap of the terms cultural heritage and traditional culture is their link to 
the liveness of a cultural phenomenon. They are not frozen in the past, as is often reflected 
in Slovak popular media (romanticizing a nostalgic view of heritage). Instead, they are still 
alive and developing even today, but they also definitely belong to the future. Experiences 
of mankind passed on through traditions are a source of new solutions, inspiration, and 
innovation, which ensures the further development of society. The roles of contemporaries 
rest in their understanding, preservation, and transmission of their content and values. 
These roles are active: they require contact interaction with a broader community and 
interest in one’s own history and contexts. Cultural heritage is an active process of explor-
ing, testing, perceiving, experiencing, understanding, and transmitting. Heritage awareness 
and understanding of the meaning of a certain cultural object or phenomenon play a role 
during identification of what is heritage and what is not (Bitušíková, 2015).
In Slovakia, the term intangible heritage has been used in accordance with the defini-
tion of international experts at UNESCO in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the 
Intangible Cultural Heritage.5 Cultural expressions defined in this way are the object of 
research and constitute a database for addition to the Slovak representative list.
5 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. See http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0013/001325/132540e.pdf.
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LEGISLATION ON SAFEGUARDING INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE 
IN SLOVAKIA
In carrying out its national and international obligations and with due respect for 
human rights, Slovakia systematically takes measures to protect and develop cultural 
heritage. As a UNESCO member state, it is committed to implementing UNESCO 
recommendations and has adopted the following documents: the Recommendation on 
Safeguarding Traditional Culture and Folklore, the Convention for the Safeguarding of 
the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Convention on Protecting and Promoting the 
Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Hamar, 2007).6 In the Slovak declaration, terminology 
was redefined and rights and obligations pertaining to institutional and personal cultivation 
of cultural heritage were amended. At the national level, cultural heritage falls within the 
responsibilities of several ministries: the Ministry of Culture, and in part the Ministry of 
Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport, 
and the Ministry of the Environment.
At the Slovak Ministry of Culture, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is 
administered by the Cultural Heritage Department through a separate intangible cultural 
heritage section. An important achievement in safeguarding traditional culture was the 
establishment of an advisory body—the Culture Council for Safeguarding Intangible 
Cultural Heritage—which produced the document Concept for Cultivating Traditional 
Folk Culture, adopted in 2007, and, in 2015, the Concept for Cultivating Traditional Folk 
Culture until 2020. These documents state the responsibilities and roles of intangible cultural 
heritage stakeholders in identifying traditional folk culture, systemically documenting it, 
preserving it, and propagating it among future generations, as well as the ways of making 
it available and presenting it to the public. Another part of safeguarding intangible cultural 
heritage and traditional folk culture was the creation of the Representative List of Slovak 
Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices in Slovakia, 
which help create analogous international lists.7
THE INVENTORY OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE AND 
REPRESENTATIVE LIST OF SLOVAK INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
One of the main aims of the Concept for Cultivating Traditional Folk Culture was to 
create a method of identifying and inventorying traditional folk culture and putting it 
into practice. The creation of an information system for acquiring, processing, and storing 
6 These documents were published in their Slovak translation in the following book: Hamar, J. (ed.). 
2007. Traditional and Folk Culture in UNESCO Documents.
7 S ee  ht tps : //w w w.cu ltu re .gov. sk /posobnos t-min i s te r s t va /ku ltu rne -ded ic s t vo/
nehmotne-kulturne-dedicstvo-kulturno-osvetova-cinnost/.
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information, which is intended to provide an overview of the presence and state of living or 
preserved artefacts and phenomena of traditional culture in all regions of Slovakia, served 
as a methodological tool. Individual municipalities of Slovakia were designated as the basic 
units. In cooperation with an expert group mainly consisting of professionals in ethnol-
ogy, a guide document was written (Questionnaire for Studying, Processing, Archiving, 
and Presenting Traditional Folk Culture of Municipalities), which serves as a manual for 
cultivating traditional folk culture through municipalities. This document is the starting 
point for creating an archiving and presentation system for the safe storage and dissemi-
nation of information. It consists of six booklets covering the use of guides, location and 
settlement, social and spiritual culture, material culture, visual artistic culture, and artistic 
culture (Benža et al., 2010).
Slovakia has been drawing up the Representative List of Slovak Intangible Cultural 
Heritage since 2010. This list is an inventory of important elements and practices of Slovak 
intangible cultural heritage. It shows recognition for exceptional elements, practices, and 
representations—including knowledge, skills, tools, objects, artifacts, and places neces-
sary for their existence—which are recognized by societies and individuals and persist in 
accordance with universally accepted principles of human rights, equality, support, and 
mutual respect among cultural communities. These elements are in accordance with their 
environment and historical conditions of the communities, and they provide them with a 
feeling of continuity and identity, thus supporting cultural diversity and creativity.
The main aims of the representative list are the following: a) to raise public awareness 
and recognition of the importance of Slovak intangible cultural heritage and emphasize 
the need for safeguarding and revitalizing it; b) to record, evaluate, and make available to 
the general public important elements related to Slovak intangible cultural heritage; c) to 
support the participation of bearers of the tradition and local actors in preserving important 
elements of Slovak intangible cultural heritage; d) to encourage individuals, groups, institu-
tions, and organizations to contribute to the administration, preservation, safeguarding, and 
promotion of this heritage; and e) to socially appreciate additions to the representative list 
and encourage material support for the preservation and revitalization of listed elements.10
Through the system of anonymous assessments and secret ballots, the expert com-
mittee had approved thirty-two elements by December, 2021.8 These elements are of vari-
ous natures. Some are locally urban (the Radvaň Fair), rural (ornaments in Čičmany), or 
regional (the Goral culture). In general, their spread in communities is known and accepted. 
Their listing is binding for the locations, regions, and people in the sense of protection, 
popularization, and also preservation of their originality. Sustainability, in the sense of 
ensuring the intergenerational transmission of values contained in the element, is another 
non-negligible component. The creation of the Slovak representative list constitutes the 
8 For the actual elements of Slovak intangible cultural heritage on the Slovak representative list, see 
https://www.ludovakultura.sk/zoznamy-nkd-slovenska/reprezentativny-zoznam-nehmotneho-kul-
turneho-dedicstva-slovenska/prvky-zapisane-v-reprezentativnom-zozname-nkd-slovenska/.
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basic stage for submitting nomination proposals for adding elements to the Representative 
List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, in which there are currently seven 
Slovak elements: the fujara9 and its music (2008), the music of Terchová (2013), bagpipe 
culture (2015), puppetry in Slovakia and the Czech Republic (2016), multipart singing 
of the Upper Hron region (2017), indigo blue fabric dyeing (2018), and wire craft (2019).
INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE ELEMENT: THE FUJARA
The fujara is a cylindrical overtone pipe approximately 180 cm long with three fingerholes. 
It consists of two tubes: the main tube is connected to a shorter one through which the 
airflow is channeled to the edge of the large bass flute (Garaj, 2006). The tones change 
with the intensity of blowing; that is, overblowing into aliquot tones and by using the three 
finger holes. The fujara is characterized by the Mixolydian or Hypoionian mode, and the 
range of the instrument is up to three octaves. From the point of view of repertoire and 
interpretation, mainly slow, nostalgic, and emotional shepherds’ or highwaymen’s songs 
are played on the fujara. Fujara players usually 
begin with a typical introduction ornament 
called the rozfuk, based on a falling row of tones 
from the highest toward the lowest (Elschek, 
1979; Lubej, 1995). An extraordinarily impor-
tant part of fujara interpretation is singing. 
The fujara is not found in all of Slovakia, but 
only in the very limited mountain territory of 
the central Slovak regions of Podpoľanie, the 
Upper Hron area (Horehronie), Gemer, and 
Hont (Garaj, 2006). 
In the last period, the fujara attracted 
the interest of Slovak musicologists not only 
as a musical instrument but also as a socio-
cultural phenomenon (Garaj, 2006, 2007, 
2021; Elschek, 2009). The emergence of the 
fujara is linked with the context of shepherds’ 
culture, which formed while central Slovakia 
was colonized from the fourteenth to eight-
eenth century. Shepherds’ musical culture in 
9 The fujara became the first element of Slovakia’s traditional music culture proclaimed a masterpiece 
of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2005 and automatically incorporated into the 
UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 (Garaj, 
2021: 14).
Figure 1. An older fujara player (in the 1980s) 
in his natural (rural) environment. Vertical 
(generational) transmission of fujara playing 
(photo by Štefan Repčok).
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Slovakia is characterized by its high degree of individualism, intimacy, and pride, which is 
also reflected in fujara playing. This article does not look at the fujara through the eyes of 
ethnomusicologists or ethnoorganologists, but mainly in a wider context. The reflections 
are based on mutual relations and ties between people, country, and culture.
[A]mong the many musical instruments that can be found in our country, the fujara, 
as a truly exceptional instrument, stands out and is perceived as the symbol of Slovak 
folklore. People see the fujara as the symbol of the hill people’s soul; it is a testament 
to their harsh life and it brings peace to the environment they live in. Listening to the 
tones of the fujara, they can reminisce, soothe the soul, fight off sadness, and express 
their sorrows through its melancholy voice. People from central Slovakia in particular 
still perceive the fujara as something that is theirs—something that belongs to their 
environment. (A 40-year-old fujara player)
REVITALIZATION OF THE FUJARA
The processes of manufacturing and decorating the fujara were fixed orally, just like playing 
the instrument itself. There were no rules, only knowledge and criteria passed on through 
intergenerational contact communication. This is one of the reasons why changes occur. 
The increased research interest in, popularization of, and interest in owning fujaras in the 
past fifty years in Slovakia was influenced by several factors such as field research by eth-
nographers or the presentation of the fujara at folklore festivals. Bernard Garaj, a leading 
Slovak ethnomusicologists, states:
One of the significant changes that the fujara has undergone over the last half 
century is the change in its role in traditional folk culture. On the one hand, 
the connectivity with the pastoral tradition and the intimate character of the 
interpretation associated with it have disappeared. On the other hand, weaken-
ing of this connection allowed fujara players to be visible on the ground in a new 
wide range of events or performance. What unites these opportunities is that the 
instrument was extracted from its natural functional context and transferred to 
a fundamentally different environment. This happened despite unquestionable 
efforts to know the traditional fujara song repertoire, to preserve the stylistic 
interpretation, and to subscribe to the musical legacy of old fujara players. (Garaj, 
2021: 20)
The significant and newest of these factors was adding the fujara to the Representative 
List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Concurrently, interest communities 
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and support organizations started to appear, particularly in Podpoľanie,10 a region where 
the fujara is traditionally found, and annual gatherings of fujara players started to be held, 
not only in areas where the fujara’s was traditionally played, but also elsewhere.11
The fujara has also become a favored motif of exhibitions. A series of exhibitions in 
2006 in Paris under the aegis of UNESCO is among the most important. This exhibition 
was held not only in Slovakia, but also in other European cities. The growing activity of 
fujara players of this period is also shown by the organization of many gatherings that have 
become regular events.12
THE MAN AND PLACE CONTEXT IN REVITALIZATION
The environment and place where the fujara is made and where its music is presented is 
a culture-setting agent. These aspects are considered the basic anthropological criteria of 
cultural sustainability. Historic rural environments in Slovakia created more stable contexts 
for the transmission of culture than urban ones. Throughout the long-term sharing of a 
single place, environmental cognition was formed among recipients—selectively organ-
ized perceptions that are secondarily manifested in culture (Altman, 1973). A well-known 
fujara player in the first half of the twentieth century said that “If someone blindfolded me 
and handed me a fujara, I would immediately know whether it was made with love or not.”
Contexts of landscape figure (shape), location, and the frequency of inevitable interac-
tion with the environment in which the fujara players spent their daily lives were of crucial 
significance in the development of the fujara tradition. The presentation of fujara playing 
enhances the feeling of unity and solidarity and, in a local community, it is secondarily 
expressed in other symbolic resemblances and collective action.
It is necessary to maintain a certain degree of reticence about the current assessment of 
the state of territorial identification with the tradition of the fujara tradition. This opinion is 
based on discussions about the widespread and very free use of the term identity (Brubaker, 
Cooper, 2000). Such free use is blurring both its “harder” and “softer” semantic nuances. 
The special territorial character in areas with the fujara had varying degrees of importance 
in different historic periods and also more coherent empirical coverage. Today, one should 
speak of territorial identification in relation to local identity. It is a category of practice, 
which can be empirically supported by field ethnography. Here, a special place belongs 
to expressions of inherited experience appraising cultural quality, which, in a way, is the 
fujara players’ manner of world perception (Danglová, 2006). Older fujara players express 
disillusionment with the changes in the fujara’s usage in their accounts of the spread of the 
10 Locations: Zvolen, Hriňová, Korytárky, and Očová.
11 Locations: Bratislava, Rajecké Teplice, and Čičmany.
12 For more information, see Garaj, 2021.
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fujara to areas other than the original mountain ones. This relates to the authors’ findings 
that the fujara tradition is no longer an identifying symbol of hill sheep-breeding.
Playing the fujara has gradually created a new cultural circle, and its spread is no 
longer associated with a geographical territory. The cultural and territorial identity linked 
with playing the fujara have stopped overlapping and, in relation to the fujara tradition, 
one can no longer speak of its local special character or identity, whether local or regional 
(Nikischer, 2013). The individual world of fujara players has been replaced by the world 
of the fujara player community, often with no direct link to the main unifying cultural 
element: the environment.
Few people realize how much the fujara has changed in the past sixty years. Its tone 
color is different. Old fujara players wanted their fujara to rasp just like an old man’s 
voice. Old fujara players played the instrument for their own pleasure. Today, there are 
no such fujara players; most of them play in groups and travel abroad, so that people 
will talk about them, so that they are successful, and, last but not least, economically 
prosperous. (A 50-year-old fujara player)
There are basically no fujara players, I mean those I used to listen to in my young 
days, playing in front of shepherds’ huts and in pastures. The path of tradition has 
become overgrown with the passing away of those honest veterans, shepherds, who 
carried this peaceful expression in their souls, without ever feeling the need to show 
off and run around on stages. I think those fujara players can only be found in the 
cemeteries. (A 60-year-old fujara player, representing the local fujara tradition)
Fujara players, often virtually gathered together in groups, create their own concepts 
of the world, expressed, among other things, through their own “vernacular theories.” The 
creation of these concepts is based on the presumption that when they speak of “their” 
world and “their” environment, they use new, specific knowledge, other shared meanings, 
and “their” actual assessment. It is a form of new human theorizing, a mixture of current 
empirical knowledge and newly created habitual behavior, and also the employment of 
rumors and prejudice (Bushman, 2000). As a 60-year-old fujara player stated, “when I 
started, it was difficult to learn anything about the fujara because the people that had devoted 
themselves to it were slowly leaving this world. I did manage to meet a few manufacturers, the 
true manufacturers, and fujara players that were trying to pass it on.”
Another important phenomenon that is disappearing is the link to local tradition. 
The technical and instrument restrictions that resulted from the environment of secluded 
sheep shelters encouraged creativity and inventiveness. With the change of the place of 
manufacture, the manner of manufacture, compositional principles, and decoration tech-
niques also changed. Now, the fujara tradition extends beyond its natural environment.
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URBAN FUJARA PLAYERS AND THEIR RURAL SENTIMENT
The greatest change observed in field ethnographies is the social status of both fujara 
manufacturers and players. Today, they often have a secondary or higher education, and 
their number in Slovakia has never been this high. It is estimated that there are about two 
hundred fujara manufacturers and performing fujara players. 
The Slovak fujara was added to the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage 
of Humanity list partly due to the fact that an instrument of such construction 
and length creates respect. Its design, beautiful, fascinating, and original sound, 
and songs represent a remarkable artefact of our cultural heritage. The fact that 
the same attributes of the instrument can interest and fascinate people living in 
the modern world is equally important. (Garaj, 2007: 108)
Today, the spread of the fujara is seen as having stabilized around its natural centers. 
The similarity to traditional centers of manufacture can also be seen in the urban environ-
ment. Fujara players from the natural environment perceive its expansion very sensitively. 
The fujara is stabilized in its natural environment. Today, however, there is enormous 
interest in this instrument among people from an environment that is not natural 
for the fujara—urban people. I see this as a major shift in the fujara world, and I 
cannot even guess how it will progress. (A 50-year-old fujara player)
The spread of the fujara among urban people is seen as a major development in the 
“fujara world.” Changes can be seen among the bearers of the fujara tradition depending on 
the fujara players. In the traditional society of fujara players, the instrument is described as 
designed exclusively for men, or even as an intimate musical instrument of men. Men can 
express their emotions and state of mind through it. It is a guide to the present intimacy and 
melancholy of the man, and an important element of his psychology. Today, women also 
participate in the fujara society; however, there are mixed feelings about this increasingly 
frequent phenomenon. In a society focused on traditions, mostly formed by older fujara 
players, female fujara players are often rejected. A more liberal viewpoint on this issue can 
be witnessed among the younger generation. Female fujara players participate in competi-
tions, festivals, celebrations, and other events. The escape into penetrant and ever stronger 
fashion trends seen in musical instruments is attracting increasingly more people. The 
largest representation of urban fujara players is in the younger generation: “young people 
search for the lost past that has become an integral part of the present, and for new social 
and individual morals. They find these in the fujara” (Elschek, 2009: 139). 
The current development of the fujara stems from a range of social movements and 
their activities. The development of the fujara and its culture is a natural dialogue between 
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KATARÍNA KOŠTIALOVÁ AND IVAN MURIN
Figure 2. Young urban fujara players. Horizontal transmission of fujara playing (photo by Ivan Murin).
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CHANGES IN INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN SLOVAKIA: THE CASE THE FUJARA
modern man and the emotional and rational world of the past and its values, which is not 
controlled by ideology, politics, the state, or any other official environment. The horizontal 
transmission of the fujara tradition is favored against the vertical one in which the pass-
ing on happens from the older generation to the younger one. This generation finds new 
opportunities to learn how to play the fujara. These include festivals, exhibitions, competi-
tions, creative workshops, and fujara schools, thanks to which the fujara is becoming more 
visible and gaining a wider social response. People interested in the fujara form civil society 
associations,13 the goal of which is to gather information about the fujara, make recordings, 
and create new platforms for the discussion and exchange of views among people interested 
in this musical instrument.
Behind the establishment of these civil society associations lies a specific and mostly 
informal activity of groups that wanted to draw attention to the addition of the fujara to 
the list. Some activities when this addition was made almost had the nature of large-scale 
events. This might have increased the confidence and trust of the society in its abilities, 
but it also represented a heavy organizational burden. From the point of view of the gen-
erational transmission of culture, those are the most effective means of transmission. The 
entire local society participates in organizing some of the events. This helps mobilize its 
activities and revive cultural memory.
The musical application of the fujara has also changed. It is used within world music, 
fused with the music of other ethnicities, instruments, and movements of modern popular 
music (Garaj, 2007, 2021), as well as in classical music. The fujara has gained the attention 
of composers thanks to its acoustic qualities, specific tone color, playing technique, and 
repertoire. Today the fujara is compared to the Australian didgeridoo based on similari-
ties between their tone ranges, their characteristic and unmistakable sound, their size and 
appearance, and so on. People always look for parallels between these two instruments, 
despite their obvious differences.
I personally lean toward the traditional style of fujara playing. I wish for all new 
enthusiasts of this instrument to find the true meaning and substance of fujara 
playing or singing. To find the depth and the meaning behind this instrument. The 
development of fujara playing is ongoing, and new movements and understanding 
of fujara playing are emerging. But if someone grabs a fujara, they need to know 
where it originated and existed . [. . .] There are different movements and manners 
of performance or even manufacturing, but everyone should approach this instrument 
with respect. (A 40-year-old fujara player)
13 For example, the Fujara Players’ Association and The Soul of the Fujara. See http://www.fujara.sk; 
http://www.dusafujary.sk.
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KATARÍNA KOŠTIALOVÁ AND IVAN MURIN
The fujara as a musical instrument has evolved toward a higher quality of manufac-
ture, decoration, and new aesthetics. The manufacturing quality that only skillful masters 
could achieve in the past is now common among increasingly more makers. The fujara, 
its natural sound, and the beauty of its wood are contrasted with the artificially produced 
and commercial elements entering the market. The fujara often becomes a decorative ele-
ment or a protocol gift.14
FINDINGS
The findings of ethnographic field studies confirm the dominance of the fujara spreading 
through an indirect, non-generational transfer, through the media, social activities, or 
social networks. The knowledge and values of playing the fujara have become part of the 
knowledge of the individual “property” of the fujara player, who is now much less affected 
by the contexts of the fujara’s natural environment. Technical communication, such as 
the distribution of archived recordings, transcripts, manufacturing techniques, and song-
books, is directly connected to the growth of indirect forms of the cultural transmission 
of the spread of the fujara. First, it relates to a specific generational technical competence 
of communicating through media. Second, it is connected to the amount of time that the 
generation can assign to it. The time that the older generation of fujara players spent in 
connection with the local society has been replaced in the current generation by the time 
assigned for performance and technological elaboration.
Vertical and horizontal transmission are still applied. They stabilize the traditional 
forms of fujara playing and the technology of its manufacture. Changes are particularly 
visible in the processes and methods of learning. Learning during presentation opportuni-
ties is now preferred, instead of learning by observing older fujara players. The relation of 
the vertical and horizontal modes versus the indirect modes of transmission shows that the 
fujara tradition is being stabilized through vertical and horizontal transmission, whereas 
dynamic changes are mainly transmitted indirectly. The uniform representation of all three 
modes (vertical, horizontal, and indirect) is the criterion that justifies saying that the fujara 
tradition in Slovakia is a living heritage.
The interviews with respondents reveal an interest in contact opportunities for meet-
ings of several generations of fujara players. In the rural environment, there are increased 
efforts among the traditional generation of fujara players to disseminate its knowledge 
among people interested in it, especially those from the local area. It is possible to pass on 
local knowledge directly, hands-on, by observation and imitation. Intergenerational contact 
makes it only sporadically possible to create such stimuli, through activities such as seasonal 
events, festivals, or reminiscences of the traditional rural way of life.
14 The Slovak state protocol custom is for government officials present important foreign guests with a fujara.
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CHANGES IN INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN SLOVAKIA: THE CASE THE FUJARA
The greatest loss that the subjects of the study associate with the disappearance of playing 
the fujara in the rural shepherds’ areas is the loss of values and social norms, which the local 
community built on the traditional culture of the agricultural year. External influences, 
the change of lifestyle, and also the displacement of values of the traditional societies has 
caused a gradual depopulation or demise of shepherd culture in Slovakia.15 However, the 
current attempt to stabilize fujara playing among the original bearers (shepherds) cannot 
be properly applied because of the extinction of the oldest generation of shepherds.
Technological innovation of the instrument and the abandonment of the traditional 
interpretation has become a visible trend. 
After the addition to the list, the fujara rapidly expanded into the world, which raised 
Slovakia’s profile in certain circles. The fujara needs to be understood. You need to 
respect its history and the people that presented beauty through songs and interpretation. 
Experimentation is prevailing over the preservation of the traditional playing style, 
which is ruining the instrument. (A 50-year-old fujara player)
From the anthropological point of view, the small everyday activities of families, 
neighborhoods, or other local communities are of the greatest importance for maintaining 
the fujara tradition in its natural locations. However, these opportunities are threatened by 
the departure of the younger generation from the area, which results in the loss of vitality 
of rural societies.
There are many fujara players in villages that play for themselves, that do not want 
to perform on stage, and they strongly stand behind the opinion that the fujara is an 
intimate instrument and, as such, belongs to an intimate environment. (A 40-year-
old fujara player)
The knowledge from inventorying the spread of the fujara and fujara playing is related 
to performance preferences by older and younger generations of fujara players. The struc-
tured interview list consisted of 130 fujara players (54%) out of 200 suggested by experts. 
It is a representative sampling of old and young generations of all fujara players. In terms 
of age, the largest group consisted of respondents eighteen to fifty years old (69.5%), and 
it may be presumed that new signs of the “fujara tradition” will be adopted among these. 
There was a slight predominance of new fujara players, which can be explained by the fujara 
registration effect (38%) with permanent residency in urban areas (55%).
15 The last attempts at stabilizing these societies are connected with the revival of the Saint Demetrius’s 
Day (Na Mitra) autumn sheep drive down from the hills, and the Saint George’s Day (Na Ďura) 
spring sheep drive up into the hills.
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KATARÍNA KOŠTIALOVÁ AND IVAN MURIN
RESULTS
Older and younger generations of fujara players. Fujara players prefer various events in which 
the cultural memory strengthens across generations. The differences in the fujara tradi-
tion can be justified not only by the different cultural profiles of individuals (the bearer’s 
ecology), but also by their preference for either the continuity of the fujara tradition or 
its innovation. A 50-year-old fujara player stated “I learned to play the fujara from one of 
the most prominent fujara players [Martin Sanitrár, born 1911]. I learned to play through 
imitation, which meant that I used to copy my role model at one point. However, I no longer 
play like Martin Sanitrár.”
The functions of playing the fujara vary across generations. The older generation inclines 
more toward the traditional styles and forms of the fujara tradition. In the local delimitation 
of the current fujara tradition, the urban environment offers more formal opportunities 
for learning to play the fujara, and for nurturing and transmitting it. Fujara players from 
rural societies have fewer such opportunities and therefore initiate more events where they 
can meet. The most effective method of spread is propagation through large-scale events 
(i.e., festivals) that are attended by a large audience (of fujara players).
Representation of old and new features. Contact and communication are a more frequent 
and effective way of spreading the older features of fujara playing. This corresponds to the 
knowledge that traditional fujara interpretation creates a holistic, symbolic system, which 
cannot be reduced. New features (imports) are mostly spread through technical communi-
cation (social networks, media, and CDs), which constitute virtual environments for being 
inspired to innovate when playing and manufacturing the fujara.
The folklore memory of fujara players. In this study, folklore memory is understood 
as the expression of the possibility of remembering the widest possible range of repertoire 
components (music, singing, dance, etc.), local events, tales, techniques, procedures, and 
other contexts. Our findings show that the current opportunities where the repertoire is 
implemented do not allow fujara players to use all the content of their folklore memory. This 
often leads to a displacement of the contexts of tradition, especially among fujara players 
from the urban environment. Thus, in the society of fujara players, presenting older and 
rediscovered content of folklore memory is considered prestigious. The younger genera-
tion mainly tends to present what is appropriate for scenic and commercial presentation.
Discovering and preserving traditions. The fujara and the technology of its manufac-
ture are formally supported and stabilized in written form, just like other forms of culture 
(Assman, 2001). Transmission through contact varies in its intensity. The changing of the 
substance of folklore is natural and always occurs in connection with present knowledge 
(Leščák, 2006). First, more complex knowledge is transmitted, followed by the transmis-
sion of less complex knowledge. Anthropologists refer to this as the floating gap (Vansina, 
2009). The structures of complicated holistic information fall apart under the influence 
of a cycle of floating gaps. These gaps are filled with new knowledge, which innovate and 
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make the cultural phenomena varied. Research has recorded attempts for revitalization as 
well as attempts to expand and distribute the fujara tradition to new locations. A 60-year-
old fujara player states that 
Slovakia experienced a ‘boom’ in the fujara tradition in 2005, when the instrument 
was added to the representative list. Then interest in it rose, and even craftsmen that 
had not been connected to the fujara in any way, but saw that it was selling well in 
Slovakia, started making it. They saw it as a good image.
The fujara “boom” is mentioned a lot. It has mostly impacted the urban environment. 
The authors explain it through the fact that its function as a solo musical instrument with 
an intimate character has changed to a prestigious one. It is also connected to another 
finding: namely, that the fujara tradition in Slovakia is no longer an identifying feature of 
mountain shepherds, but of the wider society.
CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
The subject matter of the research and the main topic of this study was the fujara as an 
intangible cultural heritage element on the representative list. The general goal of the study 
was to collect as much information as possible on the distribution of the fujara tradition in 
Slovakia. It pointed out changes pertaining to current environments of fujara expansion, 
recipients of the fujara tradition, and the functions of the fujara. The following findings 
are gleaned from the information gathered. The uniform representation of all three modes 
of transmission (vertical, horizontal, and indirect) in studying intangible cultural heritage 
is an indicator of the vitality of the cultural phenomenon. The fujara tradition is stabilized 
through vertical and horizontal transmission, and dynamic changes are mainly transmitted 
indirectly. The functions of fujara playing vary across generations. The number of recipi-
ents of the fujara tradition rose after its addition to the lists. Today, fujara players mostly 
come from the urban environment. The older generation inclines more toward traditional 
styles and forms of the fujara tradition, in contrast to the younger generation. New features 
(imports) are mostly spread through technical communication (social networks, media, and 
CDs), which constitute virtual environments for being inspired to innovate when playing 
and manufacturing the fujara. The old features of fujara playing spread more effectively 
through contact communication. Active fujara players realize the need to support natural 
modes of cultural transmission through creating new impulses for its preservation. They 
create a range of new activities and events with the ambition to further develop the fujara 
tradition in environments other than the cultural circles of the natural expansion of the 
fujara. In both the rural and urban environments, current opportunities do not allow for 
the application of all the knowledge and techniques of fujara players that are contained in 
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their folklore memory. The younger generation tends to mainly present what is appropri-
ate for scenic and commercial presentation. The Slovak tradition of fujara playing exhibits 
recursive floating gaps, which affect it by leveling, innovating, and making varied some 
of the holistic knowledge. The research recorded attempts at revitalization as well as new 
attempts to spread the fujara tradition into the urban environment.
A topic of an anthropologically justified discussion could be evaluating overlaps 
between the cultures of the urban and rural worlds. Another resonating topic is the effective 
safeguarding and promotion measures of intangible cultural heritage toward the preserva-
tion of its living forms. Multiple municipalities and microregions of Slovakia have joined 
these methods of promoting and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage with the help of 
funding. How the continuity of this phenomenon will stabilize once the support finishes is 
disputable. The risks of sustainability lie, for example, in the unpredictable effects of tour-
ism and commercialization, which can cause secondary leveling of even relatively fragile 
but still preserved manifestations of the local style continuity of fujara playing.
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SPREMEMBE V NESNOVNI DEDIŠČINI NA SLOVAŠKEM: 
PRIMER FUJARA
Predmet in glavna tema raziskave je fujara (lesena pastirska piščal) kot element nesnovne 
kulturne dediščine (NKD), vpisan na Reprezentativni seznam. Splošni cilj je bil zbrati kar 
največ znanja o razširjenosti piskanja nanjo na Slovaškem. V razpravi avtorja opozarjata na 
spremembe v sedanjem okolju razširjanja fujare, sprejemalcih fujare in njenih funkcijah. Na 
tej podlagi orišeta svoja spoznanja. Poenotena predstavitev vseh treh načinov posredovanja 
(vertikalno, horizontalno, posredno) v raziskovanju NKD je kazalnik vitalnosti kulturnega 
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fenomena. Tradicionalno piskanje na fujaro utrjujeta vertikalno in horizontalno posredovanje, 
dinamične spremembe so večinoma posredovane posredno. Fujara ima med različnimi genera-
cijami različne funkcije. Po vpisu na seznam je število piskačev naraslo in ti so zdaj večinoma 
iz mestnega okolja. Starejša generacija je v primerjavi z mlajšo bolj naklonjena tradicionalnim 
slogom in načinom piskanja. Nove značilnosti (uvožene) se širijo večinoma s tehnično komuni-
kacijo (družbena omrežja, mediji), ki je virtualno okolje za navdih vnašanja novosti v igranje 
in izdelovanje fujare. Stare značilnosti se širijo učinkoviteje prek stikov. Aktivni piskači čutijo 
potrebo po podpori naravnim načinom kulturnega posredovanja in ustvarjanju novih spodbud 
za njihovo ohranitev. Nastaja niz novih aktivnosti in dogodkov, da bi razvili igranje na fujaro 
v okolju, ki presega kulturna prizorišča naravnega razširjanja fujare. Tako na podeželju kakor 
v mestu ni možnosti za uporabo vsega znanja in tehnik piskačev, ohranjenih v njihovem folklor-
nem spominu. Mlajši so nagnjeni k scensko in komercialno primernim predstavitvam. Slovaška 
tradicija igranja na fujaro kaže rekurzivno plavajoče premore, ki nastajajo z uravnavanjem, 
prenavljanjem in večjo raznovrstnostjo celovitega znanja. V raziskavi so bili odkriti poskusi 
oživljanja in razširjanja fujare v mestnem okolju.
Tema antropološko upravičene razprave bi lahko bilo ovrednotenje prekrivanja kultur 
mestnih in podeželskih svetov. Druga odmevna tema so učinkovito varovanje in merila promocije 
NKD v smeri ohranjanja njenih živih oblik. Številne občine in mikroregije na Slovaškem so se z 
denarno podporo pridružile tem metodam promocije in varovanja NKD. Sporno je, kako se bo 
kontinuiteta fenomena stabilizirala, ko podpore ne bo več. Tveganja trajnosti so, na primer, v 
nenapovedljivosti učinkov turizma in komercializacije, ki lahko povzročijo sekundarno poenotenje 
razmeroma krhkih, a še ohranjenih manifestacij kontinuitete lokalnega sloga igranja na fujaro.
Dr. Katarína Koštialová, Matej Bel University, Department of Social Studies and Ethnology,  
katarina.kostialova@umb.skiva
Dr. Ivan Murin, Matej Bel University, Department of Social Studies and Ethnology,  
ivan.murin@umb.sk
This text and the research were supported by EU funding from HORIZON-CL2-2021-
HERITAGE-02, Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe – ARCHE 101060054, 
implementing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2020 in Priority Area – Cultural 
Heritage in a Changing Context.