Page 35 - slovakia-unesco-heritage

Slovak UNESCO

Intangible Heritage

The “fujara” is a musical instrument unique to Slovakia. It was inscribed
into the UNESCO List of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Herit-
age of Humanity. The list was founded in 2001.

The fujara is a wooden over-
tone fipple flute that can be up
to 1.8 m long. It is usually made
from elder tree and has a charac-
teristic meditation tone.
It is known nowhere else in
the world but Slovakia. This
country is considered to be the
place of origin of this instru-
ment, especially the regions of
Poľana and North Gemer. It used
to be the typical instrument of
shepherds. Fujaras are decorated
by ornaments or figural decora-
tions.
The longest instrument is the
Fujara Trombita, up to 6 m long,
and was used for signalling and
for communication among shep-
herds in their pastures because of
its magnificent and strong tone.
It is made from pine wood.