Folk Music and the Town: The Reflection of Changes in an Instrumental Line-up (with Regard to the Region of Zahorie in Slovakia)

The music of Slovak folk musicians and their perception of music was influenced by and formed by their environment. Apart from the influence of sacred music, there were short-term influences, such as the 19th century popular dances of mostly foreign origins (the Mazurka, the Landler, the Schottische, the Waltz). Alongside these influences, there were shifts in folk music in the repertoire and genre, and changes in instrumental line-up. Small dance bands called wedding bands spread around. After the beginning of the 20th century, Slovak folk music culture and taste was heavily influenced by the media (recording industry, broadcasting, music publishing houses, film). In the 1930s and 40s, it was mostly the piano accordion and the button accordion, which together with other musical instruments spread not only traditional local repertoire, but mostly Czech and Slovak song repertoire of various authors. The film industry contributed immensely to the popularity of many songs. The 1930s music environment in Slovakia required popular dances to be modified to the Slovak taste (the Folk Fox-trott, the Csardas-Fox). One of the streams of popular music strived to make popular hits of folk songs; this process can be observed in Slovak music till these days.