Janika Balázs
Encyclopedia
Tamburitza
Tamburica or Tamboura refers to any member of a family of long-necked lutes popular in Eastern and Southern Europe, particularly Croatia , Serbia and Hungary. It is also known in southern Slovenia and Burgenland...
musician and band leader from Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
Life
He was born 1925 to a Hungarian-speakingHungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
Romani family with strong musical tradition. His father's surname was Rác
RAC
-Companies:* Rent-A-Center, an American public furniture and electronics rent to own company* Royal Automobile Club, a private club in Pall Mall, London* RAC plc, a breakdown company in the United Kingdom...
(or Rácz), which was a Hungarian term for Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
that was considered derogatory, so he took the mother's surname Balázs. He grew up in Bečej
Becej
Bečej is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District in Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 25,703, while Bečej municipality has 40,877 inhabitants. It is multiethnic town, with Hungarians and Serbs as largest ethnic groups...
, where he started playing violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in a local kafana
Kafana
Kafana , kafeana , kavana are terms used in the former Yugoslav countries for a distinct type of local bistro which primarily serves alcoholic beverages and coffee , and which sometimes also has a live band.The concept of a social gathering place for men to drink...
with 10 years of age. When he realized that he couldn't become the best violinist, he switched to ("prim" or "bisernica") tamburitza which he played ever since. Later, he played with "Braća kozaci" band in the area of Subotica
Subotica
Subotica is a city and municipality in northern Serbia, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...
and Horgoš
Horgoš
Horgoš is a village located in Kanjiža municipality, in the North Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The village has a Hungarian ethnic majority and its population numbering 6,325 people ....
. From 1948 to 1951, he worked in Radio Titograd
Radio Crne Gore
Radio Crne Gore is a radio station in Montenegro. It is part of Radio Televizija Crne Gore . Radio Crne Gore broadcasts from Podgorica.-History:...
in Montenegro, where he perfected his tamburitza play.
From its foundation in 1951 to the end of his working career he worked in Radio Novi Sad and was a member of its Grand Tamburitza Orchestra. He was spending nights playing with his 8-men band in kafanas of Novi Sad, especially on Petrovaradin Fortress
Petrovaradin fortress
Petrovaradin Fortress is a fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. It is located in the province of Vojvodina, on the right bank of the Danube river. The cornerstone of the present-day southern part of the fortress was laid on October 18, 1692, by Charles Eugène de Croÿ...
, of which he became one of icons. During his career, he held concerts across the world, including 36 performances in Paris Olympia
Paris Olympia
The Olympia is a music hall in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber....
. Allegedly, he had several offers from United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to move there and work as a tamburitza teacher, but he never wanted to leave Novi Sad, where he died in 1988.
Janika participated in several documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and feature film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s. Songs "Osam tamburaša s Petrovaradina" (Eight tambouritza-players from Petrovaradin) and "Primaši" were dedicated to him. During his career, he worked with many renowned musicians, including Zvonko Bogdan
Zvonko Bogdan
Zvonko Bogdan is an eminent performer of traditional folk songs of Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Apart from being famous as a singer, he is also a composer, painter and harness racer...
and Júlia Biszák.
After his death, the city of Novi Sad raised a monument (authored by sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
Lászlo Szilágyi), standing on a square opposite the Petrovaradin fortress across the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
.
Quote
- He has always been, in jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
speech, a band leader. Unification of orchestra's sound is something unique, something we could hear only at uncle Janika's. However, his solo parts are something unique, they had an emotion which is impossible to explain. Among thousands of tambouritzas, it was always easy to recognize the one of Janika Balaž.
Jovan Adamov, conductor of Radio Novi Sad dance orchestra