Oravská Polhora is one of the biggest villages in Orava, it is a northernmost village in Slovakia. It is a very interesting place because of the bagpipe playing traditions and the promotion of the art of playing the bagpipe. There is the Bagpipe Chamber here within which the Slovakian Bagpipe Players’ Guild operates. These are the Beskids region musicians who specialize in playing this traditional instrument. The Guild was established in 1996 and now it has 50 musicians. In 2015 the bagpipe and the cultural work connected with it were listed on the UNESCO of the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural of Humanity.

The Guild facilitates developing the skill of playing the bagpipe among the children and the teenagers but they also teach how to build bagpipe themselves. The Centre organises workshops for children where they learn how to play the bagpipes. In 2014 a primary music school was opened in Oravská Polhora and children learn the violin and the accordion there. The skills they acquire not only let them continue the traditional way of playing but also they let them shape the contemporary folk music.

The International Bagpipe Festival “Gajdovačka” is organised each year here by the Orava Culture Centre. The bagpipe players present their skills during local cultural events.

There is also a small museum located in the Bagpipe Chamber where all kinds of instruments made by the local artists are exhibited – trembitas, gaidas, reeds, etc. One of the exhibitions is dedicated to the Beskids region musicians. The chest with the guild’s artefacts is a very interesting exhibit. You can also see the tools needed to make the instruments. The spacious exhibition room is sometimes used as a workshop for classes.

Cech slovenských gajdošov, Cechová izba CSG, Centrum gajdošských tradícií
029 47 Oravská Polhora, Oravská Polhora 565
tel. (+421) 903 044 033
e-mail: kultura@oravskapolhora.sk
www.gajdy.sk