Luna is a band of six musicians from the village of Kecerovce, Slovakia that performs various styles of Roma music. The name Luna – which means “moon” in the Romani language – is inherited from a Roma dancing group from Kecerovce that gained international acclaim in the early 2000’s. Today’s musicians see themselves as carrying on that legacy of promoting and preserving Roma traditional music.
“Music is in our family, it’s in our blood,” explains group leader Slavo Pecha Sr., and it’s obvious as soon as they sit down to play. They easily slip back and forth between different styles of music. When asked how they can adapt so quickly and easily, guitarist Ondrej Pecha shrugs and says, “We’re family… we’ve been playing together our whole lives!” It also helps that three of the group’s members have studied music at conservatory.
Since 2015 Luna has played together at various events – festivals of Roma culture, parties for family events, weddings and baptisms, and even as a featured group at a youth festival in Italy. They’d like to expand their work, perform at more festivals and even record an album to sell. But mainly, they just want to keep playing.
“We do it because it’s fun,” says Slavo Jr. “As long as people want to listen to us, we’ll keep playing.”
Slavo Pecha Jr and Sr (guitar), Patrik Ferčak (vocals), Ondrej Pecha (guitar), Adam Pecha (kachon), Erik Vidlička (vocals)
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