Ján Berky Mrenica

* 1962

  • And even if you say within, within my father's music, that when. You know, when I was so older, I went to an arrangement with the old Hrdlička, and then I went, the trombonist, what he called, he taught at the School of Music, Jesus Mary. And I will remember, I will remember. And you know, I've already started you know the broken ones and I don't know all kinds of them. And when my father did things, you know I always wanted to do it even more jazzily. And we had endless conflicts over chords at home. Generational dispute. Sure. Due to the chords, so much. First, my sister was the accompanist. Your father played the piano very well, right. Very bad. Very bad. Very bad? Very. He had that harmony in his head. I was an accompanist then. But firstly my sister did it. My sister went to piano lessons normally. But she learned to play from the marks and I learned to play from the marks with my father. I wouldn't read two lines, no. Sometime after that I was already, already so that I played well, I already did it, but I renounced it. But with my father, we did so many things together. A set of albums, a lot of singers. For example Maťo Babjakaš, we did it all together and that, how many times, why is it here. And you know, and sometimes I took it, you know strictly, you know harmoniously, you have to have it here, because. Because, and I don't know, there's a Neapolitan sek, because this has to be in the bass, and my father didn't care. He liked it this way. And, and he was right, you know, when you get older, then it turns out that there is beauty in simplicity.

  • He was, your father was probably like a guru to you, since. Jesus, it was an honor for me when they did. As a child, I went with them to all sorts of performances, and when the time was that group had not enough, even the dancers, because they had six hundreds crowns like a salary, or how much. So they came, I was a "camel attraction". They put me on the table, I played the big violin, the guys had something to drink and I had a lot of chocolates and it was good. And so, they had some money for drinking. They slept on the bus. Have you ever had a baby violin? I had, but when my father took me with them for a trip just to watch, it was then. At that time there were cultural brigades or whatever it was called. Yes, yes. There was a gentleman, I remember him, when I played in Sľuk, then I was older, so the gentleman had a piece of paper from which dust was already pouring when it was read. And all the people from Sľuk, already knew what he was saying, thanks, and I don't know what else. How would you describe your father? He was fantastic. Kind? He has never hit us. No no. As we were, we. He was very attentive and made sure we were fair, honest. He made sure that we learned well, even when I was older. I was at the age of eighteen maybe at the age of nineteen. A disco finished at the garden street at nine, so I had to call from the call-box that we were going home.

  • The book “Variation Technique of Podpoľanie”, where all these Roma and non-Roma primates are recorded in a musical notation, in one, individual song, how they know how to express, how they know what their imagination is, what variation technique they have, in those songs, such as how skilled they are. And there were a lot of those Roma musicians that were, were, sticking out a lot. Dušan Berky, for example, who was a brilliant violinist. He was Rinaldo's contemporary, only Rinaldo was lucky to get further because Dušan stayed in that settlement, but he was a fantastic violinist. With an unreal, such pure technique, he had a beautiful tone, only. He actually improvised in jazz. Yes. That mountaineering music is very interesting. This is such a special folklore that five kilometers from Očová is played differently than in Hrochoť, five kilometers. It's just over the hill or just over the field. In Zvolenská Slatina they were played differently, in Dúbrava it was the same. Everyone had their own way. So there it is, these people actually did the folklore differently. And it's actually in traditional costumes. For example, such a small area as Podpoľanie, each has some specificity in that costume. Of course, Očovania have the most beautiful costumes, so I would say that mainly women. Also the costume from Zvolenská Slatina was beautiful, but very black. It's all over again, hey, but, but Roma musicians were the bearers of folklore. You can't say that today, because today. Nobody perceives that Romaness, so. No, these musicians at the time, of course, but radio was the maximum gain, which one. People held off the wedding because of the musicians.There is such a joke that they ask old Klinec who played to Krk when they negotiated the wedding, how much they cost. He speaks, with digits for a thousand and without digits for five hundreds. That it's like. What does it mean, with digits? It means, there are those ornaments, those variations. Yeah, right. And without digits it's for five hundreds, and it was like a joke because of people. And that is, it really happened.

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    Berky Mrenica Ján

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They put me on the table, I played the big violin, the guys had something to drink and I had a lot of chocolates, and it was good

Ján Berky Jr., was born on July 4, 1962 in Zvolen, with strong Očová’s roots. As a child, his whole family moved to Bratislava, where he basically lives to this day. An unforgettable memory and start in the life of music was the children’s violin, which he received when he was only four years old. As a little boy, he lived in Rusovce, in a manor house on the third floor, where he successfully attended primary school. Before studying at the conservatory, he already lived in Bratislava, in Karlova Ves. Ján therefore graduated from the violin department at the Bratislava Conservatory. His father and mother paid great attention to the upbringing of their children, and this also applied to his studying outcomes. Ján Berky comes from a classic family of four, from Bratislava, consisting of mother, father and sister Eva. His father, Ján Berky the Elder, was an important Slovak violinist. The memorial remembers how he always wanted to promote more jazz in his father’s music, there were even conflicts because of chords at home. Today, he would have done more things differently since he found out that his father was right, and especially in simplicity, there was beauty. Even his sister Eva, who also devoted herself to music, did not be a match for someone. Also Jan’s mother was a talented student at the conservatory in Brno, where she studied singing. Ján is very proud of his Romani origins and, according to him, Romani musicians were the bearers of folklore, but unfortunately, it cannot be said at present. There was a great demand for these musicians, so people postponed weddings because of them, if they could not attend to play theirs. Ján believes that politics has never been for musicians. Ján believes that politics has never been for musicians. However, he also talks about compromise, because if music should work, if songs or albums should be created, there must be a certain financial but also a political patron. He is also considered anti-human, against all extremist manifestations. At the time of the revolution in 1989, Ján was in Germany, where he spent a month because of performing in one of the Hainburg theaters. When he returned home, he was already returning to a free country. Ján did not experience the fall of the wall in Germany, because he was already at home at that time. However, he remembers that when the Germans united, especially in the East part of the country, there was a “hunger for culture”. The then “Jarovské violin” was in great demand at that time and played so vivaciously. Personally, Ján has never encountered racism as a child. It was later, in adulthood, that he was touched by several unflattering allusions because of his Roma origins, especially during concerts. But it wasn’t, nothing serious. He became famous mainly for the Orchestra “Diabolské violin”, of which he was a part. Today, he has a beautiful family, made up of his wife Vierka, who teaches in kindergarten, and a talented daughter, who is more interested in singing than making music like her father. A big dream of Ján Berky Jr. is the establishment of a radio with a studio where it would be broadcast live. He has an idea of ​​Slovak bands that would go there to present themselves, whether in modern or even classical music. He even mentioned it to the Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, who liked the idea very much, but at this time, absorbed by the corona crisis, it is not yet feasible.