Janika Balaž

Janika Balaž
Janika Balaž
Јаника Балаж
	SFR Yugoslavia
Monuments	Statue in Novi Sad
Nationality	Yugoslavian
Occupation	Musician
Known for	Tamburitza player and band leader

Janika Balaž (

tamburitza musician and band leader from Vojvodina, Serbia.^[1]

Life

He was born 1925 to a

Montenegro

, where he perfected his tamburitza play.

From its foundation in 1951 to the end of his working career he worked in

Paris Olympia. Allegedly, he had several offers from United States and Soviet Union

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 and feature films. 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 and Júlia Biszák.

After his death, the city of Novi Sad raised a monument (authored by sculptor Lászlo Szilágyi), standing on a square opposite the Petrovaradin fortress across the Danube.

Quote

He has always been, in jazz 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