The story of Manuša

ROMA MUSIC IN SLOVAKIA

Speaker Julia Kozakova

Singer Julia Kozakova is best known for her solo work and her previousalbum Manuša, released in 2022, saw her bring new life into traditionalRoma songs originally from Slovakia and Central Europe. Julia’s band are agroup of exceptional Roma musicians from her home town of Bratislavawho perform on cimbalom, violin, viola, double bass and guitar.

Since she was 13, Julia has worked closely with Roma artists and hascollaborated with Czech singer Ida Kelarova and toured Europe with herRomany children‘s choir Čhavorenge.

Her breakout and internationallyreleased debut album Manuša brought Julia an new audiences performingin UK, Belgium, Italy, Estonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia and alsoreceived positive media feedback – it was the best performing world musicalbum from Slovakia according to the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE)and and received the Radio Head Award as the ‘best Slovak world musicalbum’ of 2022. Julia studied at London’s SOAS and continues to study ‘jazzvoice’ at Janačkova Akademie in Brno (Czech Republic)