Tomáš Mikolaj
Ján Trebula, from Detvianska Huta (Detva district), was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production last year. Although Ján Trebula could play musical instruments very well from childhood, thanks to his study at art school and thanks to his grandfather who made him a six-hole flute for when he herded cows, his first contact with the fujara only came several years later. He studied at a mining apprentice school in Veľký Krtíš, and then worked in the brown coal mines, where fate introduced him to Anton Ľupták from Látky (Detva district), a member of the oldest generation of Podpoľanie master craftsmen of musical instruments. He bought his first undecorated fujara from Anton Ľupták in 1975. When he visited the master two weeks later to tell him he would like to decorate it, and played him what he had learnt in two weeks, the master craftsman could not believe that he had never played the fujara before. However, he saw that the instrument had fascinated the young enthusiast, and so he gradually began to share with him his extensive knowledge and skills. They gradually produced fujara and flutes together, even entering various competitions together. Today, master Trebula has a wide range of traditional musical instruments: alongside the fujara and six-hole flutes, he also makes koncovka flutes, small fujara, double flutes and rag-and-bone men whistles out of wood.