The Rusín Čendeš Orchestra perform folk songs from Eastern Slovakia in acoustic arrangements.

Rusín Čendeš Orchestra is six young musicians from Banská Bystrica educated as classical musicians and devoted to folk music of Central Slovakia and Ruthenian/Rusin minority. The intriguing new approach to the interpretation of Ruthenian traditional folk music is based on mixing the elements of classical music, jazz and other music genres with Slavic melodies.

Their acoustic sound is characterized by strong male and female vocals, twin fiddles, guitar, scampering cimbalom and double bass in modern arrangements of folk songs from Eastern Slovakia.

During the seven years of their existence Rusín Čendeš Orchestra have gathered an enthusiastic audience in Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. Their critically-praised 2015 debut album is only slightly paradoxically titled “Best Of”. The album was nominated for the Radio Head Award 2015.

The band is known for their energetic live performances and have performed at numerous events around Slovakia. They performed at Czech Music Crossroads in 2016 and represented Slovakia. Rusín Čendeš Orchestra has a faithful audience that appreciate both sides of their repertoire – the vigorous performances that provoke to dance and touching slow songs with candour and emotion. The band represent the heartbeat of Ruthenian folk music to wider audience in a peerless way.

The music of the ensemble was broadcasted in Spain on the Mundofonías radio program, in Australia on the Global Village radio and elsewhere.

Peter Šipula – violin, lead vocal
Andrej Turčin – violin
Zuzana Stračinová– cimbaom, lead vocal
René Bošeľa – viola, guitar, vocals
Jakub Stračina – double bass
Robo Bošeľa – drums, percussion

Best Of (Môlča Records, 2015)
Cossack Attack (Môlča Records, 2019)

Rankings:
Album Cossack Attack – 5th position in World Music Chart Europe (June 2019)

Quote:
“We have had the luck of attending several concerts by Čendeš as well as enjoying their two albums. Their recorded music is brilliant, fresh and dinamic but they are even better at the stage. We remember, for instance, their showcase at the World Music Festival Bratislava in 2018. They were an earthquake from the beginning, with their enchanting voices: Peter Šipula’s one, profoundly masculine, and Zuzana Holíková’s, who also playes the dulcimer, delicate and sweet; with the hectic violins and their powerful stage presence… A strong Slovak music blast!”
(Mundofonías, Araceli Tzigane & Juan Antonio Vázquez)

ČENDEŠ was broadcasted in radio program of MUNDOFONIAS