Stano Baláž Band (Ľudová Hudba Stana Baláža)
Stan Baláž Folk Music was founded in 2008 with the ambition to actively support the current status of the regional and local folk music culture of upper Šariš. In addition to Primate Stan Baláž, its members include Jozef Franek, accordionist Michal Germuška, double bassist Štefan Mačejovský and dulcimer Peter Germuška. Since 2012, the female singing trio "KRASOTKY", consisting of: Slavomíra Knutová, Valéria Stašeková and Monika Balážová, has been a stable part of concert performances since 2012.
The artistic results of ĽH Stan Baláž in the field of interpretation of Šariš folk music have convinced critics and the public of their undeniable qualities and currently belong to the sought-after musicians of eastern Slovakia. In 2008, the band released its profile CD entitled Muzikanci raslavicke, in 2014 the successful profile album V Raslavicech bije banda, in 2018 the album "...farbi ňasanujce", in cooperation with other solo singers and singing groups from Šariš, Spiš, Zemplín and Abov, they recorded another 47 CDs. Another representative musical project of this folk music is the successful CD carrier of original songs by Ján Šoltés with the most famous solo singers of eastern Slovakia, Ked ja nadešol do kraj. Another private studio album of Stan Baláž's folk music is a new CD called "Jak śe mace?" which was released in 2020. It is also worth mentioning the experimental projects in the field of ethno-world music called KARPATON (2013, 2015) and also the fusion of jazz with folklore on the joint album with AMC Trio, AD FONTES (2017), which brought the bands the prestigious ESPRIT 2017 award for the best album of the year in the public voting poll and also inclusion in the all-Slovak CD compilation ,,THE BEST OF WORLD MUSIC FROM SLOVAKIA (2016 – 2018)"
In 2007, the band won 1st place and the title of Laureate of the national music folklore competition in Košice. Other achievements include e.g. winning 1st place in the folk music competition at the international folklore festival in Zakopane, Poland. Their most recent achievements are the two-time LAUREATE title at the 2013 national music folklore competition and show, as well as 1st place in the international dulcimer band competition "Cymbalist Meeting 2013" in Rzeszów, Poland (December 2013). The band also holds the title LAUREATE of the 2015 STRÁŽNICE folklore festival and regularly performs at leading domestic and foreign events. It is also worth mentioning the successful performance in the television folklore show ZEM SPIEVA 2017. Their collaboration with Petr Lipo, Miro Jaroš, Ondrej Kandrač, Štefan Štec and other well-known performers is well-known. The folk music in the expanded lineup also acts as an accompanying body of the folklore group Raslavičan from Raslavice, while its main goal is to continue to maintain and develop the traditional interpretation style of this folklore location in an effort to point out the specifics of its original expression stemming from the musical legacy of previous times.