Hrdza (lit. ''Rust'' in Slovak) is a Slovak

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band from

Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...

, formed in 1999. The band mostly performs in their native Slovakia, but they have played in numerous other nations including

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

History

Hrdza was formed in 1999, in Prešov, by singer-guitarist Slavomír Gibarti and fellow singer Jaroslava Sisáková. They were later joined by Tóno Potočňák, drummer Lukáš Maťufka and bassist Róbert "Skippy" Hatala. In 2002, they released their debut

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

album, ''Muzička''. In the autumn of that year, founding member Sisáková left the band and was replaced by vocalist Veronika Rabadová, arguably leading to the band's their most recognizable era. During that period, Hrdza won more than 20 awards at home, as well as in the

. ''Pod Božími Oknami'' (Under God's Windows) was the title of their second album, released in 2006. In the summer of that same year, their single "Na horách býva" (He lives in the mountains) was on the Top 50 music chart in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

for 17 weeks, ironically reaching a peak position of #17. ''Hajnajnanyja'', their third album, was released in November 2009. Veronika Rabadová left in 2015, and Susanna Jara assumed the role of lead singer. Their fourth and most acclaimed album, ''Neskrotený'' (Untamed), was released in December 2018. It entered the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) at #4 in April 2019. This is the highest international chart position ever attained by a Slovak band. The song and video “Stefan” topped th
World Music Charts
b
Ethnocloud
in March 2019. On 15 July 2021, the group released its fifth album, ''22''.

Eurovision 2010

In 2010, Hrdza participated in the Slovak National Round of Eurosong in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2010 The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song), Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. Organise ...

with the song "Taká sa mi páči" (‘I like her like that’); the group won 19.5% of the vote, but was disqualified from the contest when it was realised that Hrdza had presented the song before 1 October 2009, which was in violation of the rules.

Members

Current Members * Slavomír Gibarti - Vocals and

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Susanna Jara - Vocals and

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* Dominik Maniak - Vocals and Violin * Matej Palidrab - Vocals and

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

* Pavol Boleš - Vocals, Accordion and

Bass Guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Marek Szarvaš -

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Alternating Members * Lucia Gibarti - Vocals * Julka Smolková - Vocals * Ľubo Šamo - Vocals and Violin * Mykhaylo Zakhariya -

Cimbalom The cimbalom, cimbal (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by József Schunda, V. ...

Past Members * Veronika Šoltysová-Rabadová - Vocals (2002 - 2015) * Jaroslava Sisáková - Vocals (1999 - 2002) * Anton Potočňák - Vocals and Violin * Michal Brandys - Vocals and Violin (2006 - unclear) * Michal Lörinc - Drums and Various

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Lukáš Maťufka - Drums and Various Percussion (2000 - unclear) * Róbert "Skippy" Hatala - Vocals and Bass Guitar (2002 - 2004) * Miroslav Szirmai - Drums and Various Percussion (ca. 2009 - unclear) * Marián Šurányi - Vocals and Accordions (2012 - unclear)

Discography

References

{{Authority control Slovak rock music groups 1999 establishments in Slovakia