Janika Balázs

Janika Balaž
Janika Balaž's Zvuci tamburice
Native name	Serbian Cyrillic: Јаника Балаж
Born	(1925-12-23)December 23, 1925 Lukino Selo
Died	November 12, 1988(1988-11-12) (aged 62) Novi Sad
Monuments	Statue in Novi Sad
Nationality	Serbian
Occupation	Musician
Known for	Tamburitza player and band leader

Janika Balaž (Serbian Cyrillic: Јаника Балаж; December 23, 1925 in Lukino Selo in Zrenjanin municipality – November 12, 1988 in Novi Sad) was a famous tamburitza musician and band leader from Vojvodina, Serbia.

He was born 1925 to a Hungarian-speaking Romani family with strong musical tradition. His father's surname was Rac (Rác, or Rácz), which was a Hungarian term for Serbs that was considered derogatory, so he took the mother's surname Balaž (Balázs). He grew up in Bečej, where he started playing violin in a local kafana with 10 years of age. When he realized that he couldn't become the best violinist, he switched to ("prim" or "bisernica") tamburitza which he played ever since. Later, he played with "Braća kozaci" band in the area of Subotica and Horgoš. From 1948 to 1951, he worked in Radio Titograd in Montenegro, where he perfected his tamburitza play.

From its foundation in 1951 to the end of his working career he worked in Radio Novi Sad and was a member of its Grand Tamburitza Orchestra. He was spending nights playing with his 8-men band in kafanas of Novi Sad, especially on Petrovaradin Fortress, of which he became one of icons. During his career, he held concerts across the world, including 36 performances in Paris Olympia. Allegedly, he had several offers from United States and Soviet Union to move there and work as a tamburitza teacher, but he never wanted to leave Novi Sad, where he died in 1988.