Brno, March 27 (CTK) – A park close to the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno was on Tuesday named after Roma folk musician Eugen “Janko” Horvath and it is the first public space in the country that bears the name of a Roma personality, Drom centre spokeswoman Alica Herakova said.
Horvath (1940-2014) was a violinist and his dulcimer music group was one of the most prominent traditional gypsy bands in the Czech and Slovak republics, presenting the folk style of Slovak and partly also Hungarian Roma people. At present, the band is led by his son Milan Horvath.
In the late 1990S and early 2000s, Horvath played music with children in the Drom centre for the Roma.
Drom director Miroslav Zima told CTK that they first wanted to rename the Brno street in which Horvath lived after him, but the request was rejected. The first attempt to name the Hvezdicka park in Hvezdova street after Horvath also failed, but then the local Roma community supported the plan with a petition signed by some 300 people last year and eventually succeeded.
“We want the Roma to feel at home here, to take care of the place, have a connection with it and we also want the city to perceive them as fellow citizens,” Zima said.
Memorial plaque to Horvath was unveiled during the event on Tuesday, too.
