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The music of Slovakia has been influenced both by the county's native Slovak peoples and the music of neighbouring regions. Whilst there are traces of pre-historic musical instruments, the country has a rich heritage of folk music and mediaeval liturgical music, and from the 18th century onwards, in particular, musical life was influenced by that of Austria-Hungary. In the 19th century composers such as Jan Levoslav Bella began to write romantic music with a Slovak character. In the twentieth century there were a number of composers who identified with Slovak culture. After the fall of communism in 1989-90 the country also began to develop its own popular music scene in Western style.

Belonging to the same continuum of small string ensemble music that stretches from Romanian Transylvania through Hungary, the Czech Republic and up to the Zakopane region of Southern Poland, the string band music of Slovakia and Moravia is unique and there are many treasures.