The Folk Instruments Orchestra of Slovak Radio (OĽUN) was founded in 1976 as a professional ensemble whose mission was to record and perform arrangements of folk songs from various regions of Slovakia. These arrangements, as well as original compositions, were created by some of the most prominent Slovak composers of the time, including Jozef Malovec, Miroslav Bázlik, Ladislav Burlas, Ilja Zeljenka, Svetozár Stračina, and others. Over the decades, the orchestra built up an extensive repertoire, many pieces of which became popular among radio listeners.

After 2000, the orchestra’s professional status changed. It no longer recorded as frequently as before and performed only occasionally. In 2022, violinist and composer Ján Kružliak Jr. (known from projects such as La3No Cubano, Ľudové mladistvá, Solamente Naturali, and Spectrum Quartett) became the artistic director of OĽUN. He introduced the idea of commissioning new works from a younger generation of Slovak musicians and composers.

Two years later, the concert programme OĽUN Reimagined (OĽUN po novom) received its premiere and subsequently became the foundation for the album NEO, released in 2025. The recording features compositions by Stanislav Palúch, Pavol Bodnár, Marcel Comendant, Barbora Mišíková, Michal Paľko, Marek Pastírik, Martin Štefánik, and Ján Kružliak himself (whose father, bearing the same name, was also once a member of OĽUN).

With its innovative approach to reinterpreting folk material, the album attracted well-deserved attention and was shortlisted as a finalist for the 2025 Radio_Head Awards in the World Music category.