The violin doesn’t begin with the musician, but rather its maker.

In an age where most things are manufactured by machines, a craftsman in northern Serbia is still making one of the world’s oldest instruments by hand. 

Jan Nemcek, whose workshop is in the northern Serbian town of Kovacica, prides himself on making violins in the old-fashioned way. 

"There are not many people who make violins around the world. We have tourists from all over the world to see how it is made. It takes 200 hours to craft a violin. But this has its advantages. I would never accept working with machinery," he says. 

TRT World's Christine Pirovolakis tells Nemcek's story.