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A
brief introduction to Slovene music
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(pron.
owsenik) Arguably the most influential band in modern
Slovene music. Since the 1950s, brothers Slavko
and Vilko developed the local alpine folk idiom
into a big band format, playing to large audiences
around the world. Especially Bavaria. OK, so for
me it's kitsch (with a small k), but millions of
sales from more than 120 albums means they must
be doing something right. It's de
riguer to listen to
Avsenik while slurping lashings of beef soup for
Sunday lunch. |
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We
love this man: totally irreverent, self-deprecating,
Slovenia's answer to "Who gives a toss?".
Thing is, while poking fun at all and sundry, he
also makes fabulous music, some of which is obviously
heart-felt. Just for the hell of it, he put together
the Slovene entry for A
Song for Europe recently,
forming a singing group called Sestre (sisters):
three transvestites gloriously dressed in red air
hostess uniforms. His latest album, Export
Import, is a blast
and deserves airplay here in the UK. Should be one
of Slovenia's best exports. |
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Musician, singer and poet,
Zoran Predin has written songs, film scores, TV
themes, theatre pieces and three books of poetry.
In the 80s he fronted his band Hungry Franz, famed
throughout Yugoslavia for their cynical view of
the political system. In the nineties, he became
a chanson singer, developing his songs around a
sort of gypsy swing jazz. We saw him at the BAC
and Vortex in London: everybody else thought he
was wonderful, too. Recently, Zoran - to his great
credit - dared to criticise the modern Slovene phenomenon
of Turbo Folk
(see the next two entries). |
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This dippy little twerp is an insult to all human beings everywhere. The next time I am in Slovenia, I will be carrying a very big stick and I will hunt him down and beat him beat him beat him until he promises to stop singing. And then I will beat him some more.
Astonishingly, he did a duet... and managed to find someone with even less talent: Nežka Voler be warned - I may be carrying two sticks. |
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Excerable, dire, yucky, primitive
rubbish (I said this was going to be biased). Whatever
you despise about some of the offerings on your
radio at home, after listening to this lot, you'll
want to fill your ears with cement. Please, don't.
Pour the cement over this lot instead and save the
rest of us. |
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Aaaaaarrrrgghhh.
Nuff said.
Or you could read this from The
Slovenian Times |
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Following an interview in Delo - the national daily - we were contacted by a nice man who wanted to point out that Valentino is one of the world's most talented DJs. Although we have no experience of Mr Kanzyani's work, we are confident that the nice man speaks the Truth. |
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All-girl
vocal band, specialising in beautifully sung arrangements
of traditional Slovene folk music. Sadly (for me
anyway), most Slovenes seem to prefer the oompah
stuff from oop north: they're wrong, I'm right and
Katice deserve a wider audience. |
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Pomp
metal band, who make up for their lack of song-writing
skills with lights, action, guitar solos and orchestral
backing. Regularly play to audiences in excess.
In excess of 10,000, I meant to say. OK if you like
that sort of thing. (I've got the strangest feeling
the chorus is, er, borrowed from elsewhere. If you
know where from, drop me a line). |
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It's
almost a cliche to say that Laibach are controversial.
Since their inception in 1980, they have rocked
against the machine. Trouble is, the machine banned
them most of the time, so their first album was
released without their name on the cover. However,
they have toured most of the rest of the world (including
the UK), where their sense of irony was well received. |
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Definitely not
to be confused with Turbo
Folk, Terrafolk have
been playing their unique brand of music since 1999.
They played in England in 2001 and won the BBC 3
World Music Audience award in 2003. Although still
developing their recorded sound, Terrafolk's concert
appearances are becoming the stuff of legend. If
you don't get to see them in Slovenia, make sure
you do here. |
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Given
my penchant for all things Romany, it would be sad
indeed if Slovenia didn't have a stonking gypsy
band. So, dry your eyes, because Šukar are exactly
that. A tamburitza orchestra of the first order,
these guys have played in Japan, France and Norway
amongst others... and for you cognoscenti out there,
have recently played with the legendary Šaban Bajramović. |
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