In the minds of many foreigners, Slovenian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

means a form of polka that is still popular today, especially among expatriates and their descendants. However, there are many styles of Slovenian folk music beyond polka and

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

. , , , and are a few of the traditional music styles and dances.

Prehistory

The Divje Babe flute, an artifact found in a cave near Cerkno, Slovenia, is possibly the oldest known musical instrument ever. Its age is estimated at approximately 55,000 years. The history of modern Slovenian music can be traced back to the 5th century, when Christianity spread in

Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania ( sl, Karantanija, german: Karantanien, in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern ...

. Liturgical

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

s (''kyrie Eleison'') were introduced, and became the first

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...

to make a connection to the peoples' language.

Classical music

Medieval

During the medieval era, secular music was as popular as church music, including wandering minnesingers. Jurij Slatkonja, a

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region s ...

n conductor and composer from

Novo Mesto Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered ...

, became the director of the

Vienna Boys' Choir The Vienna Boys' Choir (german: Wiener Sängerknaben) is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other count ...

in 1498. By the time of

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

in the 16th century, music was used to proselytize in Carniola. The first Slovenian hymnal, '' Eni Psalmi'', was published in 1567. This period saw the rise of

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the T ...

ians like

Jacobus Gallus Jacobus Gallus (a.k.a. Jacob(us) Handl, Jacob(us) Händl, Jacob(us) Gallus; sl, Jakob Petelin Kranjski; between 15 April and 31 July 155018 July 1591) was a late-Renaissance composer of presumed Slovene ethnicity.Skei/Pokorn, Grove online Born ...

. Italy was an important musical influence of the period, especially in sacred music, such as that of

Antonio Tarsia (composer) :''To be distinguished from Antonio Tarsia (sculptor) (Venice 1662–1739), an Italian sculptor.'' Antonio Tarsia (July 28, 1643 – 1722) was an Italian composer. Tarsia was born in Koper, Slovenia. He was the major composer of the early Baroq ...

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

, in

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

and opera. A ''Commedia'' was performed in Ljubljana in 1660, and an opera in 1700 in the family palace of the Auerspergs.

Enlightenment

In 1701, Johann Berthold von Höffer (1667–1718), a nobleman and amateur composer from Ljubljana, founded the Academia Philharmonicorum Labacensis based on Italian models. and the Ljubljana branch of the Roman

Academy of Arcadia The Accademia degli Arcadi or Accademia dell'Arcadia, "Academy of Arcadia" or "Academy of the Arcadians", was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690. The full Italian official name was Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi. History F ...

was founded a few years later in 1709. Apart from Höffer, the Cathedral provost Michael Omerza was also noted for his oratorios. The first major Slovenian opera was performed in 1732, ''Il Tamerlano'' by ''

abbate Abbate and L'Abbate is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Allison Abbate Allison Therese Abbate (born July 23, 1965) is an American film producer and animator, primarily of animated films. Biography Abbate gained ex ...

'' Giuseppe Clemente de Bonomi, maestro di Capella, in the palace of the Carniolan vice-regent, the duke Francesco Antonio Sigifrid Della Torre e Valassina. Beginning in 1768, German theatre companies arrived and became very popular. The 1794 formation of the Philharmonische Gesellschaft was important because it was one of the first such orchestras in Central Europe.

19th century

The 19th century saw the growth of a distinctively Slovenian classical music sound based on

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, while the German minority continued to push for a stronger Germanic identity. The

Ljubljana opera house The Ljubljana Opera House ( sl, Opera, or ) is an opera house in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The seat of the national opera and ballet company, the Ljubljana Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet, it serves as the national opera buildin ...

(1892) was shared by Slovene and German opera companies. Composers of Slovenian

Lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

and

art song An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such son ...

s include

Emil Adamič Emil Adamič (December 25, 1877 – December 6, 1936) was among the most productive Slovenian composers. He wrote choral and orchestral music, altogether over 1,000 works. Adamič was born in Dobrova to August Adamič (1843–1915) and Katharina ...

(1877–1936),

Fran Gerbič Fran Gerbič Fran Gerbič (5 October 1840, Cerknica – 29 March 1917, Ljubljana) was a Slovenian composer and operatic tenor. Gerbič was born in Cerknica and entered a normal school in 1856, where his instructors included Kamilo Mašek. He was ...

(1840–1917), Alojz Geržinič (1915–2008),

Benjamin Ipavec Benjamin Ipavec (24 December 1829 – 20 December 1908) was one of the foremost Slovene Romantic composers. A native of Šentjur, he lived in that town for much of his life. He was a physician in his professional life; as a composer he wrote ma ...

(1829–1908), Davorin Jenko (1835–1914), Anton Lajovic (1878–1960), Kamilo Mašek (1831–1859), Josip Pavčič (1870–1949), Zorko Prelovec (1887–1939), and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc (1900–1973).

20th century

In the early 20th century,

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

was spreading across Slovenia, which soon produced composers

Marij Kogoj Marij Kogoj Marij Julij Kogoj ( Trieste, 20 September 1892 – Ljubljana, 25 February 1956) was a Slovenian composer. He was a pupil of Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-America ...

and

Slavko Osterc Slavko Osterc (17 June 1895 – 23 May 1941), was a Slovenian composer. Osterc was born in Veržej. He studied under Emerik Beran, who was a pupil of Leoš Janáček, in his youth before attending the Prague Conservatory from 1925 to 1927 ...

. Avant-garde

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

arose in Slovenia in the 1960s, largely due to the work of Uroš Krek, Dane Škerl, Primož Ramovš and Ivo Petrić, who also conducted the Slavko Osterc Ensemble. Jakob Jež, Darijan Božič, Lojze Lebič and

Vinko Globokar Vinko Globokar (born 7 July 1934) is a French-Slovenian avant-garde composer and trombonist. Globokar's music uses unconventional and extended techniques, places great emphasis on spontaneity and creativity, and often relies on improvisation. Hi ...

have since composed enduring works, especially Globokar's '' L'Armonia'', an opera. In the 1950s,

Božidar Kantušer Božidar Kantušer (Bozidar Kantuser) (December 5, 1921, Pavlovski Vrh, Slovenia – May 9, 1999, Paris) was a Slovene composer of classical music. He was a Slovenian citizen and an American citizen. Kantušer is the author of symphonic music, ...

was the most progressive of all, by dint of his atonality.

Contemporary

Contemporary classic music composers include Uroš Rojko, Tomaž Svete, Brina Jež-Brezavšček and Aldo Kumar. Kumar's ''Sonata z igro 12'' (''A sonata with a play 12''), a set of variations on a rising

chromatic scale The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce th ...

, is particularly notable.

Opera

The

Ljubljana Opera House The Ljubljana Opera House ( sl, Opera, or ) is an opera house in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The seat of the national opera and ballet company, the Ljubljana Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet, it serves as the national opera buildin ...

serves as the national opera and ballet house. Mezzo-soprano Marjana Lipovšek was born in Ljubljana.

Film music

The composer of

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s for 170 films was

Bojan Adamič Bojan Adamič a.k.a. Master ( sl, Mojster; 9 August 1912 – 3 November 1995), Slovene Partisans nom de guerre Gregor, was a well-known Slovene composer of jazz, the Slovenian song festival music, and particularly film scores. He was also an avid ...

(1912–1995).

Folk music

Vocal

Rural

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

singing is a deep rooted tradition in Slovenia, and is at least three-part singing (four voices), while in some regions even up to eight-part singing (nine voices). Slovenian folk songs, thus, usually resounds soft and harmonious, and are very seldom in minor.

Instrumental

Typical Slovenian folk music is performed on Styrian harmonica (the oldest type of accordion), fiddle, clarinet, zithers, flute, and by brass bands of alpine type. In eastern Slovenia, fiddle and cimbalon bands are called velike goslarije. Traditional Slovenian music include various kinds of musical instruments such as: * Steirische Harmonika * Kontra *

Hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion- stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more tr ...

* Cimbalon grande * Drone zither * Violin zither *

Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

* Tamburica *

Fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

* Carnian fiddle *

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

* Brunkula cello * Gaida * Brass instruments, such as baritone horn *

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

* Jaw harp * Clay pot bass * Okarina * Akelêmb *

Klopotec A klopotec (pronounced ) is a wooden mechanical device on a high wooden pole, similar to a windmill. It is used as a bird scarer in the vineyards of traditional wine-growing landscapes of Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. It is one of the symbols o ...

* Panpipes * Wooden cross flutes of various sizes *

Psaltery A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, tho ...

Folk music revivalists include Volk Volk, Kurja Koža, Marko Banda, Katice, Bogdana Herman, Ljoba Jenče, Vruja, Trinajsto praše, Šavrinske pupe en ragacone, Musicante Istriani, and Tolovaj Mataj. One of the best Slovenian diatonic accordionists is

Nejc Pačnik Nejc Pačnik (born October 28, 1990) is a Slovenian diatonic button accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody ...

who won the accordion world-championship twice, in 2009 and 2015.

Slovenian pop-folk music

From 1952 on, the

Slavko Avsenik Slavko Avsenik (November 26, 1929 – July 2, 2015) was a Slovene composer and musician. Beginning in 1953 with the formation of the Avsenik Brothers Ensemble, Avsenik produced more than 1,000 songs and garnered success both in Slovenia and i ...

's band began to appear in broadcasts, movies, and concerts all over the

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

, inventing the original " Oberkrainer" sound that has become the primary vehicle of ethnic musical expression not only in Slovenia, but also in Germany,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

, spawning hundreds of

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

orchestras in the process. The band produced nearly 1000 original compositions, an integral part of the

Slovenian-style polka Slovenian-style polka (also known as Cleveland Style polka) is an American style of polka in the Slovenian tradition. It is usually associated with Cleveland and other Midwestern cities. Instruments The Slovenian style polka band always includes ...

legacy. Avsenik's most popular ''instrumental'' composition is the polka that is titled "Na Golici" (in Slovene), or "Trompetenecho" (in German), and "Trumpet Echoes" (in English). Oberkrainer music, which the Avsenik Ensemble popularized, is always a strong candidate for

pop-folk Turbo-folk (sometimes referred as pop-folk or popular folk) is subgenre of contemporary pop music with its origins in Serbia, that initially developed during the 1980s and 1990s, with similar music styles in Bulgaria ( chalga), Romania ( mane ...

music awards in Slovenia and Austria. Slavko and his brother, Vilko, are usually credited as the pioneers of Slovenian folk music, having solidified its style in the 1950s. Many musicians followed Avsenik's steps, one of the most famous being

Lojze Slak Lojze Slak (23 July 1932 – 29 September 2011) was a Slovenian musician. Slak was one of the pioneers of Slovene popular folk music, based on diatonic button accordion and author of several evergreen songs, performed by his Lojzeta Slaka Ansambl ...

Slovenian song festival

A similarly high standing in Slovene culture, like the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...

has had in Italian culture, was attributed to the coastal Melodies of Sea and Sun (In Slovene: ) and Slovenian song festival (In Slovene: ), dedicated to a specific genre of popular Slovene music.

Popular music

Contemporary music

Among pop, rock, industrial, and indie musicians the most popular in Slovenia include

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in the mining town of Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, Laibach represents the musical wing of the Neue ...

, an early 1980s

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initial ...

group, and most recently the Slovenian pop

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

band

Perpetuum Jazzile Perpetuum Jazzile is a Slovenian musical group best known for an a cappella version of Toto rock band's song Africa. The May 2009 video showing a live performance of this version has received close to 22 million views on YouTube. The group was ...

Pop, rock, metal, and indie music

With more than 15 million views for the official

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

" performance video since its publishing on YouTube in May 2009 until September 2013,Perpetuum Jazzile: Africa
YouTube. Accessed on 9 September 2013. that earned them kudos from the song's co-writer,

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ba ...

is the group from Slovenia that is internationally most listened online. Other popular bands, most largely unknown outside the country, include Tabu, ManuElla, Društvo Mrtvih Pesnikov (

pop-rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...

), Siddharta, Rok 'n' Band, Pop Design, Fredi Miler, Terrafolk, Leaf Fat ( screamo), Amaya, Šank Rock, Big Foot Mama,

Yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

Dan D Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

, Zablujena generacija, Katalena, Devil Doll (

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

Negligence (band) Negligence is a Slovenian thrash metal band, formed in 2000. The group was last signed to Metal Blade Records and has so far released two albums and an EP. History Negligence was founded by Jan Svigelj and Domen Justin in 2000. Initially formed ...

, Chateau, Čuki, Zaklonišče Prepeva, Psycho-Path, Dekadent (

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

), and

Buldožer Buldožer (meaning "bulldozer"), was a Yugoslav-Slovenian progressive rock band from the 1970s and 1980s. They were one of the first bands in communist Yugoslavia that could be considered Avant-prog, and forefathers of the Yugoslav new wave. I ...

(

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

). The

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with me ...

band Within Destruction have released two-full-length albums and have partaken in several European tours; the band is based in

Jesenice Jesenice (, german: Aßling''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is a Slovenian town and the seat of the Municipality of Jesenice on the ...

Singer-songwriters

Slovenian post-WWII singer-songwriters include

Frane Milčinski Frane Milčinski (pen name Ježek; 14 December 1914 – 27 February 1988) was a Slovene poet, satirist, humorist and comedian, actor, children's writer, and director. He is considered one of Slovenia's foremost 20th-century satirists and entert ...

(1914–1988), Tomaž Pengov whose 1973 album ''Odpotovanja'' is considered to be the first singer-songwriter album in

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

Tomaž Domicelj Tomaž is the Slovene form of the male given name Thomas. People Bearers of these names include: * Tomaž Barada, Slovenian martial artist *Tomaž Čižman (born 1965), Slovenian alpine skier *Tomaž Humar (born 1969), Slovenian mountaineer *Anton ...

, Marko Brecelj, Andrej Šifrer,

Eva Sršen Eva Sršen (born 1951 in Ljubljana) is a Slovenian singer, who had a short career in Yugoslav pop music in the first half of the 1970s. She first became well known by winning the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1970. That ye ...

, Neca Falk, and Jani Kovačič. After 1990, Adi Smolar, Iztok Mlakar, Vita Mavrič, Vlado Kreslin,

Zoran Predin Zoran Predin (born 16 June 1958) is a Slovenian singer-songwriter from Maribor. In the 1980s, he was the front man of the new wave rock band '' Lačni Franz''. He also writes music for film, television, and theatre. In the late 1990s and early 2 ...

, Peter Lovšin, and Magnifico have been popular in Slovenia, as well.

World music

The 1970s

Bratko Bibič Bratko Bibič (born 1957) is a Slovenian accordionist. Bibič first came to prominence as a rock musician, playing in the ensembles Begnagrad and Nimal in the 1980s; both groups blended Slavic folk music with art rock. Bratko Bibičat Allmusic.c ...

's band Begnagrad is considered one of the direct influences on modern world music. Bibič's unique

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

style, often solo, with no accompaniment, has also made him a solo star.

Punk rock

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

was the center for punk rock in the Titoist Yugoslavia. The most famous representatives of this genre were Pankrti,

Niet Niet is a punk rock and hardcore punk band from Ljubljana, Slovenia. They were one of the most iconic and influential music groups of the Slovenian Punk subculture, punk movement and the punk rock in Yugoslavia in general. The band was active fr ...

, Lublanski Psi, Kuzle, Čao Pičke, Via Ofenziva, Tožibabe, and Otroci Socializma.

Techno and tech-house

Slovenia has also produced two renowned DJs:

DJ Umek Uroš Umek (; born May 16, 1976), better known as DJ Umek or simply Umek, is a Slovenian dance music producer and DJ. Musically active since 1993, he is the owner of several techno record labels. In 1999 he founded Consumer Recreation and Recycle ...

and Valentino Kanzyani. Specialising in a frantic brand of party techno and tech-house, the pair co-founded the label Recycled Loops as well as having many releases on labels such as Novamute, Primate, Intec and Bassethound Records.

Neue Slowenische Kunst

Neue Slowenische Kunst (a German phrase meaning "New Slovenian Art"), aka NSK, is a controversial political

art collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs ...

that announced itself in

in 1984, when Slovenia was part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, History ...

have had with

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

. The name of NSK's music wing, Laibach, is also the German name of the Slovene capital

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, creating

controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

through evoking memories of the Nazi occupation of Slovenia during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

=Composition

= NSK's best-known member is the musical group

. Other NSK member groups include

IRWIN Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County ...

(visual art), Noordung (theater; originally named Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre, also known as Red Pilot), New Collective Studio (graphics; also known as New Collectivism), Retrovision (film and video), and the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy (theory).Anonymous. "State of Art: the new Slovene Avant Garde" (2004).

Northwest Film Forum The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

and Scala House, program for exhibit 18 – 24 November 2004 at Northwest Film Forum,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

.Regina Hackett.
Slovenian art collective is adept at working politics and art
. ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was fo ...

'', 19 November 2004. The founding groups of the NSK were Laibach, IRWIN, and Scipion Našice Sisters Theater.

=Characteristics

= NSK art often draws on symbols drawn from

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

or extreme

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

movements, often reappropriating totalitarian

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

in a visual style reminiscent of

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

. NSK artists often

juxtapose Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. Speech Juxtaposition in literary terms is the showin ...

symbols from different (and often incompatible) political ideologies. For example, a 1987 NSK-designed

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text ...

caused a scandal by winning a competition for the Yugoslavian

Youth Day National Youth Day is a holiday dedicated to the youths of a country. It is observed by 18 countries, on many dates throughout the year. The United Nations agreed on the date of 12 August in 1999 in South Africa. National Youth Day Internationa ...

Celebration. The poster appropriated a painting by

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

artist Richard Klein, replacing the

flag of Nazi Germany The flag of Nazi Germany, officially the flag of the German Reich, featured a red background with a black swastika on a white disc. This flag came into use initially as the banner of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) after its foundation. Following the ...

with the Yugoslav flag and the German eagle with a

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. Both IRWIN and Laibach are emphatic about their work being collective rather than individual. Laibach's original songs and arrangements are always credited to the group collectively; the individual artists are not named on their

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

s; at one point, there were even two separate Laibach groups touring at the same time, both with members of the original group. Similarly, the IRWIN artists never sign their work individually; instead, they are "signed" with a

stamp Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents ...

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pr ...

indicating approval as a work from the IRWIN collective. The NSK were the subject of a 1996 documentary film written and directed by Michael Benson, entitled ''Prerokbe Ognja'' in

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

, or '' Predictions of Fire'' in English. Among those interviewed in the film is Slovenian intellectual

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New ...

=NSK State

= Since 1991, NSK has claimed to constitute a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, a claim similar to that of

micronation A micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Micronations are classified ...

s. They issue passports, have presented shows of their work in the guise of an embassy or even as a territory of their supposed state, and maintain

consulates A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth count ...

in several cities including Umag, Croatia. NSK have also issued postage stamps. Laibach, in 2006, recorded (some may say 'remixed') the NSK State National Anthem on the LP "Volk." The "anthem" adopts its melody from another Laibach song, "The Great Seal." Laibach's version of the NSK anthem includes a computer voice reciting an excerpt from

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

's famous "'' We shall fight them on the beaches/We shall never surrender''" speech. The computer voice is clearly recognisable as the voice synthesiser

Macintalk PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in th ...

, built into

classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. ...

, and uses the preset voice Ralph. The NSK passports are an art project and as such are not valid for travel. However, many desperate people have fallen for a scam in which they are issued a NSK passport. Most of these scams originate in Nigeria and Egypt.

=Laibach

= Laibach is a Slovenian

avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original eleme ...

group strongly associated with Nazism,

martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed 1 June 1980 in

Trbovlje Trbovlje (; german: Trifail''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 58.) is Slovenia's tenth-largest town, and the seat of the Municipality ...

(then

). Laibach represents the music wing of the '' Neue Slowenische Kunst'' (NSK) art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984. The name "Laibach" is the German name for Slovenia's capital city,

References

* Burton, Kim. "The Sound of Austro-Slavs". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp 277–278.

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on custome ...

Ltd, Penguin Books. * Klemenčič, Ivan, ''Slovenski godalni kvartet''. Ljubljana, Musicological Annual XXIV, 1988.

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Of Slovenia