Mojmir Sepe (11 July 1930 – 24 December 2020), nicknamed ''Mojzes'', was a Slovenian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and trumpeter.

Career

In 1949, he graduated from Celje First Grammar School ( gymnasium) in

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. Later he studied piano and trumpet at

Ljubljana Academy of Music Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana ( sl, Akademija za glasbo Univerze v Ljubljani) is the main junior conservatory in Slovenia. The school has its origin in the Music School of the Slovene Philharmonic Society (founded 1821, indirectl ...

. In 1950, he started his professional music career as a promising trumpet player at Radio Ljubljana Dance Orchestra. In 1956, Sepe married Slovenian singer Majda Sepe. He also established the jazz Mojmir Sepe Band (), which published the first jazz vinyl record in Yugoslavia. His trumpet career ended after an altercation at Opatija Festival '65 when four guys knocked out a couple of his front teeth as he defended her from having her purse stolen. He committed to composing and conducting, mostly influenced by jazz and

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

. He collaborated with several Slovenian poets who wrote lyrics for his arrangements. Among them were

Frane Milčinski Ježek Frane is a masculine Croatian given name and a variant of Franciscus. Notable people with the name include: * Frane Adam (born 1948), Slovenian sociologist, editor and former dissident political activist *Frane Bitunjac (born 1997), Croatian foot ...

, Gregor Strniša,

Branko Šomen Branko (Cyrillic script: Бранко; ) is a South Slavic male given name found in all of the Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia#Legacy, former Yugoslavia. It is related to the names Branimir and Branislav, and the female equivalent is Branka ...

Miroslav Košuta Miroslav Košuta (born 11 March 1936) is a Slovene poet, playwright and translator from Križ by Trieste, a younger representative of Intimism and Socialist Realism. On 7 February 2011, he received the Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award ( sl, ...

, and

Ivan Minatti Ivan Minatti (22 March 1924 – 9 June 2012) was a Slovene poet, translator, and editor. He started writing poetry before World War II, but principally belongs to the first postwar generation of Slovene poets. He is one of th ...

Hit songs

*1962 — " Zemlja pleše" by Marjana Deržaj *1964 — "Poletna noč" by Majda Sepe *1966 — " Brez besed" by Berta Ambrož *1969 — "Ljubi, ljubi, ljubi" by Eva Sršen *1970 — "

Pridi, dala ti bom cvet "Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" ( en, "Come closer, I'll give you a flower") is a song that served as 's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1970. The song marked the third of four occasions in which Yugoslavia's entry was performed in Slovene. It was ...

" by Eva Sršen *1972 — "Med iskrenimi ljudmi" by Majda Sepe *1978 — "Ribič, ribič me je ujel" by Majda Sepe *1978 —

Bojan the Bear ''Bojan the Bear'' ( sl, Medved Bojan) is the title and the protagonist of the Slovenian animation children's television series. It's the best-known and most successful Slovenian cartoon series. Bojan the Bear is a painter who paints his own wor ...

(cartoon instrumental theme)

Brez besed vs. Eres tú plagiarism

Eres tú, the Spanish entry in the

1973 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song " Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the E ...

, has been accused of being a plagiarism of the Slovenian song " Brez besed" performed by Berta Ambrož and representing Yugoslavia at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest. Brez Besed was written by composer Mojmir Sepe and lyricist Elza Budau, both Slovenians. However, Sepe and Budau never officially complained or filed a lawsuit against Eres Tú composer Juan Carlos Calderón, and therefore nothing further happened.

Eurovision

Sepe represented Yugoslavia two times as composer. Sepe conducted both his compositions in the Eurovision Song Contest. Additionally, he was the conductor for the Slovenian entries in 1997 and 1998. He was also the Slovenian jury member in the 1993 Eurovision pre-selection.

Personal life

Sepe was married to Majda Sepe, a famous Slovenian singer, for whom he also wrote music. He died on Christmas Eve 2020, at the age of 90. In 1957, the daughter , who later proclaimed herself as a film director, was born to them.

References

External links

Slovenian Composers Society
dss.si * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sepe, Mojmir 1930 births 2020 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century jazz composers 21st-century male musicians Male classical composers Male conductors (music) Male jazz composers Slovenian classical composers Slovenian male musicians Slovenian conductors (music) Slovenian jazz composers Slovenian music arrangers Eurovision Song Contest conductors People from the Municipality of Črna na Koroškem