Mojmir "Mojzes" Sepe (11 July 1930 – 24 December 2020) 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 def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

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 orchestrat ...

and

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Career

The son of opera singer Franc Schiffrer, Sepe graduated from

Celje First Grammar School The Celje First Grammar School () is a coeducational nondenominational state secondary general education school for students aged between 15 and 19 in Celje, Slovenia. It was the first high school built in the region, established in 1808 by the A ...

( gymnasium) in

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

in 1949. He later studied piano and trumpet at

Ljubljana Academy of Music The Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana () is the largest and only music conservatoire in Slovenia. The academy has its origin in the Music School of the Slovene Philharmonic Society (founded 1821, indirectly descended from the Ljublja ...

. In 1950, he started his professional music career as a promising

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

player at Radio Ljubljana Dance Orchestra. He also established the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

Mojmir Sepe Band (), which published one of the first jazz

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

in socialist Yugoslavia. His trumpet career ended after an altercation at

Opatija Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...

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. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

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

Gregor Strniša Gregor Strniša (18 November 1930 – 23 January 1987) was a Slovenian poet, playwright, and songwriter. He is considered one of the most important Slovene language, Slovene-language poet of the second half of the 20th century. He spent most of h ...

, Branko Šomen,

Miroslav Košuta Miroslav Košuta (born 11 March 1936) is a Slovenes, Slovene poet, playwright and translator from Križ, Sežana, Križ by Trieste, a younger representative of Intimism (Slovene poetry), Intimism and Socialist Realism. On 7 February 2011, he recei ...

, 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 the ...

Hit songs

*1962 — " Zemlja pleše" by

Marjana Deržaj Marjana () is a feminine given name. It could refer to: * Marjana Bremec Homar (born 1946), Slovenian basketball player * Marjana Chowdhury (born 1993), Bangladeshi-American model, actress, and beauty queen * Marjana Gaponenko (born 1981), Ukrain ...

*1964 — "Poletna noč" by

Majda Sepe Majda Sepe (; 2 July 1937 – 11 April 2006) was one of the most successful and well recognized Slovenes, Slovenian singers in the time of Yugoslavia and was one of the most renowned singers of the Golden Age of Slovenian folk music. Biography ...

*1966 — " Brez besed" by

Berta Ambrož Berta Ambrož (29 October 1944 – 1 July 2003) was a Yugoslav Slovene singer. She is best known for representing Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the Eurovision Song Cont ...

*1969 — "Ljubi, ljubi, ljubi" by Eva Sršen *1970 — " Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" by Eva Sršen *1972 — "Med iskrenimi ljudmi" by Majda Sepe *1978 — "Ribič, ribič me je ujel" by Majda Sepe *1978 — Bojan the Bear (cartoon instrumental theme)

Brez besed vs. Eres tú plagiarism

Eres tú "Eres tú" (; "It's You") is a song recorded by Spanish band Mocedades, written by Juan Carlos Calderón. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 held in Luxembourg placing second which was followed by a global success. It is one of the few ...

, the Spanish entry in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, has been accused of being a plagiarism of the Slovenian song " Brez besed" performed by

and representing

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

at the

1966 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. Organised ...

. Brez Besed was written by Sepe himself and lyricist Elza Budau, both Slovenians. However, Sepe and Budau never officially complained or filed a lawsuit against Eres Tú composer

Juan Carlos Calderón Juan Carlos Calderón López de Arróyabe (7 July 1938 – 25 November 2012) was a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Santander, he was the author of "Eres tú", which, performed by Mocedades, came second in the Eurovision Song ...

, 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 and death

Since 1956, Sepe was married to

, a famous Slovenian singer, for whom he also wrote music. Film director was born to them in 1957. Sepe died on 24 December 2020, at the age of 90.

References

External links

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