Wednesday
14. August
at 21.00
Metliški grad (Metlika Castle) - Metlika

MOST KAKOR KAMEN KOST – LJOBA JENČE WITH GUESTS (Slovenia, Serbia)

Spinning the thread of folk heritage: Ljoba Jenče – 30 years

Ljoba Jenče, vocals, gong, clay pot bass, singing pebbles
Svetlana Spajić, vocals
Jasna Hribernik, video production

Adlešički tamburaši KUD Božo Račić Adlešiči
Folklore group KUD Božo Račić Adlešiči
Children’s folklore group Dragatuš (led by Zdenka Pezdirc)


Ljoba Jenče has been tirelessly devoted to the revitalisation of Slovene intangible heritage for the last three decades; she calls her work “spinning the thread of local heritage”. One of the leading analysts and artistic mediators of the folk oral tradition now invites us to the evening of Slovene and Uskok folk ballads, ritual and love songs and dances. On the eve of the Great Smarn Festival, they will not only perform songs and dances, but also bring to life stories, games and tunes that have been transmitted in Bela Krajina and elsewhere through many generations.

The first sound recordings of folk singing in Slovenia in fact originated in Bela Krajina: they were created in 1914 in Preloki by Dr. Juro Adlešič (historically also known as the Mayor of Ljubljana from 1935 to 1942), after returning to his hometown from Vienna, where he studied law. The evening in Metlika will be enriched with the documentary video material by director Jasna Hribernik, which was created for The Institute of Ethnomusicology at ZRC SAZU, including the recording of Tri Jetrve about Adlešič’s work with the phonograph. According to Ljoba, the modern European and global community should follow the example of the coexistence of the cultures, religions and nationalities in Bela Krajina, to where the Uskoks from various parts of the Balkans and Dalmatia fled five hundred years ago. Today lives the last generation that still carries the memory of the active joint cultivation of the traditions. What is particularly valuable is the fact that the folk music of the Uskoks has been moving from one community to another. In places where people lived together for centuries (the Kolpa river connected rather than separated them), this tradition has been preserved as special and universal at the same time. Alongside with Slovene music, it has been internalized by folklore societies, pupils in schools and the broader musical public.

Ljoba Jenče, “a completely exceptional phenomenon in Slovene culture, studies the borderline and unexpected nodes in the oral tradition, and interprets them with a glittering singing technique and the freedom of playing with motifs” (as described by Svetlana Slapšak). Since 1988 she has been collecting and recreating folk songs and fairy tales, teaching, publishing various materials and CDs, participating in television and film productions. She has already toured in sixty countries. She has released several albums (Ljudska pesem poje v meni, Srčna moč, Lepote modrosti with Tibetan monks and Slovenia. Echoes of Eternity). This year she and the pianist Jure Goručan announced the album O lepa moja Vida. She presented her documentary recordings of folk singing and folk music of Slovene regions Inner Carniola (Notranjska) and Costal-Karst (Primorska) at public events, in radio broadcasts and on compact discs. Most of all she enjoys performing for children and adults at home, in neighbouring countries and in the Slovene diaspora around the world.

Svetlana Spajić is a Serbian singer of traditional music, pedagogue and cultural activist, also known for her cooperation with world famous artists, such as Marina Abramović and Robert Wilson. She has been devoted to caring for the Serbian tradition with art and fieldwork since 1993. She has performed in various ensembles, such as Poganke, Moba, Drina, Žegar živi and in many others. She collaborated with famous musicians and composers in the field of traditional and contemporary music. She also performed at prestigious events (Womex, Womad) and famous venues (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Vienna and The Museum of Modern Art in New York).


Admission: 5 €. * In case of bad weather, the concert will be held at Kulturni dom Metlika.


 

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