Slovenian folk music

Part of European song book

Students of Primary School Videm April 2011

Introduction This booklet is a result of musical activities taking place at our school in the final stages of the Comenius project called European Babel Tower What about the Tolerance. Music plays an important part in students lives and it can be a great way of learning about different cultures and discovering your own cultural identity as well. The collaboration with our Music teacher concluded with this short booklet/songbook with Slovenian folk songs. It includes some general information about Slovenian folk music, the lyrics and music sheets of the chosen songs. Our school choir learned all the songs and recorded some of them on a CD. At Comenius final meeting we exchanged the CDs, so we could listen to the songs of all the partner schools and enjoy their native languages through music.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Everyone feels the closest bond to the music which he or she used to listen to in his or her early childhood. Zoltan Kodaly

Folk music is an integral part of culture and way of life of every nation. Slovenian folk tradition, which includes song, dance and folk musicians, belongs to a wider Central European culture and Slavic heritage emerging in original homeland of Asia. Rarely, one can reliably prove the time and place of origin of folk tradition, because it is constantly changing and adapting to the taste of time. The new displaces the old or it blends into a mixture of old and new over time. Therefore it seems that folk music is timeless. Folk music, and particularly folk song, was a part of country life, integral to joyous and sad events of humble people, farmers and craftsmen and as such it is preserved as part of customs and traditions. Throughout the year and on special occasions all kinds of childrens songs, love and courting songs, Mardi gras songs, Easter carols, bonfire songs and hay-making songs, harvest and vintage songs, pilgrimage, martial and funeral songs, Christmas carols, New Year songs, toasting and drinking songs were created and repeated. The Institute of Ethnomusicology has inherited and collected almost 55,000 units of folk songs, either as written documents or as sound recordings. Slovenian folk song is explicitly multivoiced, characterized by harmonious singing. It often features three voices with one voice singing ahead, the second voice overlapping it and a third vice supporting the first two voices in the bass. The legacy of its collective spirit has been preserved by folk singers. Folk song lived and survived amongst the people, often in different versions, and also, because the Slovenian ethnic region is not big, the songs easily carried from one end to the other; thus being preserved in regional variations. Our folk song is a part of our land and our life, a part of Slovenian cultural heritage, a part of our cultural past and future. If we value it, this is not just some romantic enthusiasm; it is love, born out of respect for the cultural

value, an important part of the foundation upon which we build our world of today and tomorrow. This selection of songs contains songs from different Slovenian regions, taking into consideration their original form as much as possible:

Carinthia: Lower Styria:

Kje so tiste stezice (Where are those little paths?) Oj, lepo je res na deeli (Its really wonderful in the country) Iz zemlje gre trsek (A vine grows from the soil)

Prekmurje:

Stara mati dober den (Old mother, good day)

White Carniola: Pobelelo pole (Whitened field) Sijaj, sijaj sonece (Sun, keep on shining) Petelinek je na goro el (Little rooster went to the mountain)

Kje so tiste stezice Where are those little paths

A speaker recalls certain paths from his childhood. Now there are grass and bushes growing over them. He wants to cut them all down and make the same paths that there used to be.

Oj lepo je res na deeli Its really wonderful in the country

This song is about how lovely life is in the countryside. There is a small farmhouse surrounded by green meadows. Each farmer is happy provided he leads an honest life and he whistles and sings during the day and he sleeps peacefully at night.

Iz zemlje gre trsek - A vine grows from the soil

A speaker sings about the whole process from the time when a vine starts growing from the soil to riping grapes, wine production and consumption and intoxication.

Pobelelo pole - Whitened field

Pobelelo pole z ovcama. Ne imale ovce obana. Ve maleno dete Jakove. obane je leglo, zaspalo. Vile su mu srce vadile. Ali pozna, sinko, koje so?

Ti si, majku, srce vadila. Sestrica je tanjor drala, Ljubica je milo plakala. Tebi u ja, majko, odprostit. Sestri u ja srce izvadit. A lubo u verno poljubit.

This folk song basically tells of a shepherd whose heart has been torn out by fairies.

Sijaj, sijaj sonece - Sun, keep on shining

This song is an address to the sun to keep on shining. The sun answers back that it cannot shine for it is sad. Then it gives and explanation why. In the morning when the sun rises early, girls cry. They would still like to sleep but they have to get up for work. In the evening when the sun sets late

shepherds cry. They want to run the cattle home but they still have not gathered them.

Petelinek je na goro el - Little rooster went to the mountain

This is a humorous folk song about a little rooster who went to the mountain to see his sweetheart for she has fallen ill. A doctor/vet paid her a visit and she recovered.

Sources: Klemeni, I. 2008. Slovenske ljudske pesmi . Slovenian folk songs. Maribor: Zaloba Obzorja. Kunaver, D. , and Lipovek, B. 2006. Slovenian customs and sondgs from January to December. Ljubljana: samozal. D. Kunaver.