Lojze Slak was a Slovenian musician. Slak was one of the pioneers of Slovene popular folk music, based on diatonic button accordion

Diatonic button accordion

A diatonic button accordion or melodeon is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys...

 and author of several evergreen songs, performed by his Lojze Slak Ansamble.

Early life and career

Slak was born in Jordankal

Jordankal

Jordankal is a settlement to the west of Mirna Peč in Lower Carniola in southeastern Slovenia. The entire Municipality of Mirna Peč is included in the Southeast Slovenia statistical region.-External links:*...

 near Mirna Peč

Mirna Pec

Mirna Peč is a settlement and a municipality in southeastern Slovenia. It lies on the river Temenica in the traditional region of Lower Carniola. The municipality was created in 1999. The municipality is now included in the Southeast Slovenia statistical region...

. He first learned how to play the diatonic button accordion from his uncle Ludvik and mastered several songs before he entered primary school. By the time he was 15, Slak was already playing at wedding parties. He continued playing for more than ten years, gaining proficiency. The turning point in his career came in 1957, when he competed in a radio talent show "Pokaži kaj znaš". Two years later Slak formed a quartet with his three brothers, playing a trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, a clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, a bass

Bass (instrument)

Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...

 and the accordion by Lojze.

Lojze Slak Ansamble

In 1964, Slak met the group Fantje s Praprotna and together they formed the Lojze Slak Ansamble (Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka). The group was active for almost 50 years, creating several evergreen songs, including Čez Gorjance (1965), V dolini tihi je vasica mala (1966), Po dekle (1967) and Mama, prihajam domov (1985). Overall, Slak created more than 500 songs and created a branch of music with several hundreds of followers in Slovenia and abroad.

In 2005, Lojze Slak created an arrangement of a song by a rock group Big Foot Mama

Big Foot Mama

Big Foot Mama is a rock band from Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is one of the most popular Slovenian pop rock bands of the 1990s.The group started their career in 1990...

, creating a combination of popular folk and rock music, gaining praise from the audiences. Both groups performed the song together at several concerts, including at rock festivals.

In addition to writing music, Slak, a virtuoso on diatonic button accordion, developed several improvements for the instrument, adding extra buttons. He was also a promotor of cviček

Cvicek

Cviček is a Slovenian wine from the Lower Carniola region of Slovenia, composed of various grapes: Modra Frankinja , Žametna Črnina and Kraljevina, and occasionally Laški Rizling is also added...

 wine, and had his own vineyard.

Slak died in 2011 in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

 after fighting bone cancer. He was buried in Šentvid.

External links

• Nekaj sladkega, together with Big Foot Mama