Lojze Slak (23 July 1932 – 29 September 2011) was a Slovenian musician. Slak was one of the pioneers of Slovene popular folk music, based on

diatonic button accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody-side keyboard contains one or more rows of buttons, with each row producing the ...

and author of several evergreen songs, performed by his Lojzeta Slaka Ansamble.

Early life and career

Slak was born in Jordankal near Mirna Peč. 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 The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, a clarinet, a bass and the accordion by Lojze.

Lojze Slak Ensemble

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 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. After their third album, ''Tretja dimenzija'' (The Third Dimension), they were a ...

, 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 promoter of

cviček Cviček is a Slovenian wine from the Lower Carniola region of Slovenia. It is a unique wine, composed of different grape varieties including both white and red grape species. It has a relatively low alcoholic content of 8.5% to 10%. Despite its ...

wine, and had his own vineyard. Slak died in 2011 in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

after fighting

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...

. He was buried in Šentvid.

References

External links

* Official web page {{DEFAULTSORT:Slak, Lojze 1932 births 2011 deaths Slovenian musicians Deaths from bone cancer Slovenian accordionists Deaths from cancer in Slovenia Slovenian composers Male composers People from the Municipality of Mirna Peč Slovenian male musicians