Slovenska popevka Festival

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Slovenska popevka

Organised byRadio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia)

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Slovenska popevka Festival was launched in 1962 as a platform for the development and dissemination of newly composed Slovenian pop music. Genre-wise, it was similar to the than also in Slovenia very popular Festival della Canzone Italiana in San Remo, which it resembled in name that is roughly translatable as Slovenian song festival. Already from the start, the festival was producing immensely popular hits, with most of the winning songs (and many others as well) today regarded as evergreens. The first two editions were held in Bled, but due to logistical reasons the festival has then more or less permanently moved to Ljubljana.

Later its popularity declined and in 1983 the festival has been disbanded. Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia) reanimated it in 1998 and with a slightly less resounding success, the festival lasted until 2014.

Marjana Deržaj-Poletna noč (Video) by SloLord on YouTube

Background

The festival was launched as a way to develop Slovenian popular music scene, which in the late 1950s and early 1960s already had some strong protagonists, yet was lacking a more regular production. Vilko Ovsenik, one of the festival initiators, expressed the festival's creed by saying "if you want to develop your own music, you’ve got to have your own festival".

Chosen as the location of the festival was Bled, where the Jazz festival Ljubljana was also established just two years prior. While the festival was nominally organised by the Tourism society of Bled, the main protagonists in the conception of Slovenska popevka were the employees from Radio Slovenia, which has been some sort of a co-producer from the start.

Slovenska popevka Festival 1962 - 1983

At the start, the songs were chosen based on a public call for original compositions, with select singers invited to perform the chosen compositions alongside Revijski orkester RTV Slovenija (now RTV Slovenia Big Band. The winners were chosen by the audience and the expert jury, and the competing songs also released on vinyl. The festival was for most of the years based in Hala Tivoli, but was occasionally also held elsewhere (Križanke and Cankarjev dom), for two years even in Celje.

The festivals brought to the forefront numerous singers, from the ones already established before the festival, like Marjana Deržaj and Majda Sepe, to the ones that derived their fame from Slovenska popevka performances. In the 70s, the festival also embraced authors from the rock and singer-songwriter genres (like Neca Falk, Pepel in kri and Tomaž Domicelj)

Majda Sepe - Med iskrenimi ljudmi.wmv by B H on YouTube

In the second part of the seventies, the festival started losing its importance and prestige, and in 1978,presenting a wider array of genres， it was renamed into Days of Slovenian popular music. Yet the new concept did not last and the final edition was held in 1983， its place taken by other festivals, such as the Melodies of the Sea and Sun.

The second rising of the festival

15 years later, RTV Slovenija decided to reactivate the festival. Its re-start was held at Križanke 安定the festival later migrated between Ljubljana Castle, Cankarjev dom and one of the RTV studios. Still, the songs presented at the festival did not take hold strongly as the old ones and in 2014, Slovenska popevka was once again dissolved.

See also

• Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia)
• Bled Festival Hall
• Melodies of the Sea and Sun

External links

• Slovenska popevka in Wikipedia