Gal George Gjurin: “LOVELY TRADITIONALS – STORIES ABOUT SLOVENIAN WOMEN"

SUMMARY

Join us for an unforgettable evening at the Maja Prentice Theatre as celebrated Canadian & Slovenian award-winning musician Gal George Gjurin takes the stage with his band: talented zither player & singer prof. Janja Brlec (Slovenia) singer prof. Anja Oraže (Austria) and pianist producer & drummer Niko Kostanjevec (Slovenia). Through a rich tapestry of sound using Slovenian traditional instruments they will breathe new life into traditional & historical Slovenian folk songs in a performance full of soul storytelling and sunshine.

DETAILS

“LOVELY TRADITIONALS – THE STORIES ABOUT SLOVENIAN WOMEN"

“LJUBKE LJUDSKE – ZGODBE O SLOVENKAH"

is the latest Slovenian music project lead by Canadian & Slovenian musician singer multi-instrumentalist composer producer and poet Gal George Gjurin.

It is dedicated to original Slovenian folk music musical tradition dialects of rich and exotic Slovenian language (two million speakers only) and exploration of the cultural heritage of Slovenian people and their unique cultural core positioned on the crossroads between South Slavic Alpine German North Italian and Western Hungarian cultures of both within and beyond the borders of present-day Slovenia.

LJUBKE LJUDSKE brings together a mix of innovative fresh arrangements of Slovenian folk songs from all Slovenian regions.

The project is based on in-depth research of the original archives of Slovenian folk songs (consisting of astonishing 25.000 songs and their variants) subtitled ZGODBE O SLOVENKAH (The Stories About Slovenian Women). It presents portraits of distinctly strong Slovenian female literary characters through selected songs – unwavering lovers brave maidens wicked and loving mothers the legend of pre-Christianity divine fish Faronika devoted wives witches or death.

The album is dedicated to Slovenian women and the celebration of the gentler sex while highlighting the extremely important role of women in the Slovenian emigrant community – in Canada the U.S. Australia South America and elsewhere around the world where Slovenians have settled particularly intensively over the last two centuries.

Both the concert and the album LJUBKE LJUDSKE follow the story of a traveling troubadour on a journey through all the major Slovenian regions and dialects. Musical environment is set in an undefined almost medieval magical distant past in which the selected folk songs were once created mostly by ordinary people.

With the aim of continuing and enriching the musical tradition certain songs feature new verses added by Gjurin which have thus become part of the original song structures or new variants.

PERFORMERS:

The concert line-up consists of exceptional musicians from the classical jazz popular folk and ethno/world music genres:

Gal George Gjurin (Canada Slovenia) – lead vocals bugarria guitars flutes musical direction;

Janja Brlec (Slovenia) – Slovenian zither vocals;

Anja Oraže (Austria) – lead and backing vocals cello;

Niko Kostanjevec (Slovenia) – percussion drums piano backing vocals.

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Gal George Gjurin is/was also:

– nominated for Best Album/Producer of the Year 2025 at the national Canadian Folk Music Awards – CFMA (Ottawa ON) for his Canadian folk oriented album "How about a kiss?"

– nominated for Best Performing Artist of the Year 2025 at 2025 Ontario Folk Music Awards (Ottawa ON) for "How about a kiss?"

– won three OMA Music Awards in GTA/Toronto in 2021 and 2022 for Song of the Year and Best Music Video of the Year along with seven prestigious nominations including Artist of the Year 2023.

In Nashville Tennessee USA at the world's largest International Songwriting Competition Gjurin ranked twice among the 50 best songwriters in the world competing against 26000 songwriters from around the globe (2020 and 2021).

He has also won numerous awards and nominations in Slovenia EU including Best chanson of 2005 (RTV SLO; EBU) a nomination for Best Book of the Year 2002 at International Slovenian Book Fair a double prize for best poetry at the national Slovenian Poetry and Prose Contest in 2000 (JSKD) Best Music in Advertising 2018 (at the International SOF Festival Portorose) etc. His body of work is being considered for Prešeren Prize 2026.

The LJUBKE LJUDSKE project premiered with a memorable sold-out concert as part of the “Štrekelj Days 2024” at Štanjel Castle in the Karst region Slovenia which are an integral part of the Slovenian National Štrekelj Awards celebrating the preservation of the original Slovenian folk music traditions.

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