Slovenian medieval traditional ballads, Minnesang and early lute music BUGE WAZ PRIMI, GRALVA VENUS!

Ljoba Jenče, voice

Erazem Izidor Grafenauer, lute

With the greeting of Bernhard von Spanheim, the Duke of Carinthia,  in the Slovene language in 1255, when he welcomed the victorious poet-knight Ulrich von Lichtenstein in Thörl-Maglern/Vrata-Megvarje in Gail Valley, we invite you to a concert of old narrative songs, not heard often enough, which have been shaped in the voices of the people over the centuries.

Nowadays, we are hardly aware anymore in Slovenia that our cultural tradition also contains our own epics. In the last two decades, cultural life in castles and towns, as well as in the setting of monasteries and churches, has been awakening towards a reconsideration of our past, reaching back into the circles of castle-dwelling nobility, the history of monasteries, and the daily life of the common people. It is precisely the time of early music and oral tradition that preserves the link with the wider European cultural heritage and testifies to its transition between social classes and cultural landscapes – even far into the Indo-European area.

Ljoba Jenče, a collector and performer, active both in Slovenia and abroad, has prepared a selection of Slovenian medieval traditional ballads and songs of minnesingers, with improvisations by the lutenist Erazem Izidor Grafenauer, who will also perform pieces of early music.

Co-organised by

• PAJN – Cerknica – Heritage House
• Institute for Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports Brda,
• parish and village community of Kojsko (Goriška brda),
• Ministry of Culture of the za  Republic of Slovenia