Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka

Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka was a Slovenian folk ensemble that played narodnozabavna music, the country's popular folk dance style, from 1964 until 2011. Together with Ansambel bratov Avsenik it is counted among the founders of the genre. Its leader, Lojze Slak, born Alojz Slak on 23 July 1932 in Jordankal near Mirna Peč, built a new sound around a folk instrument, the diatonic harmonica, which he had taught himself to play as a boy, mostly in secret, on his uncle's instrument.

By the age of fifteen he was playing at weddings, which he later called his best musical school. In 1959 he formed Ansambel bratov Slak with his brothers Tone, Matija and Stane; it lasted about three years, until Matija and Tone were called up for military service. In 1964 Slak joined forces with the vocal group Fantje s Praprotna, and Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka was born. The same year it released its first record, Domači vasici, on RTB Beograd.

The instrumental trio around Slak changed little over the decades. Niko Zlobko on guitar and clarinet was his right hand and main arranger, Franc Sever played bass from 1965 to 1988 and was followed by Tone Štritof, and Milan Ferlež and later Janez Hvale took over the guitar. Fantje s Praprotna started with Andrej Bergant, Jože Šifrar, Janez Habjan, Janez Kalan and Janez Dolenc. When Šifrar was killed in a traffic accident in 1974, the ensemble released the album Glas njegov v spomin in his memory. Slak wrote most of the songs himself, led the group and sometimes drove it to concerts too.

Success came quickly. Between 1965 and 1970 eight of their albums on Jugoton sold more than a million copies, and the ensemble was among the first winners of the Zlata ptica award. In 1966 they appeared in the film Lucija and went on their first tour of Yugoslavia, and from 1970 they toured the Slovenian communities in the United States and Canada many times. In 1972 they spent two months in Australia, and in 1980 the mayor of Cleveland gave Slak the golden key to the city. An appearance on Musikantenstadl in 1982 opened the Austrian market to them.

Their hits include "Čez Gorjance" (1965), "V dolini tihi" (1966), "Po dekle" (1967), "Čebelar", "Glas harmonike", "Mavrica", "Mama, prihajam domov" (1985) and "Srečno, mlada Slovenija". The official website counts 531 songs on 58 albums. Their anniversary concerts in Ljubljana's Tivoli Hall in 1975, 1979 and 1984 each sold out twice, and in 2005 they were guests at the Rock Otočec festival together with Big Foot Mama.

The ensemble gave its last concert on 16 December 2010 at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana. Lojze Slak died in Ljubljana on 29 September 2011, aged 79, and with him the ensemble came to an end. He received the Honorary Medal of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia, and in 2018 a museum dedicated to him and the poet Tone Pavček opened in Mirna Peč.