Ansambel Saša Avsenika

Ansambel Saša Avsenika is a Slovenian narodnozabavna (folk-pop) ensemble founded in 2008 in Begunje na Gorenjskem, the home of the Avsenik musical family. It is led by accordionist Sašo Avsenik, the grandson of Slavko Avsenik of the Ansambel bratov Avsenik, and his father is the guitarist Gregor Avsenik.

Sašo started out behind a drum kit at the age of twelve before taking up the accordion. Speaking to RTV Slovenija in 2013, he said he had never planned to play professionally: a rock band he started in secondary school fell apart for lack of members, and they turned to folk-pop music because it offered far more chances to perform. When the ensemble was still new, in 2009, Slavko Avsenik told RTV Slovenija that he was writing songs for his grandson and that if anyone could catch up with the Avseniks, it was him.

The first album, Na sončni strani Alp, came out in December 2009 on Galerija Avsenik-Hohner. Its music and arrangements were by Slavko Avsenik and Vilko Ovsenik, and Ivan Sivec and Tone Fornezzi - Tof wrote most of the new lyrics; ten songs were new and four were Avsenik evergreens. The second album, Zavrtimo se (Vox, 2011), took its title from a waltz the Avsenik brothers had written some forty years earlier but never recorded, which Vilko Ovsenik found in his archive. Stunden voll Musik (2013), Dolge so noči (2014) and Bi b'la moja (2016) followed.

From the start the ensemble played abroad as much as at home. By 2013 it was giving about 170 concerts a year, around 110 of them outside Slovenia, with sold-out halls in Austria and tours in Germany and Switzerland. It has carried Slovenian folk-pop music to Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium, and in German-speaking countries it also records as Sašo Avsenik und seine Oberkrainer.

Most of the lyrics are written by Ivan Sivec, with some by Tone Fornezzi - Tof. Today the line-up around Sašo Avsenik is bassist Aleš Jurman, guitarist Matic Plevel, trumpeter Denis Daneu, clarinettist Tommy Budin and singers Luka Sešek and Lucija Selak. Guests often join them on stage, among them Gregor Avsenik, Sašo's sister Monika Avsenik and the comedian Jurij Zrnec. Their live recordings from Cankarjev dom in 2022 also feature Magnifico, Nina Pušlar and Maja Keuc.