Pepel in kri

Pepel in kri is a Slovenian vocal and instrumental pop group, formed in December 1974. In 1975 they won the Yugoslav selection with "Dan ljubezni" and sang it at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, and over the following decades they appeared at nearly every major festival in Yugoslavia.

The group was the idea of Tadej Hrušovar, who after the break-up of Bele vrane wanted to bring together singers from bands that were already popular. At first it was called Zbor Tadeja Hrušovarja. The name Pepel in kri, "ashes and blood", came from Dušan Velkaverh in 1975, at a Slovenska popevka festival held for the anniversary of the liberation, after a line about the ashes and blood from which the country was born. The original line-up was Tadej Hrušovar, Ditka Haberl, Ivo Mojzer, Oto Pestner, Dušan Velkaverh and Nada Žgur. Pestner was later replaced by Edvin Fliser, formerly of Rdeči dečki from Maribor.

"Dan ljubezni" won the 1975 Opatija festival, which served as the Yugoslav selection, and at Eurovision in Stockholm the group finished 13th with 22 points. In 1976 they were sixth in the Yugoslav selection with "Moja srečna zvezda". At Slovenska popevka they took audience prizes with "Pepel in kri" (1975), "Dekle iz Zlate ladjice" (1977), "V meni živ je smeh" (1978) and "Pesem za dinar" (1979), which also won the first prize of the international jury.

Their best-remembered win was at the Split festival with "Samo tvoje ime znam", and they returned to Split with "Oslušni svaki val" (1982), "Ratujemo protiv rata" (1983), "Reci mi pjesmom" (1984) and "Balada o nama" (1987). At Opatija in 1980 they sang "Naš blok posluša rock", and at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo they were the vocalists for the songs of the opening and closing ceremonies. Their albums include Dan ljubezni (1976), Festivali (1979), Pepel in kri (1980) and the live Koncert v Cankarjevem domu (1985).

In 1990, at the Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb, the group and Miran Rudan sang backing vocals for Toto Cutugno, whose "Insieme: 1992" won the contest. Earlier that year they had also backed Johnny Logan when he appeared as a special guest at the Yugoslav selection.

For many years the group had six active members, later four, and at times as many as eleven or twelve people sang in it. Meta Močnik joined in 1982. Tadej Hrušovar last performed with the group in September 2019, and Pepel in kri still appears on special occasions with guest singers.