Avsenik Ensemble
Begunje 21, SI-4275 Begunje na Gorenjskem
Phone386 (0) 4 530 7031 (music studio)
Managed byTradicija Avsenik d.o.o.
Marjan Legat
Phone386 (0) 41 358 060
The dynamic duo of the brothers Avsenik has recorded over 800 songs, with the self-taught Slavko being responsible for the tunes and Vilko, being an academic (jazz) musician, handling the arrangements, texts and notations. The latter is also responsible for the original instrumental idea of joining up an accordion, a trumpet, a baritone, a clarinet and (since 1955) a guitar. This set up as such was their first innovation, merging a small brass orchestra with a traditional folk trio. With the added vocals, the sound of the Avsenik Ensemble was completed and, so to say, ready for take-off.
History
The Avsenik brothers, born in Begunje in the Gorenjska Region of Northern Slovenia, started playing together as far back as in 1936. Then, a family quartet of the brothers and sisters Avsenik was established and played at the garden of their family inn (Vilko played the accordion and Slavko – only seven years old at that time – the button box). After the war, though they still occasionally played together, their courses parted and while Vinko started studying music, Slavko went for sports and was a memebr of the national ski-jumping team. Vinko got a job at the Dance Orchestra of Radio Ljubljana and after an injury prevented Slavko from further pursuing his ski-jumping career, Vinko persuaded his brother and knitter-by-necessity to join an audition by Radio Ljubljana, which he passed and recorded his first few solo songs.
The early years - From Slavko Avsenik's Trio to the Oberkrainer quintett (1953 - 1955)
Slavko's first band, an accordion-guitar-bass trio was short lived, as in that same year of 1953 the formed the Gorenjski kvartet with Vilko on clarinet, Slavko on accordion, Franc Kosir on a trumpet and Franc Ogrizek on a barytone. In 1955, with the addition of Lev Ponikvar on guitar, they became the Gorenjski kvintet or the or The Brother Avsenik's quintet.
The band had a few live gigs in at the Carinthian Radio in 1954. There they %ndash; in that same year %ndash; recorded their first few songs, among them their biggest hit, the powerful polka song Na Golici (dubbed in German Trompeten-Echo). Helmut Hartman, the editor at that radio, on his own accord translated the band's and presented them as the Oberkrainer quintett (Oberkrein being the Austrian name for the Gorenjska region). This name has stayed as their international name (much to the displeasure of the nationalist sentiment in Slovenia) and as the band became big rather soon, the term Oberkrainer started denoting this particular music style. Due to the many bands (from Germany to Serbia) soon starting to name themselves as The Oberkrainer this or that, the band changed their name to the Original Oberkrainer Quintet in 1959.
When on a vacation in Austria in 1955, editor of Bavarian radio in Munchen Fred Rauch heard the band, managed to get their tapes from Helmut at the Carinthian Radio and took them to Germany to play them on his radio. Soon after Avseniki record their first small album with four songs for the German publishing house Telefunken, with whom they stayed for the better part of their career, which the band getting very big very soon.
The golden decades of Slavko Avsenik and his Original Oberkrainers
In 1956, the band had their first tour in France and Slavko Avsenik, by himself, had performances with his accordion and German musicians in more then 60 different Bavarian towns. In 1957, the band, which occasionally included male and female vocals even back in the times of the quartet, was permanently enlarged with the singing duet of Franc Koren and Danica Filiplic.
After that, things have sort of gotten out of hand and for the next few decades, the Avsenik Ensemble has %ndash; under one name or another and with a varying cast %ndash; toured with spectacular success around the whole of Europe (being popular especially in Germany), performed at the winter Olympic games in Innsbruck and appeared at various television emissions (one of them supposedly seen by more then 80 million viewers all over Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden). Especially in the first few decades, they've had somewhere between 150 and (supposedly) 300 performances per year and played before the crowds that could number up to 80,000.
Their recording track is also prolific and is due not only to the demands from the label and the audiences but also to Slavko's seemingly unending flow of new tunes. In 1964, the first golden record is achieved by the group as they've sold more than a million albums and when they've disbanded in 1990, 33 of their records are golden and all together they've sold more then 31 million records and tapes. In Slovenia, around half a million of their recordings was sold.
Band members
While the accordion was exclusively played by Slavko Avsenik, the other members were for various reasons fluctuating a bit more and included: on trumpet Franc Košir, Pavel Oman, Miro Saje, Jože Balažic; on clarinet Vilko Ovsenik, Franc Tržan, Albin Rudan, Alojz Zupan, Zoran Komač, Miha Gunzek, Vito Muzenič; on baritone Miško Hočevar, Borut Finžgar, Franc Ogrizek, Jože Kelbl, Mik Soss, Igor Podpečan, Vinko Štrucl, Ludvik Kos, Marjan legat and Slavko Avsenik Junior; on guitar Mitja Butara, Leo Ponikvar, renata Verlič, gregor Avsenik, Miha Ramšak, Hervin Jakončič; and on vocals Franc Koren, Danica Filiplič, Eva Prodnik, Alfi Nipič, GFranc Košir, Marija Ahačič, Sonja Hočevar, Irena Svoišak, Stane Vidmar, Andreja Čamernik, Helena Blagne, Jožica Kališnik, Albin Rudan, Peter Care, Rudi Miložič, Jožica Širca Svete, jelka Cvetezar, Peter Ambrož and Marinka Grajzer.
Even though Vinko Ovsenik stopped playing the clarinet in 1959, he remained a crucial band member until the end, taking care not only of the arrangements but also finding the best text writers, with some of the being: Fery Souvan, Zvonko Čemažar, Elza Budau, Marjan Stare, Fran Milčinski, Ivan Sivec, etc...
Awards
Linhartovo plaketo, Združenje evropskih diskografskih hiš mu je za izvirnost, kakovost in priljubljenost skladb podelilo evropskega glasbenega oskarja. 1978 je prejel v Monaku osem zlatih plošč hkrati, na Nizozemskem pa najvišje glasbeno priznanje zlata cokla. 1979 je sledila na Dunaju podelitev zlate vrtnice, odličja za največkrat izvajano skupino na avstrijskih radijskih programih.
In the broadcasting emission Hit Parade mit Lustiger Musikanten at Radio Koln, they win eighteen times, at the television emission they win two times in a row. They win twelve times on the German radio stations charts. 17 times in the Hit Parade of German broadcasting emission Veseli muzikantje. hey are proclaimed as the most popular folk music band of German television. Slavko Avsenik receives the Linhart's diploma. In Berlin he receives the European Music Oscar for the most original, quality and popular compositions from the European foundation of publishing houses and discographyAt Vienna he receives the prize "Zlata vrtnica" (Golden Rose), that is the prize for the most common and popular band heard at the Austrian radio programme.
Cultural impact
as early as in the 1950s, but today they are still one of the most influential and popular polka and waltz music groups in the world.
The Avsenik brothers have received numerous folk music awards in Slovenia and Austria and have been awarded the title of Polka Kings of the World in the USA. They have 31 gold, one platinum and one diamond record to their credit, plus the German record award. The sales figures and a worldwide public response to their work are huge and the Avsenik Ensemble has strongly influenced the folk music scene in Slovenia, Austria and Germany. Their genre of music, accompanied by accordion, is popular at Slovene marriages, among older generations of Slovenes and also amongst expatriates and their descendants in the USA.
See also
External links
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The history of the Avsenik Ensemble … The history of the Avsenik Ensemble goes back to 1953, when the accordion player Slavko Avsenik (1929–2015) formed his first trio and later regrouped it into a quartet that also featured his older brother Vilko Ovsenik (who had changed his name to the pre-WWI spelling of the family's last name).e-WWI spelling of the family's last name). +
The history of the Avsenik Ensemble goes b … The history of the Avsenik Ensemble goes back to 1953, when the accordion player Slavko Avsenik (1929–2015) formed his first trio and later regrouped it into a quartet that also featured his older brother Vilko Ovsenik (who had changed his name to the pre-WWI spelling of the family's last name).e-WWI spelling of the family's last name). +
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