Vlado Kreslin – A musical legend and a troubadour of the Pannonian soul
Vlado Kreslin is a poet from Prekmurje. A true one-man band, he is a writer, a composer, and a singer. He is a musician who enjoys cult status among his audience for his great personal charisma, emotional musical expression, and effortless transitions between genres.
Photo: Miro Majcen
His music is a mix of ethnic music, blues and rock. Kreslin has made his opinion on his eclectic style known: genres are just an excuse to put records on shelves, otherwise it’s all music.
He has been on the scene for over 40 years and he was the first musician to begin playing on his balcony during the pandemic, delighting his neighbours with 50 songs, one for each day of the quarantine. Many of his songs became folk classics. He adores his home region and the Pannonian plains. How could he not? The Pannonian world is one of endless lowlands and fertile fields with the slowly meandering Mura River, long-legged storks, and views that stretch out toward infinity.
Photo: Boštjan Ikovic
The originality of Prekmurje and Slovenia
“In Prekmurje, you can watch the sun’s walk across the sky from sunrise to sunset, and it’s not blocked by a rugged mountain. The feeling the landscape carries is similar; soft, somehow rounded. Our river runs slowly, and it seems that time does too. Cereals sway in the wind more gently and a language the rest of Slovenia has difficulty understanding can be heard.” This is Vlado Kreslin’s poetic description of his native Prekmurje. He is captivated by Slovenia’s diversity. There is no place between the Alps, the Mediterranean, and the Pannonian plains that he would not recommend for a break. “I believe that every region in Slovenia has its charm. As a musician, I have been cruising around this country for decades; I have performed in almost every village, and I’m still fascinated by the newly discovered places in the most hidden parts of Slovenia. The more inaccessible places are, the more beautiful they are – that’s my secret.” He believes that it is difficult to take the Prekmurje out of a person from Prekmurje, and the same goes for people from Dolenjska, Primorska, Gorenjska, etc. “I think that Slovenians in general are strongly attached to their origin, their land.”
Childhood in full contact with nature
He grew up by the Mura River and caught fish. His memories go back to nature. He remembers that, as a child, he used to spend all his time outside and that his mother had to threaten him to get him to come in for lunch or dinner. Perhaps that is why the metaphors he uses in his songs are often related to nature. He mentions the Mura River, plains, storks, birds, and more. He says that he does not sing about nature, but that he expresses himself through it. He has been enjoying the mornings in recent years. He wakes up at five or six, and the moments when the day breaks are magical to him like his song “Nekega jutra, ko se zdani” (One Morning, as Day is Breaking). New verses are born along with the day. “I exercise a little, but the breakfast I whip up with cereals, kefir, pumpkin and flax seeds, cinnamon, turmeric, walnuts, a banana, hemp oil, nuts, and so on is more like a ritual.”
