| Iztok Mlakar | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Iztok Mlakar |
| Born | June 21, 1961 Postojna, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia (Now Slovenia) |
| Origin | Nova Gorica, Slovenia |
| Occupations | Theatre actor, Singer-songwriter, Chansonnier |
Iztok Mlakar (born 21 June 1961) is a Slovenian singer-songwriter, chansonnier and theatre actor. Known as the "bard of the Slovenian Littoral",[1] he is most famous for his songs in the Slovene dialect from Goriška. Together with Adi Smolar, Mlakar is among the most famous chansonniers in Slovenia after 1990.
He was born in Postojna in western Slovenia (then part of former Yugoslavia), but spent his youth in the town of Nova Gorica on the border with Italy. His parents were from Cerkno, and Mlakar composed several songs in the distinctive highland dialect of his parents' native region.
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After finishing the Nova Gorica Grammar School, Mlakar studied acting at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, graduating from drama play in 1986. He pursued a career as an actor in the Slovenian National Theatre of Nova Gorica, where he is currently working.[2][3] He is an author of many songs for theatre plays, but he is best known as an author and a singer of his own songs of chanson style. In the year 1993 he received the Ježek's award.
Iztok Mlakar is best known to Slovenian public as a chansonnier of witty chansons, composed in his local Slovene dialect. His songs are frequently witty and unusual reflections on eternal subjects such as love, passing and death, and also about joys of life (particularly wine and good food). Always written from the perspective of the little man, they are often bitter comments on the daily life struggle and the injustice of social and political settings.
His early songs contain many commentaries on the daily life during the Socialist system in former Yugoslavia, which are presented in an ironic way. Mlakar doesn't use the standard literary Slovene language, all of his songs are sung in a dialect of the Kras region, which is also spoken in the areas around Nova Gorica, especially in the settlements of Solkan and Šempeter-Vrtojba. Fewer of his songs are based on the dialect of the lower Vipava Valley (Bose noge), while others (such as Pubi, usidma se, Var'se, čeča, and Očenaš) are sung in the Alpine dialect of Cerkno in north-eastern part of the Slovenian Littoral, which differs considerably from the dialect of his other songs. The vocabulary of most of Mlakar's songs is frequently difficult to understand for seakers from other Slovenian regions. The use of dialect and juicy expressions conveys a sense of familiarity to his song.
Survival tactics, idiosyncrasies, disappointments, and rageful reactions of simple people are constant themes of Mlakar's songs, as are their joy for life, and seek of pleasure. In Mlakar's songs, a typical Slovene national character is presented. Mlakar sings about the simple Slovenian man and women of the 20th and 21st century, frequently squeezed by big historical events, such as world wars, expansionistic policies of big nations, changing political regimes, unstable economic situations, and shifts in morals and social customs. The heroes of Mlakars songs cope with these circumstances in different ways; they either stubbornly defy them (Karlo Špacapan), frequently resulting silly and pathetic (Pepi Žbaradorija), accept them with a sense of poetic fatalism (Bertolin in Štefana), or try to accommodate to them (Politik Gvido). Many lyrics are an intelligent ironic comment on acute problems of contemporary Slovenian society, such as alcoholism (Beštija), drug abuse (Marjo Špinel), and suicide (Briškula). Some lyrics ridiculize the provincial customs of an enriched post-Communist society (Fool cool, Truckin' rap, Bogatašev song). Many of them convey a frequently unusual life philosophy or acquired wisdom (Credo, Počasno življenje, Pismo). Most of them, however, are about love and sex, and the often difficult relations between man and woman (Furlanka, Brika, Valentinčič Rudi in Pepa Žgabucin, Dešpet, Vandima, Valentin, Pokora), although few are classical ballades of failed love (En glaž vina mi dej).
Mlakar is known for avoiding the lights of publicity. He has never performed in a big concert or public event, preferring small and selected audiences. His public acts are rare, and usually there is a very high interest in them, resulting in a difficult accessibility of the tickets. Such a style of performance usually goes well with topics of his songs. With a good food and wine, the audience gets in a good domestic mood, and participates in singing his songs.