Vlado Kreslin

He started his musical career in 1970 as a drummer in the band Apollo. As a singer he performed with the bands Špirit group (Murska Sobota, 1973), Zodiac, Izvir, Horizont (Ljubljana) (1975-1978), Sanje in Avantura (Ljubljana) 1979.In 1980 he won the Slovenian Pop Song Contest with the song Dan neskončnih sanj.In 1983 he joined the Martin Krpan band.With them he recorded the albums Od višine se zvrti 1986 and Bogovi in ovce 1988.They supported Rory Gallagher, R.E.M, Michael Chapman and Bob Dylan. The band disbanded in 1991.

Kreslin has been making original music in parallel, mostly with co-writer and guitarist Miro Tomassini. One of his most recognisable hits, That Black Guitar, comes from this period.

In 1991, he began to associate musically with the older brass bands from his native Beltince - the Beltinška band. He devoted himself to folk music and brought about a true revival of Slovenian ethno music. He brought it closer to the younger generations, demarginalised and rehabilitated the Prekmurje dialect. With the band Mali bogovi and the Beltinška band, he began to unite yesterday and today, the local and the global. The Beltinška banda now includes second and third generation folk musicians. The oldest is Kreslin's father, Milan Kreslin (born 1928).

Kreslin often collaborates with other musicians, both from Slovenia (Siddharta, Gal and Severa Gjurin) and abroad (Allan Taylor, Andy Irvine, The Walkabouts, Rade Šerbedžija, Steamroller, Hans Theessink, Vlatko Stefanovski, Chris Eckman, Damir Imamović, Dubliners, Antonella Ruggiero, Barcelona Klezmer and Gipsy Orchestra, Ferus Mustafov, Freres Guisse).

He has released twenty-six albums of original music, several collections of poetry, and has appeared in films and theatre as an actor and composer. Many of his poems have been recorded and some have inspired novels, feature films and theses.

In November 2018, the biographical documentary Sing Me a Song, directed by Miran Zupanič, premiered.He was awarded the Ježek Prize in 2020 and the Golden Flute for Lifetime Achievement in 2021.In June 2022, he was awarded the Order of Merit for outstanding creative contribution to Slovenian musical art by the President of the Republic of Slovenia.

Photo: Facebook.com