The Saddest Song "My Homeland" - Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra and Choirs

Rož and Podjuna and Zila are three Slovenian valleys in northern Carinthia (now part of Austria). They symbolize Slovenian national identity and pride of our fellow countrymen in Carinthia. It honors those who despite tremendous German pressures to assimilate managed to survive for more than one hundred years on land that Slovenia lost after World War One. The song reminds us that the land of Carinthia is ours, Slovenian. That our people, who endured all the great hardships of both world wars, are still a part of the Slovenian motherland, a part of our memory and a part of the proud melancholic Slovenian soul.

(Primož Zevnik, concert director)

The song of three valleys where Slovenian people live in Austrian Carinthia was written by priest Ph.D. Janko Mikula, together with farmer Janko Olip. The song was tuned by Pavle Kernjak.

This amazing symphonic musical arrangement was made by composer Marjan Peternel

Sopran: Ernestina Jošt

Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra
conductor: Maestro Nejc Bečan

Gimnazija Kranj United Choirs
chorus master: Erik Šmid

balance engineer: Aleks Pirkmajer
balance engineer assistant: Antonina Wyszyńska

mastering: Iztok Zupan

Janko Mikula was a prominent national and cultural worker in Carinthia in the 1930s and 1940s. After finishing humanistic high school in Klagenfurt, he studied scholastic philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and afterward theology in Klagenfurt. It is believed that he cooperated with Carinthian cultural organizations already as a student. After being ordinated a priest in 1932, he worked in several Carinthian towns. During the war, he helped expatriates and was put in jail for a few months by Germans due to collaboration with partisans. In 1952 he decided to move abroad; he learned English and moved to Australia. He had no contact with his homeland for about a decade, however, later on, he became a regular visitor.

The legacy of Janko Mikula has not been gathered and reviewed completely. It contains memorial and preaching notes, random thoughts and even an experimental dramatic text. However, he became a part of the Slovenian collective memory mainly as the author of the poem Rož, Podjuna, Zila, which is deemed a national poem for many people. The song for this poem was written by a Carinthian self-taught composer Pavle Kernjak. As a composer arising from the Carinthian folk tradition, he became the central figure in music among Carinthian Slovenians. After WW2 he became known also among Slovenians in other regions, particularly due to performances of the Slovenian octet.

The song Rož, Podjuna, Zila is dedicated to the priest Vinko Poljanec and was supposed to be written at the time of his death. Poljanec was a vivid promoter of national consciousness, who persistently continued his political and cultural work even after the Carinthian plebiscite failed. Consequently, despite striving for the coexistence of both nations, he became a target of German nationalists, particular following the annexation of Austria into Germany. In 1938 he was imprisoned and when released from prison, where mercury was allegedly added to his food, he was exhausted and died shortly after. Therefore, he is deemed as the first victim of Nazism among Carinthian Slovenian priests.

(text: Mihal Šorli)

English translation (lyrics): Tod Hoath
English translation (text): Biba Kodek and Vesna Zevnik

Gimnazija Kranj Great Christmas Concert 2018 - The Last Journey Home

vodji produkcije / production managers: Dan Ažman, Gal Nagode
asistent režiserja / assistant director: Juš Hrastnik
režiser / concert director: Primož Zevnik
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