SLO:
A poznate Fante s Praprotna? Ne?
Kaj pa Trio bratov Slak? Mogoče? Vam se že kaj dozdeva?
No, kaj pa Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka? Aha, sedaj so se pa prižgale lučke vsakega Slovenca.
Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka so tvorili Trio bratov Slak in Fantje s Praprotna.
In kdo so Fantje s Praprotna? To so (bili) fantje, ki so živeli na Praprotnem. Logično, a ne?
No, če se dotaknemo zgodovine, so takrat res bili fantje. Namreč njihovi pevski začetki segajo v leto 1956, ko so začeli nastopat v mladinskem zboru Kulturnega umetniškega društva Bukovica pod vodstvom Franca Potočnika. Leta 1961 se je zbor preoblikoval v Fantovski sekstet KUD Bukovica.
In kdaj so začeli uproabljati ime Fantje s Praprotna? 4. februarja 1962, so nastopili v Železnikih na lokalni radijski oddaji Pokaži, kaj znaš. A veste, katero mesto so zasedli? Ne veste? Pomislite: a bi oni bili člani Ansambla Lojzeta Slaka, če bi bili kaj drugega kot prvi?
Leto kasneje, leta 1963, so nekateri nehali s petjem, tako da jih je v zasedbi ostalo pet: Andrej Bergant, Jože Šifrar, Janez Habjan, Janez Kalan in Janez Dolenc. Ja, kar veliko Janezov je bilo.
Leta 1964 so začeli sodelovati z Lojzetom Slakom. Prvi skupni koncert pod imenom Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka so imeli isto jesen. Koncerti so se potem vrstili eden za drugim in v prvih desetih letih so bili že po celi Sloveniji.
Ampak niso se ustavili tu. Leta 1970 so odšli na prvo veliko turnejo po ZDA in Kanadi, dve leti pozneje pa še po Avstraliji in Zahodni Evropi (Franciji, Belgiji, Nizozemski, Švici in Zahodni Nemčiji). Izdali so tudi veliko plošč in kaset. Kaj, a ne veste, kaj je to kaseta? Ah, kar pogooglajte.
Ampak po desetih letih delovanja je prišlo do žalostnega dogodka. Med pripravami na obeleženje desetletnice delovanja leta 1974 se je v prometni nesreči smrtno ponesrečil drugi tenorist Jože Šifrar. To je bil grenak priokus uspešnemu delovanju. Pokojnemu prijatelju so posvetili veliko ploščo Glas njegov v spomin. Logično je ansambel takrat za nekaj mesecev prekinil z delom. Potreben je bil čas za žalovanje, potem pa so se morali ponovno organizirati. Koncert so tako pripravili naslednje leto, kjer je z njimi že nastopil novi pevec, Franci Rebernik.
Z novim članom so spet delovali na polno in spet so uspešno izdajali kasete in plošče, snemali oddaje, imeli turneje in nastope. In tako so srečno nastopali vse do leta 1991, ko jih je iz zdravstvenih razlogov zapustil Janez Habjan. Kvinteta ni bilo več. Ostal je kvartet, saj novega člana niso iskali več. Dve leti kasneje je Janez Kalan zaradi enakega razloga kot Habjan zaključil s svojim sodelovanjem. Namesto njega je prvi bas prevzel Tone Štritof, ki je leta 1988 v ansamblu zamenjal basista Franca Severja.
Vsi vemo, da vse lepo enkrat mine, in če se Anasmbel Lojzeta Slaka ni ustavil ob smrti Jožeta Šifrara, odhodu Janeza Habjana in odhodu Janeza Kalana, se je pa ustavil ob smrti Lojzeta Slaka. Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka brez Lojzeta Slaka nekako ni več Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka.
Ampak to Fante s Praprotna ni ustavilo in so nadaljevali s samostojnim nastopanjem. Tako so na jubilejnem koncertu v Škofji Loki 26. aprila 2012 obeležili petdesetletnico umetniškega delovanja kot kvartet. 50 let! Zadnjo zasedbo so sestavljali Andrej Bergant, Franci Rebernik, Tone Štritof in Janez Dolenc.
Ker vsi prej ali slej končamo svojo pot tako ali drugače, so tudi Fantje s Praprotna počasi končevali svojo pot.
9. oktobra 2014 je umrl Tone Štritof. Na nastopih Fantov s Praprotna sta ga izmenično nadomestila Matija Slak, ki je z njimi že sodeloval še v času delovanja ansambla njegovega brata Lojzeta Slaka, saj ga je nadomeščal na harmoniki med okrevanjem po nesreči, in Igor Podpečan, vodja ansambla, s katerim so po Slakovi smrti snemali nove pesmi.
8. septembra 2016 je umrl še Franci Rebernik. Po njegovi smrti so šle govorice od ust do ust, od čenče do čenče in pojavila so se ugibanja o prenehanju delovanja Fantov s Praprotna. Ampak fantje se niso dali in kot nov član se jim je pridružil Janez Triler, član Slovenskega okteta. Kot prvi basist sedaj večinoma na nastopih poje Igor Podpečan. Prvič so v takšni zasedbi skupaj nastopili oktobra 2016 na snemanju oddaje Slovenski Pozdrav v Železnikih, kjer se je začela glasbena pot tega sestava. Nekaj dni pozneje so nastopili tudi na Noči Modrijanov. 30. septembra 2019 je umrl Janez Dolenc, ustanovni član Fantov s Praprotna. Z njegovo smrtjo se je zaključilo njihovo delovanje.
ENG:
Do you know the Fante s Praprotna (Boys from Praprotno)? No?
What about the Trio bratov Slak (Trio of the Slak Brothers)? Maybe? Are you already imagining something?
Well, what about the Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka (Lojze Slak Ensemble)? Ah, now the lights of every Slovenian tuned on.
The Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka was formed by the Trio bratov Slak and the Boys from Praprotno.
And who are members of the Fante s Praprotna? These (were) boys who lived in Praprotno. Logical, right?
Well, if we touch on history, they really were boys at that time. Namely, their singing beginnings date back to 1956, when they began performing in the youth choir of the Cultural and Artistic Society Bukovica under the direction of Franc Potočnik. In 1961, the choir was transformed into the Boys Sextet of the KUD Bukovica.
And when did they start using the name Fante s Praprotna? On February 4, 1962, they performed in Železniki on the local radio show Pokaži, kaj znaš (Show, what you know). Do you know what position they occupied? Don't you? Think about it: would they have been members of the Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka if they had been anything other than the first?
A year later, in 1963, some of them stopped singing, so that five of them remained in the band: Andrej Bergant, Jože Šifrar, Janez Habjan, Janez Kalan and Janez Dolenc. Yes, there were quite a few Janezs.
In 1964, they began to collaborate with Lojze Slak. They had their first joint concert under the name Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka that same autumn. The concerts then followed one after the other, and in the first ten years they were all over Slovenia.
But they didn't stop there. In 1970, they went on their first big tour of the USA and Canada, and two years later, they toured Australia and Western Europe (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany). They also released many records and cassettes. What, you don't know what a cassette is? Oh, just Google it.
But after ten years of activity, a sad event occurred. During the preparations for the tenth anniversary celebration in 1974, the second tenor Jože Šifrar was killed in a car accident. This was a bitter aftertaste of a successful decade. They dedicated a large album, Glas negov v spomin (His voice in memory), to their deceased friend. Logically, the ensemble then took a break from work for a few months. They needed time to mourn, and then they had to reorganize. So they prepared a concert the following year, where a new singer, Franci Rebernik, performed with them.
With the new member, they were back to full swing and successfully released cassettes and records, recorded shows, toured and performed. And so they performed happily until 1991, when Janez Habjan left them for health reasons. The quintet was no more. The quartet remained, as they were no longer looking for a new member. Two years later, Janez Kalan ended his participation for the same reason as Habjan. Instead, Tone Štritof took over as first bass, who replaced bassist Franc Sever in the ensemble in 1988.
We all know that all good things come to an end, and if the Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka did not stop with the death of Jože Šifrar, the departure of Janez Habjan and the departure of Janez Kalan, it did stop with the death of Lojze Slak. The Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka without Lojze Slak is somehow no longer the Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka.
But that did not stop the Fantje s Praprotna and they continued performing independently. Thus, at the anniversary concert in Škofja Loka on April 26, 2012, they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their artistic activity as a quartet. 50 years! The last line-up consisted of Andrej Bergant, Franci Rebernik, Tone Štritof and Janez Dolenc.
Since we all end our journey sooner or later, in one way or another, the Fantje s Praprotna also slowly ended theirs.
Tone Štritof died on October 9, 2014. At the performances of the Fantje s Praprotna, he was alternately replaced by Matija Slak, who had already collaborated with them during the time of his brother Ansambel Lojzeta Slaka, as he replaced him on the accordion while he was recovering from an accident, and Igor Podpečan, the leader of the ensemble, with whom they recorded new songs after Slak's death.
Franci Rebernik also died on September 8, 2016. After his death, rumors went from mouth to mouth, from gossip to gossip, and speculation arose about the cessation of the activities of the Fantje s Praprotna. But the boys did not give up and Janez Triler, a member of the Slovenski oktet (Slovenian Octet), joined them as a new member. Igor Podpečan now sings as the first bassist most of the time. They first performed together in such a band in October 2016 at the recording of the show Slovenski Pozdrav in Železniki, where the musical journey of this band began. A few days later, they also performed at the Modrijanov Night. On September 30, 2019, Janez Dolenc, a founding member of the Fantje s Praprotna, died. With his death, their activities came to an end.