Location: Ljubljana / SiTi Teater / Slovenia
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2016
Katalena, probably the go-to band in Slovenia when the talk turns to reworking Slovenian folk music (on a thousand and one tunes), is marking 15 years of existence this year. After a tour presenting their still-current studio album “Enci Benci Katalenci”, this “fifteen-year” milestone came at just the right time for the band to once again (at least for a moment) look back at their roots, their beginnings, and the road they’ve traveled. With six studio albums under their belt, which is no small feat, anniversaries are well deserved.
The band’s premiere with a freshly aired-out live repertoire went down at SiTi Teater, and as Narat told the crowd (Gombač promoted him mid-show to “Katalena’s ideas moderator”), it was fifteen “unheard” numbers! That is, songs the band has played in its career up to this day either once, never, or, at the very “best”, rarely. The sextet, which alongside the two Boštjans has been faithfully rounded out over the years by Vesna Zornik (vocals), Polona Janežič (keyboards), Tibor Mihelič Syed (bass guitar) and Robert Rebolj (drums), took on this revision of their classics in sweeping fashion. The result was a rock-solid live show that clocked in at a hefty two hours. The crew looked back across all their studio releases, strings of the real, honest-to-goodness bonbons of their career filling up three quarters of the gig. In that sense, the title of this report could just as well have borrowed the phrase from the legendary Buldožer, “Izlog jeftinih slatkiša”. A review of the shop window of cheap sweets.
At half past seven in the evening, Boštjan Gombač, Boštjan Narat and Tibor Mihelič Syaed stepped onto the stage through pastel, flickering lights and played the “christening” Štrbenk na štrbunk. As a trio. With the instrumental Po cesti mi gresta študenta dva, the crew was then joined by Polona and Robert. We had to wait a little longer for the proper Katalena lineup, until Vesna took the stage (Da gora ta škarbinina). The band had really put together a repertoire for their fans, especially those who missed the live rarities. Along the way, Narat, as the band’s leader, kept working in the stories behind the songs during the breaks between tunes, as is his habit, with witty banter. Gombač, as usual, kept topping those up with his “instant sparks”, as befits Katalena. So there was no shortage of laughs and good vibes. The band also surprised with Inferno 25, which Narat mischievously introduced as a song written by Julius Kugy. When you recall that line with the views of white Kanin, you could almost fall for Narat’s claim. In the sound, with this revision of old material, Narat’s guitar is once again a touch more noticeably “ruffled up”, let’s say at times set up in a more rock-ish way. That does a world of good for a band where the spotlight goes to the solo wizardry of multi-wind-instrumentalist Gombač lording it over the winds, in terms of sonic balance.
The Katalena crew had a blast! Full-blooded. No holding back. The way they do. The experience is simply outstanding. The audience had a great time too. Vesna cast her spell once again with her proud, deeply felt vocal interpretation, and the seasoned sextet delivered performance excellence, even though it was clear they had to lean on reading the lyrics. Some of the songs simply haven’t been in the repertoire for an extremely long time, and there was too little time to learn them by heart all over again. But Katalena will polish that up too in the upcoming shows. The Ljubljana gig was, after all, the premiere. Alongside the “sweet treat” Delerium Tremens by Gregor Strniša, where Jani Kovačič was not on stage this time, Katalena also spiced up the set with their version of Ireland’s 1970 Eurovision Song Contest winner, Dana’s All Kinds of Everything. Katalena recorded their version in 2005, for the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The band built their show up step by step. When Vesna finally moved the lyrics stand properly away from herself at some point, it became clear that the ending would play out in the glow of Katalena’s standards and current songs from the album “Enci Benci Katalenci”. So: (Rad imel bi) Jabuko, stretched into an instrumental jam (Pleši pleši črni voz), and then, in the encore, Noč čarovnic, the must-play Lisica, followed by the new songs Enci benci and, closing things out, Cipcipilipcipilonika! The sextet caught fire thoroughly and finally woke up even the reserved audience, which had been politely applauding up to the last part of the show, until they caught a bit of the adrenaline rush coming from the stage.
Katalena remain a sexy lineup, and their gigs a guarantee of performance excellence.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Štrbenk na štrbunk
2. Po cesti mi gresta študenta dva
3. Da gora ta škarbinina
4. Prstan
5. Široko more i Dunaj
6. Ptujska grajska
7. Po mesečni travi
8. All Kinds of Everything
9. Delirium Tremens
10. Vsi so venci vejli
11. Za isti svit
12. Inferno 25
13. (Rad imel bi) Jabuko / Pleši, pleši črni voz
14. Katalena
—encore I.—
15. Enci benci
16. Noč čarovnic
17. Lisica
—encore II.—
18. Nede mi več rasla
19. Cipcipilipcipilonika
