Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Kreslin, Vlado
Label: Kreslin, d.o.o.
Released: 2010
Length: 49:30
Rating: 4.9/5
The record Drevored is no exception. Thirteen acoustic tracks reflect today’s times through the eyes and soul of the Prekmurje ethno-rocker, enriched with the energy of electric guitars and electric organs and with ethnic instruments such as the cimbalom, accordion, balalaika, fiddle, tamburica, trumpet … The mix of folk and modern sounds “Kreslin-esque”; he has stayed true to his sound, which recalls the beatnik era of the late sixties. Together with his collaborators, guitarist Miro Tomassini and producer and multi-instrumentalist Gal Gjurin, Vlado Kreslin has created yet another colorful piece of work that belongs right at the top of quality music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbkpfcRFxVY
The first song on the album is called Tam na koncu drevoreda, and the album takes its name from it. A typical “Kreslin-esque” ballad, it feels meditative, taking your thoughts out into nature and into reflections on life. Where are we going? Where are we? Where did we come from and where are we headed? Life is like an avenue of trees. At the end of the avenue we’re left alone, waving goodbye to all the beauty and all the people we cherish. The track Krasni novi svet, which is also the lead single, takes its title from Aldous Huxley’s famous 1932 novel about the world’s dark future, an anti-utopia. With his raspy voice, Kreslin uses a rock-tinged number to criticize modern times, an age of rushing around where we live right past one another. We don’t see the nature around us, we don’t take a moment for ourselves, we live in our own bubble and forget about everyone else. It costs us nothing to stop, take a breath, look around and give someone a smile. Then we really would have our brave new world! Zunaj je veter is reminiscent of a folk song that people sing on cold winter evenings by the tiled stove. It’s a lovely acoustic folk track, and the soft voice of Severa Gjurin spices up the chorus. Ena pesem is the hit of the record, a song of many simple wishes in which we all find ourselves. It’s another track that feels positive, draws smiles on our faces and gets us thinking about today’s self-absorbed society, which forgets that a kind word and a warm hand work wonders. But Kreslin’s positivity and his faith in good and in good people bring out the best in us. Danes sem v molu is the fifth gem on the record from the Slovenian Bob Dylan. Poetically described feelings we’ve all had at some point. The Zimbabwean a cappella group Insingizi also adds a special touch to the track. S tabo je izi is a piano ballad full of longing and desire. “I’d like to be here, I’d like to be there, I’d like to be everyone, I’d like to be alone!” The fairy-tale number seven marks the fairy-tale motif in the title Ogledalce povej. This song doesn’t go looking for the motif of beauty like in the fairy tale. Instead it’s yet another track dealing with relationships between people and with people’s identity. Pretending, current political themes, globalization … Are we Micka or Franc, American or Spaniard, president of sorrow or citizen of the world? Given the subject matter, the track can be linked to the song Krasni novi svet. Poj mi pesem is another cheerful number on the record, full of life, joy and freedom, with a dance rhythm, and with its anthemic lyrics it’s certainly fit for any party. Tam daleč stran is a song that grew out of an enchanting traditional Russian tune. It’s sung by Vlado’s father Milan, who once played a little something for himself in the studio, encouraged by Gal Gjurin. Vlado’s father picked up a guitar and sang a melody that everyone was hearing for the first time. He told the story of the young Cossacks of his day (he was 17), who sang it (along with other songs) in a prisoner-of-war camp. The song completely enchanted everyone. Vlado wrote the lyrics, they recorded it and put it on Drevored. Also Russian-tinged is the song Podmoskovski večeri, which Vlado’s father also loved to sing. It earned its place on the album to remind us of our Slavic roots. Let the music flow was recorded as a duet with English singer-songwriter Allan Taylor. The collaboration between him and Kreslin came about in a very spontaneous way. He had a gig in Austria and called Vlado to see if they might meet up. Kreslin told him he happened to be in Vienna, recording with Insingizi. Vlado jokingly invited him to the studio to record something, and the guy jumped at it. The next day he called Vlado and sang to him over the phone: “La la la … Do you like it, ti je všeč?” He came to the studio and the two recorded the song Let The Music Flow. In his forty-year career, Allan Taylor has released sixteen regular albums. At seventeen he got his hands on the novel On the Road by the beatnik Jack Kerouac, which changed his view of life forever. He gave himself over to the road and he’s still on it today, and this fusion of Slovenian and English excellence completes one piece of an extraordinary mosaic of creativity. The record has one more duet, this one with Croatian rocker Livio Morosin. Livio is one of the better songwriters of pop, rock and ethno music, who started his journey back in 1980 with the band Gustaphi And His Young Spirits. A multilayered, undoubtedly talented musical poet of tireless spirit, he joined his flame with Kreslin’s almost entirely by chance. When Kreslin was a guest at the book fair in Pula with Pojezije, Livio sang the song Dajte mi libar at the opening, and Vlado joined in. The next day they went to a local studio and recorded it. And so we’ve reached the end of Drevored … The album closes with the song Lahko noč, sestrica, the cherry on top of yet another Kreslin masterpiece. The track evokes lightness with its tenderness and calms us down, but it certainly won’t stop you from hitting play on the record all over again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecw-Nc2GjH8
The lyrics hit hard with clear messages that reach straight into the heart and soul, and they ring out fully, backed by an exceptional feel for music and by a remarkably intimate production from the fingers of the talented Slovenian musician Gal Gjurin. Alongside numerous talented collaborators on the project, he has become an essential and enormously important building block of a one-of-a-kind musical journey. But the voyage of this soulful ship would be a lot duller if it didn’t radiate the rich warmth and soul of the cosmopolitan from Beltinci and exceptional musical genius. Vlado Kreslin is a man, a troubadour, who unites worlds: urban and rural, local and international. Thirteen tracks, like thirteen mighty trees, are part of Drevored, which is the heart of today’s reality. And that reality has rarely sounded as beautiful and as tenderly heart-touching as on one of the best releases of last year, at least among those that burst out of the parched, musically deserted soil of the Slovenian homeland.
Line-up
Vlado Kreslin – vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica and bass drum
Miro Tomassini – electric and acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, backing vocals, harmonium, double bass
Gal Gjurin – Hammond, classical guitar, bass, double bass, electric guitar, piano, programming, percussion, trumpet, trombone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, flugelhorn, slide guitar, tamburica, electric piano, tin whistle, hand claps, accordion, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Gašper Peršil – drums (on tracks 1, 4, 7)
Iztok Cergol – violins (on track 1)
Marko Kragelnik – cello (on tracks 1, 5, 6)
Valentin Štante – viola (on tracks 1, 5, 6)
Sergej Randjelović-Runjoe – drums (on track 2)
Severa Gjurin – backing vocals (on track 3)
Štefan Banko – saxophone, backing vocals (on track 8)
Domen Gracej – trumpet (on track 8)
Samo Budna – violin, backing vocals (on track 8)
Andrej Sobočan – cimbalom, backing vocals (on track 8)
Gašper Konec – synth, Hammond, hand claps, backing vocals (on tracks 5, 8)
Milan Kreslin – vocals and acoustic guitar (on track 9)
Aleksej Ermakov – balalaika (on tracks 9, 10)
Inga Ulokina – violin (on track 10)
Allan Taylor – vocals and acoustic guitar (on track 11)
Livio Morosin – piano (on track 12)
Kristina Jurman Ferlin – backing vocals (on track 12)
Mauricio Ferlin – guitars, keyboards, percussion (on track 12)
Adam Bisckey – cimbalom (on track 13)
Production
Gal Gjurin, Miro Tomassini & Vlado Kreslin
Track list
1. Tam na koncu drevoreda
2. Krasni novi svet
3. Zunaj je veter
4. Ena pesem
5. Danes sem v molu
6. S tabo je izi
7. Ogledalce povej
8. Poj mi pesem
9. Tam daleč stran
10. Podmoskovski večeri
11. Let the music flow (Allan Taylor and Vlado Kreslin)
12. Dajte mi libar (Livio Morosin)
13. Lahko noč, sestrica
