Vlado Kreslin began his music career as the drummer in the local band Apollo in 1970. From 1970 until 1980, he was the singer of bands Špirit group, Zodiac, Horizont, Sanje and Avantura. He won the Slovenska popevka song contest in 1980 with the hit Dan neskončnih sanjand joined the band Martin Krpan soon after. The band broke up in 1991 after opening for Bob Dylan at the stadium in Ljubljana. At the end of 1980, Kreslin began his musical affiliation with older musicians from his native Beltinci – the Beltinška banda. He took up folk music, causing a true revival of ethno music and changed the way people perceived this genre in Slovenia. He brought folk music closer to young people and made it so that “people again had the guts to speak in their native dialect.” With the band Mali bogovi, founded in the beginning of the 1990’s, and Beltinška banda, Kreslin joined – and continues to join – live on stage and on studio records the music of yesterday and today, the local and global. Beltinška banda now features second and third generation musicians, with the oldest being Vlado’s father, the 88-year old Milan.
Many of his songs turned into folk songs, some inspired novels, feature films and diploma theses.
Vlado often collaborates with young Slovenian musicians and renowned foreign artists (Allan Taylor, The Walkabouts, Rade Šerbedžija, Parni valjak, Siddharta, Hans Theessink, Vlatko Stefanovski, Chris Eckman, Damir Imamović, Dubliners, Siddharta, Antonella Ruggiero, Barcelona Klezmer and Gipsy Orchestra, Gal and Severa Gjurin, Ferus Mustafov, Freres Guisse, …), skipping musical and national borders and shattering taboos. The Novi list newspaper from Croatian Rijeka said it best: “Vlado Kreslin never allowed borders at Rupa, Una, Bregana and Drina to turn into borders in his head.”
Kreslin released 15 records with original music, a few poetry collections, and appeared in movies and the theatre as a singer and actor. He is a member of the Slovenian Writers’ Association.
“When you listen to Kreslin’s songs, you feel like folk, blues and rock were invented by Slovenians. Granted, that’s far from the truth, but he’s so good, it feels like his songs are musically universal, yet spiritually Slovenian.”
Jutarnji list 2008
“With his performances, lyrics, melodies, Vlado Kreslin paints a type of magical realism; everything is real or at least realistic, but still built up and wrapped into metaphors portraying the local colour nuances of Prekmurje, as well as personal experience carefully profiled or crafted into moments in time.”
Marijan Zlobec, 2016
- Vlado Kreslin, vocals, acoustic guitar
- Gašper Peršl, drums
- Iztok Cergol, violin, accordion, saxophone
- Mileta Grujič, piano
- Anton Feinig, Hammond organ
- Luka Jerončič, bass
- Matej Sušnik, guitar
- Luka Ovsec, percussion
- Samo Budna, violin
- Boštjan Rous, clarinet, saxophone
- Andrej Sobočan, cymbals
- Milan Kreslin, vocals
- Viktor Marič, accordion
