On the tenth anniversary of the death of Janez Kranjec, his family, in cooperation with the Municipality of Cerknica, attached a memorial plaque to the façade of his birthplace in Topol. The unveiling was accompanied by a ceremony held as a prelude to the Year of Janez Kranjec.
Janez Kranjec
A self-taught musician, organist and composer, Janez Kranjec (1932–2008) made his mark in the fields of church and choral music. He conducted several choirs in the Municipality of Cerknica. Through national and international tours, he also came into prominence as a composer of vocal works.
Born in 1932 in Topol as a fourth child, Kranjec lived in his hometown until his death in 2008. He gained his first musical experience in a church environment. Initially a chorister, he later held the post of an organist in Begunje pri Cerknici. When an elderly organist retired from the parish, Kranjec assumed responsibility for worship singing.
Kranjec left his true mark in the field of choral singing. He conducted the Tabor Men’s Choir for thirty-nine years and the Begunje Women’s Choir for fifteen years. He initiated the formation of the vocal group Dekleta z Menišije (Girls from Menišija), with whom he recorded several original compositions on Radio 94 and took part in the event Prijatelji ostanimo prijatelji (Friends Let’s Stay Friends). In the spring of 1978, he toured the United States and Canada with the Tabor Choir, performing his own composition Lep spomin (Precious Memory) as an ambassador of Slovenian song. His compositions also enjoyed great success in his native region. His song Še butalska (A Simpletons’ Song) became one of the greatest hits of the annual Mardi Gras carnival in Cerknica.
As a choirmaster, he took part in the Slovenian Choirs Meeting in Šentvid pri Stični over a number of years. Kranjec’s original composition, Pojo naj ljudje (Let People Sing), was adopted as the hymn of the Šentvid Choirs Meeting. He spent his final years also as a choirmaster of the Bloke Hunters’ Choir.
Whilst a self-taught musician, he honed his organ
playing skills in Ljubljana in 1957. For a period of time, Kranjec was a
chorister at the Franciscan Church in the vicinity of Ljubljana’s Triple Bridge,
singing in a choir conducted by composer Alojzij Mav. He performed the duties of
an organist in the Begunje church until 2007, when his musical career was cut
short due to ill health.
His musical output comprises more than 950
compositions, of which more than 200 have been approved for liturgical use. He
was the only Slovenian to have set the entire Book of Psalms to music. He set
to music works by various Slovenian poets, most notably France Balantič and
Marička Žnidaršič.
In 2007, in acknowledgement of his achievements as a composer and organist,
Kranjec was presented with a prestigious ecclesiastical award, the Medal of Saints
Cyril and Methodius. In 2006, in recognition of his prodigious musical legacy, Janez
Kranjec was designated the honorary citizen of the Municipality of Cerknica.
