My life, my music

Špela Pirnat was attracted to music from a very early age and chose violin, soon moving onto viola, an instrument that she plays to this day. She may be a classical musician but that doesn’t stop her working with other musicians in rock or popular Slovene songs and much more. Her band co-operations include MojcArt, the No Borders Trio and for the last 7 years has worked with her dear friend and pi...

This week I am honoured to have two guests in the studio. Her Excellency Natalie Kauther and His Excellency Adrian Pollmann have come to Slovenia with their three children to make Slovenia their home for the next four years. They are taking their ambassador role in turns whilst the other partner looks after the family. They have already fallen for this country and look forward to more freedom to p...

Today’s journalism rarely offers a chance to get behind the face of many people in our society. My Life, My Music offers conversations that allow time to understand how the guest has reached their goals and what is important to them. Along with 8 tracks of music chosen by the guest the programme takes a journey though many different personal philosophies with inspirational guests from all walks of...

This week the story is a family one. Boštjan Kozole studied economics and his father is a farmer but together they are the amazingly successful company Evrosad. A major apple exporter to Europe including the UK Boštjan is also a very keen sportsman, in particular handball. This is a story of highs and lows but of great family cooperation and considerable strengths and music plays an important role...

The Covid restrictions have been a real issue for entertainment and the world of music. If you want to release new music you certainly cannot have a party to celebrate it. In spite of this the rock band Strain from Gornja Radgona decided to go ahead anyway and do the whole thing themselves. They recorded at a friend’s studio and then didn’t just make the material available on-line but produced an...

The Help Tribute Band managed 100 shows in 2019 and they have still been entertaining us throughout the Covid restrictions so I thought it would be great to speak with Ernie Mendillo the force behind the band and its Paul McCartney. It's a great story with experiences of early bands in the USA and music being the prime mover throughout his life. There's also some great music in this show as well a...

Many people will remember Maja Keuc from Eurovision 2011 but now there is a new girl in town recording under the name of "Amaja". With many new experiences from voice training in the Netherlands to working and recording in Sweden Amaja is currently here in Slovenia with some new tracks starting her journey into the world of soul. Some great stories and a very personal view of working in the music...

The Polish Ambassador to Slovenia His Excellency Krzvsztof Olendski has been here since April 2020 so it's certainly time to hear what he has to say about Slovenia. He has had considerable experience, from the Holy See to being in Tunisia at the very start of the Arab Spring and he speaks of many concerning occasions as well as other inspirational ones. The music is a great cross-section of Polish...

Data released last month showed that over the past 5 years the death rate due to road traffic accidents involving drivers between 18 and 24 has reduced by 60%. Much of this must be due to the work of the initiative "Heroes drive in Pyjamas" organised though the encouraging work of Zavod Vozim. This conversation is with the director, David Razboršek.

What do you know about the Pan-Europa Movement? It is the oldest European unification movement and will be 100 years old next year. The recently re-elected president of the Slovene Pan European Movement is Dr Lars Gaiser. Dr. Gaiser is one of a new generation of politicians and businessmen with top education, knowledge and international experience. Educated at world-renowned universities and with...

Today’s journalism rarely offers a chance to get behind the face of many people in our society. My Life, My Music offers conversations that allow time to understand how the guest has reached their goals and what is important to them. Along with 8 tracks of music chosen by the guest the programme takes a journey though many different personal philosophies with inspirational guests from all walks of...

When I wondered about who should be the guest for the start of the Christmas week I thought about people I’d worked with and with whom I could find out more and have some fun. Saša Krajnc was in my mind straight away. He was always fun to be with when he worked at RTV Maribor and his teaching role as a dance leader is fascinating too. Known by many for his current role on RTV News I’m sure you wil...

My first interview with Samo Šalamon was nearly eight years ago and since that time Samo has offered his music to audiences across too many countries to mention, as well as a load of albums and he was already cited as one of the greats back then. Never a person to lose an opportunity, the period of restricted travel we have all been subjected to was a chance for Samo to complete something he had b...

Last week the show featured the stage world of musicals and there are some musical tracks again here as my guest is singer, director and musician Anja Strajnar. She has a very broad experience having performed in musicals, solo vocal shows as well as with her own band, Akordika, and other bands and performers and even dubbing Disney animated films. Besides performing, her partner and their family...

Most of us like a musical but where do we see a really professional show except in the main cities and maybe not even in Slovenia. Nejc Lisjak has been organising, directing and acting in professional shows in the small conurbation of Radomlje for more than 5 years and, as a result, his audiences come from far and wide, even from outside Slovenia. We recorded this conversation at the very hall in...

When I discovered that Slovenia had spent a very large amount of money to become part of a super computer network in Europe I felt it would be interesting to make a programme around this new venture. The new Peta-scale computer, named after the Slovenian mathematician Jure Vega, will come into operation in March 2011 and it will be a joint operation between the Euro HPC and the Institute of Inform...

Sit back and relax, this week I talk to yoga teacher Patricija Roj but not only about yoga it’s also about her music. Patricija sings herself so we enlisted the help of musician Igor Bezget and recorded three of the tracks during the making of the show. Dim the lights and join us on her journey.

Spela Logar had a dream from primary school days to travel to the UK and study English. Having completed secondary schooling, she started to study Slovene but felt her heart wasn’t in it so she found herself an au-pair job in the suburbs of London. 6 months turned into a year as she was accepted for an English course at West Herts College. She has never questioned this good fortune having also spe...

Barbra Drnač loves dance, she moves with elegance and comes to our conversation with a smile and nothing but positive thoughts. Her professional life is certainly focused on dance and has been visible for many years in her dance TV show and many other appearances. In 2014 she became an ambassador of the Europa Donna association, yet her life is clearly as a leader, a dance expert and being a great...

Today’s journalism rarely offers a chance to get behind the face of many people in our society. My Life, My Music offers conversations that allow time to understand how the guest has reached their goals and what is important to them. Along with 8 tracks of music chosen by the guest the programme takes a journey though many different personal philosophies with inspirational guests from all walks of...

This week the show was recorded in RTV radio studios in Ljubljana as I invited the Director of the Slovene National Biological Institution, Dr Matjaz Kuntner to talk about the importance of the work carried out there. Of course, as ever, the conversation takes many turns as we visit the worlds’ ecology, many areas of research, a personal lifetime fascination of Matjaz, spiders and their role in st...

Boris Simončič is the Director of the Mirje Medical Centre in Ljubljana. He is a doctor of dental medicine, but he and a team of practitioners and researchers are also pioneering stem cell therapies in oral indications as well as other clinical areas. Of course, this means regenerative medicine and I want to know where this might lead us all. As well as his remarkable professional work he is a gen...

From a visitor point of view in past years Maribor has always seemed to be a place where people come for a day or two as part of a tour around Slovenia. More recently there has been a significant effort to make the city and its surroundings a real tourist destination with so much to enjoy that staying for a whole holiday is required! Doris Urbančič Windisch has been in the field of tourism for mos...

When you go to a show and have a really great time do the people who made it happen behind the scenes cross your mind? Well when it comes to the sound my guest in this show certainly deserves the applause. Gaber Lesjak is the live sound engineer for Narodni Dom in Maribor and not only does he love his job he has many tales to tell.

When I saw Igor Bezget making daily appearances with presentations and music on Facebook I was interested to talk to him about the idea, which we did, socially distanced, in the woods! Igor has been on My Life My Music before but that was many years ago and since our first conversation he has travelled the world and recorded so many fascinating artists I wanted to hear more. This programme tells s...