Art Against the Rifle: Slovo Javorovo!

On 22 August 2025, Cerkev Sv. Duha in Javorca will host a musical-scene performance entitled Slovo Javorovo!

Artistic ensemble:

• Svetlana Spajić, artistic director, vocals,
• Ljoba Jenče, vocals,
• Ana Kravanja, vocals, violin,
• Tijana Golubović, vocals, viola,
• Karin Krivec, vocals,
• Irena Kovačević, vocals,
• Jani Kutin, vocals,
• Oktet Simon Gregorčič, vocals,
• Incredible Bob – lighting effects.

The musical and theatrical event Oj Javore! at the memorial church named Cerkev Sv. Duha in Javorca is a poetic cantata created by Svetlana Spajić in collaboration with renowned Slovenian artists Ljoba Jenče, Ana Kravanja, Jani Kutin, the Simon Gregorčič Octet, Irena Kovačević, and promising young singer Karin Krivec. The ancient Slavic word slovo in the title has several meanings – it refers to a sermon, storytelling, and is associated with the said church in Javorca, with logos, and also with the iconic nature of folk songs themselves.

Songs from various Slovenian regions, prophetic texts by Simon Gregorčič, balladic tales of soldiers from the Great War, and contemporary poetry—mostly performed a cappella—intertwine and merge into a transgenerational past to honor the fallen soldiers of the Soča Front and the creator of the memorial church, Remigius Geyling. Just as their names were carved into the walls of the church in Javorca—together with a fresco of an angel, an image of his wife—in the hope that they would be preserved in memory forever, folk songs also strive to immortalize the events and people of history.

On 22 August, performers and audience will gather in Javorca; thus, physical reality will meet the transcendent dimension of folk songs, in which the maple tree has always represented the burial ground of fallen soldiers and a symbol of their new eternal home.

You can read more about the event at this link or on Facebook. Registration for this free event is available at this link.