The story of the popular flowers "murke"

Murke are flowers related to orchids. In Slovenia we have three basic ones – red, black and one from Kamnik region, which is the only endemic. Her home is mainly in Krvavec and the Kamnik Alps.

The Murke’s most celebrated the Avsenik Waltz Where the Murke Blossom. Slavko Avsenik wrote the legendary bestseller in 1957. “I was caused by many melodies where the murals flourish. My wife and I were staying at Ježica, Vilko was sleeping in the next room. The first part of the song was played in the accordion as it should be, while the second part always stuck to me. Vilko appeared in the kitchen in the middle of the night as a good spirit, suggesting how I should finish the tune. This is how the waltz came into being, which we immediately liked, and from the very beginning, they envisioned a text that would sing Murke – rare flowers that grow in the Draga Valley. With the new proposal, the next day, guitarist Leo Ponikvar and Souvan’s bandmate sent to Ferry Souvan, who wrote the text in a single day. However, he had previously taken the train from Ljubljana to the Draga valley, which he admired with Kamen Castle. ”

In the first version she is sung by Marija Ahačič Pollak. The song was an unprecedented success among Radio Ljubljana listeners – the euphoria was so great that many even went on a trip to the Draga Valley to see the famous flowers with their own eyes.

In 1959, the first record of Avsenik’s big record appeared at the Zagreb gramophone Jugoton Where the Murke Blossom, with six major and two folk hits at the title track. For all of Avsenik’s vocal vistas, the lyrics were contributed by Ferry Souvan.

There is another anecdote about the famous waltz: Marija Ahačič Pollak recalls that a local singer in Detroid, USA proudly showed her a new record “Where the Cucumbers Blossom”. Astonished Ahačič explained to her, that the text of the song was probably translated by an expart from Slovene Styria, where they know in a dialect Murke as cucumbers. The Avsenik’s waltz is singing, of course, about special flowers.

You can also play the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCglbwG4G6w

Marko Kumer