Slovenian folk-pop music as a place and nation making strategy between heritage and popular culture

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of festivals and their representatives.

Festival	Organization / Representative	Summary of objectives and activities
Folk-Pop Festival Ptuj / Festival narodnozabavne glasbe Ptuj (1969-)	Radio Tednik Ptuj / Domen Hren, Editor of Radio Ptuj	Oldest folk-pop festival. Emphasis on the national importance of the festival and the genre. An important element of Ptuj as a tourist and festival destination. Nationwide audience.
Števerjan Festival / Festival narodnozabavne glasbe Števerjan (1971-)	Catholic Cultural and Educational Society Frančišek Borgija Sedej / Ilaria Bergnach, President of the association and Stefania Beretta, Secretary of the association	Second oldest folk-pop festival; a cross-border festival with a focus on community bonding and the preservation of Slovenian heritage among the Slovenian diaspora in Italy. A part of the festival are tourism, gastronomy and highlighting local providers. Local and international audience.
Singing and Dancing on Graška gora / Graška Gora poje in igra (1976-)	Cultural Association Graška Gora / Drago Plazl, President of the association	Third oldest folk-pop festival. Involving the wider local community in the organization. National and international audiences.
Folk-Pop Festival Cerkvenjak / Festival Slovenskogoriški klopotec Cerkvenjak (1986-)	Cultural Association Cerkvenjak / Danijel Zorko, President of the association	Involving the wider local community in the organization. Focus on local audiences. Partly national and international audiences.
Vurberk Folk Pop Festival / Festival narodnozabavne glasbe Vurberk (1992-)	Vurberk Tourist Board / Janez Toplak, Secretary of the association	Initiated by the Vurberk Tourist Board, with the aim of revitalizing the town and the castle courtyard. Emphasis on the Slak style of folk pop. Nationwide audience.
An Evening of Slovenian Dialectal Songs Škofja Loka / Večer slovenskih viž v narečju Škofja Loka (2001-)	Radio Sora / Nada Jamnik, Director	Emphasis on singing in dialects. Emphasis on local audiences. Partly national and international audiences.
Oberkrainer / Folk-Pop Hit Parade / Oberkrainerfest / Narodnozabavna hit parada, Bled (2004-)	Bled Culture Institute / Lili Ošterbenk Janša, head of the Oberkrainer Hit Parade project	Tourism initiative to revitalize Bled in the ‘dry’ month of November. Focus on the Oberkrainer or Avsenik style folk pop, both Slovenian and foreign ensembles invited. Primary focus on international audience.
New Year's Celebration Volksmusik Festival / Novoletni festival narodnozabavne glasbe Dolenjske Toplice (2005-)	Dolenjske Toplice Municipality in Tourist Information Center Dolenjske Toplice / Franc Vovk, Mayor of Dolenjske Toplice	Tourism initiative to organize a musical festival during Christmas holidays. Primarily aimed at a local audience. Partly a nationwide audience.
Folk-Pop Music Festival at the Foothills of Pohorje, Oplotnica / Festival pod Pohorjem Oplotnica (2017-)	Cultural Association Festival Oplotnica / Franci Ribič, President of the association	Involving the wider local community in the organization. Primarily aimed at local audiences. Partly nationwide audience.
Modrijani Night / Noč Modrijanov (2003-)	Blaž Švab, main Vocalist of the Modrijani ensemble and Modrijani Night organizer	Two-day event headed by one of the most popular contemporary Slovenian folk-pop bands, Modrijani, and their musical guests from different musical genres. Organized in the Slovenian town of Celje, known for its medieval history and trade fair tourism.

Table 2. An initial typology of folk-pop festivals as heritage tourism stakeholders with national and local place making agendas.

Characteristics	Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4
Function of folk pop as heritage in the festival’s concept	Folk pop as national heritage in a micronational setting	Folk pop as local and transnational community building	Folk pop as a tourist attraction and regional (transnational) heritage	Folk pop as national heritage with global popularity potential
Organizers’ strategic priorities	To stage ‘national tradition’ as a matter of quality, resonance, and popularity.	To stage ‘local (and minority) cultural tradition’ as a matter of cultural specificity, social interaction, specific customs, and habits.	Local tourism promotion (&profit) by staging ‘local cultural tradition’ as a matter of cultural specificity and excellent sound.	To rebrand the genre for new (younger) audiences and branding of the band as folk pop’s contemporary stars. Modernizing the festival infrastructure. The tourist attraction is not the place where the festival is held, but the band itself – folk pop fan tourism.
Target audience/s	Slovenian upper-middle- and middle-class tourists, local distinguished figures, less-so foreign tourists.	Locals; tourists from both sides of the border.	Foreign Oberkrainer-sound lovers.	Fans from Slovenia and abroad.
Funding sources	Some national, mostly municipal funding.	Some regional funding, municipal funding (from Italy). As well as Slovenian funding by the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad.	Completely commercial initiative.	Completely commercial initiative.
Festival’s role in framing music as heritage	Stakeholder in critical and popular discussions on what folk pop is/not.	Harnesses music as a local social-cohesion mechanism & tourism attractor; endorses a loose definition of folk pop as heritage.	A regionally specific musical tradition is promoted as a localized attraction and a regional and transnational community-building factor.	Folk pop music is understood as a personal, national, and potentially global brand. A loose and open definition of folk pop is endorsed for ensuring appeal to diverse audiences.
Relevance of place making and nation branding to the festival’s concept	Specific place as a microsetting of the nation; ambition to canonize ‘Slovenian tradition’ through music, settings, selection process. Model example: Ptuj.	Specific place uses locally available music ‘tradition’ for local social cohesion and strengthening ties with the homeland. Glocal strategies (promotion of minority culture). Model example: Števerjan.	Specific place affirms ‘local tradition’ (intangible heritage) as larger than nation and region through marketing, programme curation, supporting programme. The notion of tradition is, in this case, seen as incommensurable with the ideas of the nation and region, because it exceeds and cannot be framed within these terms. Model example: Bled.	Nation posited as a metaphysical, spiritual ‘place’. Folk pop used as a ‘national’ tradition and heritage to reinforce a popular band’s iconic brand. Folk pop is seen as a tradition of nationally specific entertainment that can be hybridized with global popular genres and modernized. Model example: Modrijani Night.
Other similar cases	Similar intentions, but not as place-oriented: Vurberk; Škofja Loka.	Similar intentions, but not as tourist-oriented: Oplotnica, Cerkvenjak.	Similar intentions, but not as place-oriented: Dolenjske Toplice (not Oberkrainer sound).	Similar intentions: Festival Avsenik