The Regiment is on the March

The selection of songs on this compact disc takes both into account: on the one hand, it reveals the traces of war in song as etched into the memory of the nation, and on the other hand it takes into account the reflection of life in them – whether that which was directly connected with wars or preparation for them, or the recollection of wartime events long after the roar of the guns had ceased. It was this life that determined the durability of the traces of these songs among the people.

This compact disc therefore presents not only military songs in the basic sense of the term, but also includes songs that are indirectly connected with these events; that is, songs that the first scholarly edition of Slovenian folk songs partially classified as ballads, and partially as love songs. Interwoven with these are instrumental melodies and traditional Slovenian bell chiming. The combination of these songs into a uniform sound memory offers an insight not only into the way that song transforms the image of wars, but also how it is reflected in memory that transcends time.

The Folk Song as a Reflection of Wars and Preparation for War

The most historically recognizable songs on the compact disc are reworkings in song of events that are directly connected with wars or preparations for them. This group also includes the first two ballads – connected with the figures of Adam Ravbar (16th c.) and Gideon Ernst von Laudon (1717–1790) – that reflect the wars with the Turks in song. Namely, the memory of these great military conflicts and victories has endured the longest in the form of ballads. This is only preserved in folk heritage with the midday ringing of the Angelus.

Other songs that directly relate to known military conflicts do not deal with these events in a narrative manner. The basic characteristic in the emergence of these songs was their topicality, which was connected with their fundamental role of emboldening soldiers. Songs of this type, including those that refer to military engagements right up to the 20th century, are most appropriately termed “military songs” with regard to their direct connection with wars and their content.

A comparison of these types of military songs collected in various periods25 presents an interesting finding: as the events with which they are connected have receded in time, the topicality of these songs has faded as well. Military songs connected to historical events were therefore subjected not only to the general processes of change that are characteristic for folk songs, but were also quickly forgotten by people when they were replaced by more current ones (Krek 1858: 243, Štrekelj 1908: 3–4) or were consciously or unconsciously interwoven into new song narratives about wars.

Despite this process, Slovenian folk songs connected with wars and warfare have preserved traces from the oldest periods right up to military engagements in the First World War and even the Second World War. The oldest military songs in today’s sense of the term go back to the time of mercenary armies (Kumer 1992: 12). Mercenary armies were made possible by the development of firearms and the introduction of trained infantrymen and light cavalry. Mercenary forces already had a constant presence in Slovenia in the second half of the 15th century (Simoniti 1991: 114–115). Whereas the songs about the conflicts with the Turks preserved the images of heroes, the songs connected with the mercenary armies recall the tricks used to recruit soldiers and they are therefore also tinged with regret. Military songs also retained a number of terms and concepts relating to the everyday lives of soldiers from the time of the mercenary armies, and it is in songs that these have been preserved the longest.

Even though collectors lamented the disappearance of songs about the battles with the Turks during the very first efforts to collect traditional Slovenian military songs (Krek 1858: 243), in people’s consciousness considerable vitality was maintained through folk song as a memory of the time of universal compulsory military service – that is, the period after 1769, when forced recruitment was introduced, or after 1771, when Empress Maria Theresa defined recruitment districts for all regiments (Švajncer 1992: 66). This recruitment was characterized by lifetime military service. A large number of songs come from this time, and therefore the opinion prevailed that it was only with universal compulsory military service that military songs truly took root in Slovenia (Čremošnik 1939: 352). Many songs that were created during this time explicitly or indirectly mention the introduction of “new patents” (Štrekelj 1900–1903: 249–251, Štrekelj 1908–1923: 26–53, 91, 153).

Along with apparent equality among people, this era of universal military service introduced an important distinction: this compulsory service meant that as many recruits were collected among potential conscripts as were needed (Kumer 1992: 14). These circumstances explain the semantic background of numerous folk songs and, on the other hand, the folk songs shed light on the method of selecting recruits, which was based on social stratification (Jelušič et al. 2000: 335).

Among the perils of war and the images of the enemy that pertain to the time of universal compulsory military service, the images of the French stand out in particular. These songs can be understood as testimony to the era, and at the same time the French – like the Turks before them – replaced the enemies in certain older military songs (cf. Kumer 1992: 17). This relates to two periods that, despite certain other military dangers and conflicts, had the greatest impact on everyday life. The military song connected to the memory of wars was the strongest and the most enduring when it intersected not only with the foundations of individuals’ lives, but also those of the group; that is, existence in one’s own territory.

Military Songs Intertwined with Everyday Life

The images of songs connected with wars and warfare was shaped not only by their role in wars and preparations for war, but also their vividness in everyday life. These songs had various roles during time that were not marked by war. The oldest songs connected with significant military events in which the common people did not participate were preserved as a glorification of these events, primarily the battles with the Turks. These songs became established among the common people in the role of sung narratives and served to pass the time during certain group tasks. They largely preserved this role until the middle of the 19th century, when the first transcribers of Slovenian folk songs succeeded in recording them, and they occasionally persisted even longer, in part due to their publication in school textbooks or songbooks (Ahacel 1838: 21, Marolt 1915: 41, Andrejka 1916: 43).

Whereas the songs connected with the major conflicts with the Turks rapidly disappeared in the mid-19th century, the military songs connected with the experiences of the common people themselves had greater resonance. These songs were fashioned in the constant tension between two extremes, between events connected with the duration of military service, wars, preparations for war, and their direct effects, and with the intimate experiences of the backdrop of these wars, with the relationships that marked life far from the battlefield. For the most part, the connection with military service occurred at the intersection of these two opposing orientations, and sometimes as the depiction in song of one or the other.

Military songs in the rear area, in everyday life, existed not only with the departure of recruits of soldiers to the front, but also enriched everyday life on special occasions after they returned from the battlefields. At first they were sung in places where older and younger men congregated. This was primarily in two environments: in inns and during traditional serenading. With regard to various circumstances and the accompanying climate, these songs differed from one another considerably. The jolly atmosphere of drinking highlighted heroism and pride, often as a memory of success and social life during the time of military service or during war. This suited songs that preserved a heroic, and sometimes fatalistic, memory of war. These songs also retained their character the longest in this environment.

The atmosphere in traditional serenading, in which military songs were also often sung, was the opposite of this; the songs that belonged here were those that would assist the young men in opening the girls’ windows. Songs connected with taking leave of a girl and home, with departures, which were often the only departure for these men and did not promise a return, had great expressiveness. They were also preserved when the circumstances surrounding their creation had already been forgotten and they only retained a message of farewell from one’s beloved. Thus, more than departure for the front or military service, the role of these songs in traditional serenading influenced their vitality.

Serenading kept songs connected with farewells when departing for military service topical and alive, and therefore, of the songs connected with war and warfare, these have remained most numerous and most recognizable. This is demonstrated by written transcriptions and sound recordings, especially those collected in the past decades, at a time when the memory of not only military conflicts, but also traditional serenading, has faded.

The vitality of songs that were originally connected with departure for military service is only one of the reasons that have been completely overlooked so far for the melancholy impression of traditional Slovenian military songs. Leo Hajek, who recorded Austro-Hungarian soldiers’ singing during the First World War, drew attention to another overlooked reason: like other South Slavic nations, the Slovenians prefer to sing after completing their work, while at rest, for which more peaceful ballad-like songs are more suitable (Hajek 1916).

The melancholy of Slovenian military songs therefore does not signify the cowardice of Slovenian soldiers, but is an expression of the intertwining of customs from everyday life and life in the barracks or at the front. Namely, like at home, for the soldiers singing was an expression of relaxation that followed work performed conscientiously and honorably (Klobčar in press).

Traditional Slovenian Military Songs on the Path to Independence

Traditional Slovenian military songs as shaped throughout the centuries are therefore not only a message in song about wars, heroism, and victims, but also perceptible images of the deepest human ties. These images are sketched out in the interweaving of peace and fatal conflicts, in preparations for war, and in the echo of them. In a special way, they also speak in connection with events that received symbolic significance at certain key moments in the development of Slovenian concepts of freedom.

Namely, at moments when freedom and honor were most severely tested, the song carried an important message and, more than this, experience in firmness of character. During times of new distress, Slovenians continually returned to this experience. As Valentin Vodnik wrote in 1809, “Once our forefathers sang, and they slaughtered the Turks; they sang, and ran after Hasan Pasha towards Sisak to drown him in the Sava; and if the Turks broke through to us, they chased them, so that some of the bandits barely escaped. So sing, dear Slovenians, these songs, let song inspire you to heroism, to the defense of our holy empire; and may eternal God assist us!” (Vodnik 1809: 6).

The military song thus also had symbolic significance at key moments. This was expressed in a special way in the revolutionary year of 1848, when a traditional Slovenian military song with a special expressiveness was taken up by a military band. At that time, they played “first a beautiful march, adapted from a traditional military song: ‘Four came to me / clad in yellow.’” When the band of the national guard unit of Carniola came from Kranj to Ljubljana and played this song, “everyone in Ljubljana was deeply moved;” the people felt “how much power a beautiful folk song has as band music; that is, if it is played by a band and turned into a march, a lively melody, and so on” (Navratil 1858: 110).

During these difficult times, the folk song inspired courage and hope, and simultaneously these times of great distress also revived old folk songs. These influences were especially surprising during the mobilization at the beginning of the First World War, when “all at once, folk songs were being revived that nobody had heard before.” Therefore the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War’s decision to record soldiers’ singing in the rear areas was also quite significant. These audio recordings, which were made by the Phonogrammarchiv of Vienna, are therefore important to Slovenians not only as recordings of songs, but also as the only direct testimony to the perception of the distress of war expressed through these remnants of sound.

These stresses acquired a new dimension during the Second World War, when the traditional Slovenian military song served to express different understandings of affiliation and freedom, loyalty, and resistance. Various perspectives on ideals encouraged, liberated, and gave purpose to the fighting and its resolution. Understood in this way, the stresses and hopes were maintained until a new era, in which independence was attained in 1991.

This thought also characterizes this compact disc, Regiment po cesti gre / The Regiment Is on the March. Its message is semantically connected with the fate of the song selected for this title: the time of distress and conflict that engendered this song was also capable of overcoming this conflict through song – with a song that traveled not only from soldier to soldier, but from nation to nation as well. And Slovenians used songs to preserve their bearing even when their own sense of nationhood was threatened.

Today, in a time caught between internalization and globalization, Slovenian military songs continue to have resonance among people on special occasions. Here and there they serve as a living or faded memory of successes or of a war that inflicted wounds, but for the most part as its reflection among the people: not only as pride or pain, but as a memory of departure and anticipated reunion – as a memory of friendships that overcame fear; as a clear thought that is something more than the memory of home, a girl, and the field behind the village; as a fading response in song to the ties that are stronger than the roar of the guns.