“Rdeči cvet” (Red flower) or “La colpa fu” (The fault was…) is the signature song of one of Slovenia’s oldest popular-folk ensembles, Beneški fantje, who celebrated 70 years of continuous activity in 2022. This ensemble’s name, which translates to Venetian Boys, (not relating to Venice), refers to a region of Northeastern Italy called “Beneška Slovenija” in Slovenian, “Slavia Veneta” in Italian, or “Slavia Friulana” in English, which was named such because of its Slavic population that settled there in the 8th century AD. In the last few centuries within the Slovenian language it has come to mean “Venetian Slovenia” due to its Slovenian population.
Beneški fantje usually featured a traditional Slovenian trio (accordion, bass and guitar) with two vocalists, which for the longest period was Edi Bucovaz and Ludvik Urekar, who also feature on the original 1960s and 1970s recordings of “Rdeči cvet”. The original ensemble was founded by Anton Birtič, which was then split into 2 ensembles: Beneški fantje based in Slovenia, and Beneški fantje Antona Birtiča or Ansambel Antona Birtiča based in Italy.
This song was written by Italian composer Eros Sciorilli and initially performed by Italian singer Ugo Molinari at the 1956 Sanremo Music Festival. The Beneški fantje version is a slight departure from the original but maintains the same melody, while adopting the structure of a typical Slovenian polka. Its original Italian lyrics were also sung by Beneški fantje in a separate recording. The Slovenian language version features a few of the Italian words, like “Cadore” which, to my understanding, refers to the mountains of Cadore in Italy.
Sheet music
📝 Sheet music pdf (F)
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