Peter Kušar (Local newspaper, 1982)



”The practice, very popular elsewhere but insufficiently present in our country, that good connoisseurs and performers of traditional music are also able to comment on the tradition they perform and on the instruments they play, proved to be very interesting and useful here...

... Mira Omerzel T. and Matija Terlep reached the highest point at the museum concert.”

(Vjesnik, Zagreb, 1984)

”... with a certain noble and descrete persistence, Mira and Matija Terlep have already achieved considerable changes of values in the field of musical education, even that of pre-school children in kindergartens, which gives them a particular satisfaction; in doing so, they see a chance to revive the potency of our folk music tradition...

The method of work practiced by the Terleps in the field of folk music could be most aptly compared to conservation methods applied on the monuments of folk architecture where many a thing must still be uncovered, restored, revitalized, if all the qualities of a building are to be presented. In conservators' practice, such methods are standard, necessary, professionally recognized... Such folk music from the Terlep preservation workshop is a monument, an artistically living monument.'

Anka Novak (Glasnik slovenskega etnološkega društva/Journal of Slovene Ethnological Society, 1986)

”The songs of the ensemble reveal more and more of those unbelievably frightful, but also redeeming links of the crude reality, concentrated even more roughly in words, medieval or modern reality... Due to the performers' experience and because their activity has been tested a number of times, they have achieved something more: a special refinement or, one could say, poetic elegance, the confidence maturity which... developed into a fundamental and exciting aspect of our musical culture.”

Peter Kušar (Dnevnik, 1988)

”A special charm of this musical evening was made by the inclusion of explanations to and definitions of individual songs and various instruments... in this case such commentaries were necessary and, besides, they were also so direct, spontaneous and unobtrusive that they formed a delightful integral part of the musical evening.”

(Mladina, 1982)

”The visitors were of the opinion that the concert kept their attention. The ones who had listened carefully to the music as well as the explanations left feeling enriched.”

Christoph Wagner (Schwarzwälder Bote, 1989)

”Every concert of the Trutamora Slovenica ensemble is a very special experience. Images of our grandfathers and grandmothers during the mysterious twelve nights of the Christmastide are moving fast in front of the eyes of the listeners...

...Presentation of the sensuality of our ancestors... reveals to us that sometime in the distant past, when life was closely related to nature and bound solely to the sensation of time, the Slovenes did not at all lag behind other ethnicities in the understanding of the existing world. Therefore, the Trutamora Slovenica ensemble did an invaluable job, to present to the audience, besides Christmas Carols, also the exciting musical culture of our ancestors, recovered from dusty archives...”

(Delo, 1990; From St. Nicholas to the Epiphany)

”It is unbelievable how still those little rascals can be... The children were simply motionless. It might have been curiosity, or the primeval power of the music sounding from nearly forgotten instruments, that betwitched them.”

Breda Oblak (Pionirski list, 1987)



”Their work is a guarantee that, at least, we are going to preserve the knowledge as to where the paths once led to the roots of sound.”

Slavica Borka Kucler (Večer, 1999)



”It is not only a matter of research results. When the performers convey the sound to the visitors of a concert, it must surpass the world of science, since the investigated subject expresses itself in art language. Only in such a way the messages have preserved their timeless dimension and left their stamp in the memory. The handed down material's travel through time and its consequent transformations did not significantly change the messages about life, way of thinking and feeling of our ancestors, therefore we can still grasp their ancient whispering even now.”

Jasna Vidakovič (Radio Slovenija, 1999)



"The room is filled with an aura of the past, but when Mira Omerzel-Terlep and Matija Terlep take the instruments in their hands and begin singing, the ancient musical instruments suddenly spring to life."

(Revija Slovenija, 1989)



“It is precisely this ensemble – its cassettes, LPs and CDs are immediately sold out – that has brough the long-neglected and forgotten musical folk tradition (instrumental and vocal, of all Slovene regions) into our space.”

Neva Železnik (Delo, 1998)



“The CD, which is the third in the series of "Folk Songs and Instruments" thus fills up the void in recording and especially in publishing folk music in Slovenia... It is not a matter of folk performance, but a well-founded presentation of Slovene folk creativity.”

Matjaž Barbo (Glasbena mladina)



”The Bleiche Mond LP by Mira Omerzel Terlep is a continuation of her attempt to enrich the Slovene and foreign public with the vanishing sound tradition of Slovene regions.”

Milan Dekleva (Dnevnik, 1991)



“Each of the two, Mira Omerzel T. and Matija Terlep, can play as many as a dozen folk instruments. They collect instruments, sing and play, and they represent one of the rare living ties between professional work and mission on the one hand and genuine folk musicians on the other.'

'The Trutamora Slovenica ensemble thus had the role of the initiator of the concert and the linking agent between its two parts, the first one which was performed by folk musicians, and the second one which was performed by professional musicians...

... We heard some musical works elaborated above the average, and several really master pages of music...

In all probability, none of the commissions placed by our central musical institutions has received such a wide response from our composers (P. Merku, L. Lebič, V. Globokar, J. Jež, T. Svete).

... all the performances at this concert were composed and convincing, the composers' music had the performers it deserved.”

P.Kušar (Dnevnik, Symposium:”Development of Slovene Ethnology from Štrekelj to Murko, and to Contemporary Ethnological Efforts – from Štrekelj’s folk songs and his records to modern music based on folk themes”, 1995)



'Try to remain further a living example of how to help to transform darkness into light and the blessedness of sound.'

(From listeners' letters: Cica Kolar, Ljubljana, 1999)

Thank you, dear angels, for all the beauty, joy, love and knowledge... Never in my life have I heard and felt so much of intense love in the audience in such a short spell of time. Thank you for the multitude of energy that emanated from your devoted work, so that the audience could experience the culminating point – the fusion of your professionalism and devotion together with humbleness before the beauty of Slovene folk music.'

(From listeners' letters: Dionizija Fonović, Pula, 1999)

'When the trees become aware of their roots. I am a Slovene. Already for 50 years. And all until that evening, I was not able to recognize my Slovene roots within myself. What does it mean to be a Slovene? I have no other experience in this life that could represent some reference. I felt myself to be an inhabitant of this planet; many a time I carefully listened to my inner self to discover when I would begin to feel my Slovenehood and what it would be like.

And then it happened that evening in the Equrna gallery, while I was listening to the three of you, Mira's trio. I suddenly felt how the root web was growing larger and larger within me, and I realized with my material senses that that was that - now I knew and felt I was a Slovene. I felt my archetypal nature, my belonging to this part of our dear Mother Earth, I felt a kind of my continuity from times immemorial, I sensed an immensely calm, quiet piece of myself...

I was happy. Tears came running down my cheeks uncontrolled, as if I had felt my true home. My soul. I felt a gentle gratitude.'

(From listeners' letters: Cvetka Mehle, Pirniče,1996)