GAL GEORGE GJURIN – #Gal 25

One of the most prolific Slovenian-Canadian musicians, singers, and songwriters is celebrating 25 years of a rich artistic career. Gal’s creative work has always transcended genre boundaries, encompassing original music, poetry, jazz, free improvisation, orchestral works, folk and traditional music, world music, and collaborations with leading Slovenian and international musicians, as well as work in film, theatre, and dance.

Over a quarter-century of artistic activity, Gjurin has developed a distinctive musical and poetic voice, combining extraordinary emotional depth expressed through a three-octave vocal range, lyrics rich in meaning, instrumental virtuosity, and outstanding studio production.

With his 2024 album How About a Kiss?, Gjurin established himself as one of the key figures in the emerging contemporary “metro folk” genre. The album fuses traditional Canadian folk music with urban musical elements drawn from funk, jazz, blues, rock, acoustic hip-hop, orchestral music, world music, and soul, all underpinned by poetic lyrics.

His provocative Canadian album Dark Country, released in 2025, pushed these boundaries even further, stretching the limits of traditional folk music toward bluegrass, jazz, and film music.

The same spirit defines Gjurin’s latest rebellious and poetic folk-grunge album, The Milkman, released in 2026. The album paints a portrait of eastern Toronto, particularly Oshawa, Gjurin’s home region, known as a working-class, blue-collar, union-oriented stronghold in Canada. At the same time, it champions artistic integrity in music and firmly rejects the use of artificial intelligence in musical creation.

Over the past five years, Gjurin has also received nominations for two major Canadian national music folk awards. As someone who spends half his time creating music in Toronto and has been Canadian by descent through his mother’s side of the family, he was nominated at the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMA) for Folk Producer/album of the Year 2025, competing against 650 folk albums from across Canada. He was also nominated for Best Performing Artist of the Year 2025 at the national FOLK CANADA Music Awards in 2025.

Gjurin is also the recipient of several prestigious Canadian music awards, including three crystal trophies (awards) and seven notable nominations at Toronto’s OMA Music Awards and the regional DREAMS Music Awards in Durham (Greater Toronto Area (GTA)) – among these accolades was the main Artist of the Year in 2024.

Special guests and collaborators

Joining Gal on stage at Cankarjev dom will be his sister, Severa Gjurin, with whom he has been making music since childhood. Their duets, acoustic concerts, and albums are renowned for their warmth, vocal harmony, and musical sincerity.

Singer-songwriter Will Gillespie will travel to Ljubljana from Timmins in northern Ontario. His chanson-inspired songwriting, lyrically positioned somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, captivates audiences with its poetic exploration of love, distinctive socially critical humour, and vivid depictions of the harsh realities faced by Scottish and Irish immigrants during Canada’s gold rush, alongside mining stories from the past. He will present his new album, Summer’s Last Legs, on which Gal George Gjurin also contributed as a multi-instrumentalist. Gillespie is a recipient of DREAMS Music Award in Durham (Greater Toronto Area (GTA)) for Best Song of the Year.

Brandon Ruch, a rising Canadian guitar star from Fort Erie, near Niagara Falls, is an exceptionally versatile guitarist, vocalist, and studio producer from the younger generation, distinguished by his original playing style. Like Gillespie, he joined Gjurin’s touring band for the latter’s 2025 Canadian tour.

Returning to the stage at Cankarjev dom is Ottawa-born indie singer-songwriter Veronica Charnley, known as Plumes, who lives in Paris. Her madrigal-like voice, deeply moving original songs, and distinctive interpretations draw on the rich urban folk traditions of Montreal and Ottawa, blended with Parisian musical aesthetics, classical music, and electronic sounds. She performed as a guest of Gjurin during the unpredictable touring years of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022.

Erin Okrainec, from Winnipeg in Manitoba, western Canada, is an outstanding violinist of the younger generation. Her work focuses on exploring both traditional and contemporary folk music, including the contemporary folk style pursued by Gjurin, as well as Ukrainian traditional music and melodies. The two musicians also performed together at FMO 2025, Canada’s largest music conference, held in Ottawa.
 

Alongside the Canadian guests, the stage of Gallus Hall will also feature two of Gjurin’s longtime collaborators: veteran singer-songwriter Aleksander Mežek, with whom Gjurin released the new album Žeronška Koreta 2.0 this year, serving as its music producer and arranger; and versatile vocalist and musician Tinkara Kovač, who has collaborated with Gjurin for the past ten years, as well as Nada Barle, an exceptional saxophonist and vocalist with extensive experience across a wide range of musical genres, who has also been a guest performer at many of his concerts. Young keyboardist Timotej Majer has likewise previously performed with Gjurin as part of the MMS Festival 2026. 

The audience will also be introduced to young singer-songwriter and poet Tadej Kraševec from Krško, an emerging talent of the younger singer-songwriter generation. Gjurin served as producer and co-writer on his debut solo album, Bližje, released this year.

Also performing will be Anja Oraže, an outstanding singer from Austrian Carinthia with a uniquely distinctive vocal timbre. She works closely with Gjurin on the Ljubke ljudske project, which Gjurin has dedicated to researching Slovenian folk songs and promoting them internationally.

The concert will be further enriched by the male vocal ensemble Kresnik from Sežana, supported by members of Gjurin’s regular band: pianist, drummer, and producer Niko Kostanjevec; zither player Janja Brlec; bassist Boštjan Copek; and guitarist Leon Žunec.

Line-up
Gal George Gjurin, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bugarija, harmonica (Canada/Slovenia)
Severa Gjurin,  vocals (Slovenia/Canada)
Will James Gillespie,  vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, harmonica (Canada)
Veronica Charnley – Plumes, vocals (Canada)
Tinkara Kovač, vocals, flutes (Slovenia); 
Aleksander Mežek, vocals, acoustic guitar (Slovenia)
Leon Žunec, acoustic and electric guitars, brač, alto saxophone (Slovenia)
Erin Okrainec — fiddle (Canada)
Brandon Ruch, electric guitar (Canada)
Niko Kostanjevec, piano, drums, percussion (Slovenia)
Tadej Kraševec, vocals, acoustic guitar (Slovenia)
Janja Brlec,  zithers, vocals (Slovenia)
Anja Oraže, vocals (Austria)
Boštjan Copek, electric bass, double bass (Slovenia)
Nada Barle, tenor saxophone (Slovenia)
Male vocal ensemble Kresnik (Slovenia)
Susan Robinson, set design (Canada)