Last News15. Jazz Cerkno ´10 (13. - 15. maj) 
Which is organized by Zavod Gabrijel Fest, has been going on since 1996; it takes place on penultimate May weekend, when the festival brings to Cerkno acknowledged musicians from the whole world as well as struggling artists, taking special care in inviting Slovenian musicians. The programme emphasis is on unconventional, improvized, creative music, where jazz often meets other genres, from rock and electronic to ethnical music.
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PETER JEREB, folk music composer, born on 1 June 1867 in Cerkno. Music crossed his path already in high school, when he studied violin. He lost his parents early. He was taken in by his uncle, a priest near Kamnik. At age seventeen he enrolled in the organ music school in Ljubljana. At the same time he was trained for a municipality secretary. He started working in Litija, where he remained until his death in 1951. He was known as the choirmaster of the "Lipa" choir, a composer and cultural worker. He was an extremely prolific composer, having written about 200 compositions for male, female and mixed choir. He also composed church and orchestra music.
Dr. FRANČIŠEK BORGIA SEDEJ, archbishop of the Goriška region, born on 10 October 1854 in Cerkno. He was born in a farming family and was the only child to go to college. He became a priest, but continued the studies and in 1884 obtained a doctor's degree in theology. He spoke several languages and maintained contacts with learned men. He co-operated with the famous Slavic scholar Baduen de Courtney, who on Sedej's initiative visited the Cerkno region and studied the local dialect. In 1906 Sedej was appointed archbishop of the Goriška region. The history of the people from the Primorska region was most influenced by his activity during the fascist occupation. He fought for the rights of the Slovene people, for preservation of the Slovene language in schools, churches and everyday life. In the end he became a victim of fascism. In 1931 he decided to retire, also due to the Pope's persuasion. He wanted to be replaced by a person who would treat people of all nationalities equally, which unfortunately did not happen.
FRANCE BEVK, a writer, born on 17 September 1890. He was born to a poor cottage family in Zakojca. As a child, he already enjoyed reading, a habit he kept to throughout his life. He was a teacher, but did not practice his profession long. He focused on editorship and writing. His bibliography is very extensive, including about 250 works. His writings are extremely diverse also in terms of topic and type of narration. He found ideas for his books in childhood and youth events, the life in villages in the Cerkno region, the history of peasant risings and the fascist occupation of the Primorska region. This era is depicted also by his best work, the novel "Kaplan Martin Čedermac". Due to his fascist regime opposed writing he was often imprisoned. His books have been translated into many European languages, even Japan, and his birth house is nowadays a museum open for visits.
Dr. FRANC MOČNIK, a mathematician, born on 1 October 1814 in Cerkno. The famous Slovene mathematician is thought to be the leading 19th century mathematical pedagogue in the then Central Europe. From his home town of Cerkno he left for school in Idrija, Ljubljana and Gorizia. He worked as a professor at the Civic School in Gorizia, the universities in Lwov and Olmuc as well as a school inspector in Ljubljana and Graz. He wrote many textbooks, manuals and methodological books. These were used by all primary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary of that time and also elsewhere. He laid the foundations of modern teaching of mathematics, which was thanks to him recognised as a subject developing precision and logical thinking. As a school inspector in charge of the Kranjska region he strove for the introduction of the Slovene language in primary schools.
RASPET JAKOB, a painter, portraitist and gilder, born on 1 July 1836 in Cerkno. Besides the Šubic painters from Poljane he is believed to be the most prominent representative of portrait workshops, which were in the past century (and prior to that) established between Poljane, Cerkno and Idrija. He made the altars in the parish Church of St. Anne in Cerkno. The interior of the succursal church in Zakriž is almost entirely his work. He was also a painter, quite good according to experts, although not distinguished for originality. His work was important for the Cerkno region, as Raspet was the first domestic artist to gain greater recognition working in a wider area.
JOSIP ŠTRAVS, portraitist, born on 3 March 1843 in Ravne pri Cerknem. He was trained as a portraitist by master Tavčar in Idrija. His portraits were not of the same quality as those made by Raspet, but he proved himself by making the altars in the Church of St. Bartholome in Cerkno. He worked much more than Raspet, for a long time also in the Dolenjska region. Later in his life he seriously took up photography. The oldest photographs of Idrija (before 1976) and Cerkno (1896) were taken by him.
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