Culture
Literature
Happy Birthday Mury!
08.01.2010
Mury (in English the closest name is ‘Murray’– it sounds the same.) the Cat and Matzie-Catsie, heroes of the famous children’s fairy-tale and songs are celebrating 25 years since their first television appearance and release of their audio cassette.Mury the Cat (Maček Muri) was written in 1975 by Kajetan Kovič, who is one of the finest Slovenian poets, a writer and translator of poetry, and as well a journalist and editor. This picture book was an immediate favourite among children, and became iconic when Jerko Novak set the story to music nine years later. Many know the songs by heart, or at least the beginning of the story: “When his little clock rings, Mury up he springs. He rubs his eyes with his paw. He airs his cat bed and brushes his cat jacket . . . .” Novak’s composition and Falk’s voice have extended cats’ lives by several times. Without a doubt most Slovenians, and not just children, can easily continue the lines of the poem.
For three to 90 years
In a documentary about the fairy-tale and its musical project Kovič said that he has always loved cats. But the inspiration for Mury came from a black cat from Styria that lived with his family in Ljubljana. His cat revived the child in him, and thus the story was born. According to the writer, this is a story for children from three to 90 years old, as everyone can find something appealing in it. He portrays the warm atmosphere of a real cat town with great care, where Mury goes to visit his cat friends and have fun every day. In the morning he goes to the tavern ‘The Happy Cow’ for a cup of milk and a special bread for cats. He is an adorable, black tomcat with human characteristics, a true bon vivant, but still a real gentleman when it comes to female cats. He is in love with the most beautiful cat in the city, Matzie-Catsie (Muca Maca). There are always a lot of male cats around her, but she is interested only in Mury. The other cats get green with envy when they spend time together, chatting and smiling. One day Mury invites Matzie for lunch at the inn ‘At the Black Cat.’ He walks past the cat’s confectionery, shoemaker, jeweller, bookstore, barbershop, and school. He also sees two cops arresting the local crook ‘The Big Chombe,’ who tried to rob a bank. While Matzie visits her friend Mici after lunch, Mury and his friend Mavo go to a football match. When the home team wins, they celebrate the victory with a large glass of milk. Mury’s day ends like every day, when he returns home and writes down all the important events that occurred in ‘The Cat City’ that day in a book for the Mayor.
Rock Bible for Children
These short stories and songs about the cat world have attracted young audiences, their parents, and even grandparents. More than 100,000 copies of tapes and CDs have been sold in 25 years, and around a thousand CDs a year are sold today. The music was composed by guitarist and composer Jerko Novak and his colleagues Miro Novak, Tone Dimnik, Igor Leonardi, Lado Jakša, and Aleš Kocjan. Although the composition is made in various genres, it has many elements of rock so some call it a “rock bible” for children – as this is most likely their first contact with rock music.
There might be another aspect of the project. On this special 25th anniversary, the Slovenian poet and essayist Milan Dekleva set a “poetic luminescence,” as he called his psycho-sociological description of the phenomenon of Mury the Cat. For him, this Styrian/Ljubljana cat is a post-socialist bon vivant that personifies local inhabitants in the best possible sense. He is a poet who knows how to enjoy life and play innocent tricks, is both serious and honest, and is also dreamy when it comes to impressing Matzie. These are the reasons this unique character has become universal and eternal in rock songs.
So far, Muri has been translated to English, German, Greek, Croatian, Serbian, and Korean.
To mark the anniversary, several screenings of the documentary about the musical project and concerts with the original band line-up, including the singer Neca Falk, will be held in Ljubljana soon.