Zupan's prison chansons taken to Paris

The concert at the Patronage Laique Jules Vales cultural centre, which is committed to intercultural dialogue, is being organised in cooperation with the Slovenian Embassy in Paris.

The Paris audience may expect to learn something about Slovenian literary and social history through Zupan's poems and songs, Mavrič told the STA ahead of the gig.

"Zupan was travelling, boxing, making love, waging war, boozing... and he knew what was going on in Paris before the Second World War. That's what we are going to present to them."

For a perfect night, the pair will be joined on stage by French actor Jean-Philippe Raymond. He will interpret excerpts from Zupan's novel Levitan and provide his comments on each song.

"Paris is a metropolis and everyone is keen to perform there because it gives you a chance to test yourself as an artist and messenger. I would like Paris to accept us in its chanson intimacy and that Zupan's bitterness and vitality strike a chord with the audience," said Mavrič.

The music act Songs and Poems from Prison was first put on at Ljubljana's Cankarjev dom in April 2015 and was also released on an album under the same name by ZKP RTV Slovenija.

Seeking to capture the spirit of Zupan's age, the album features 13 songs; for six, music was written by Kovačič, while seven are takes on popular tunes referred to by Zupan.

After performing in Slovenia, Mavrič and Kovačič have also made guest appearances in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Their next gig is planned in Kiev in April.

A restless spirit, Zupan joined the resistance after the outbreak of WWII, but was arrested by the Italian forces and sent to a concentration camp. He fled and joined the partisan resistance.

After the war, Zupan was first officially recognised as a writer, but was imprisoned for several years by the Communist authorities.