DJ Cvere
News of the death of the beloved Gorizia DJ Miran Vodopivec—better known as DJ Cvere—resonated across all Slovenian media in 2021. This comes as no surprise, as his name is almost always mentioned whenever the golden age of Slovenian discotheques is discussed.
During his 40-year career, he kept dance floors moving in clubs and venues across Koper, Izola, Portorož, Piran, Ankaran, Trieste, Nova Gorica, and beyond. He was among the pioneers who introduced new dance genres to local audiences—often a challenging task in a region traditionally loyal to rock music. He also mentored new generations of DJs, including DJ Sebo, Matis, Alex, and others.
“He would often surprise us with new colourful hairstyles, and even more so with insights into music trends from London clubs and trade fairs in Rimini and Frankfurt,” recalled his colleague Miran Brumat in the article A DJ with a Smile, published in the Solkan newspaper after his death.
It was DJ Cvere who ensured that music in local clubs such as Odeon, KGB, Cream, Bugatti, Alkatraz, Faraon, and Captain Hook was on par with the best Italian discotheques of the time. His collaboration with another local legend, DJ Fabio, at the Alkatraz club— which closed in 1997 and later transformed into the more commercially oriented Faraon—firmly placed him, according to Brumat, in the pantheon of Slovenian “discotheque DJs.” As a DJ, he always aimed to satisfy the audience and create the most enjoyable atmosphere on the dance floor.
A people’s DJ with an infectious smile, who entertained both our parents’ generation and our own, he was one of those passionate individuals who saw DJing as a calling and embraced club life to the fullest. In 2017, on the occasion of Nova Gorica’s 70th anniversary, as part of the project People of Nova Gorica – Humans of Nova Gorica, he clearly stated that the city needed a club where lovers of high-quality commercial music could gather. Sadly, even in 2025, such a venue still does not exist.
Avtor: Jaša Bužinel