Ana Ažbe

Ana Ažbe (3 May 1780 – 5 January 1850) was a Slovenian farmer and folk singer. She narrated and sang many folk songs so that they could be transcribed.

Early life Ana Ažbe was born on 3 May 1780 in Dolenčice on a large farm with a mill and an inn (locally known as pri Matečku). Her mother was the farmer Sholastika Jelovčan (1750–1826), and her father was the farmer and later mayor of Javorje, Janez Ažbe (1757–1826). After fourteen years of marriage, her husband died.

He continued this work for years, filling at least seven notebooks, of which only one survives, and it is incomplete. He titled it Narodne kranjske pesmi (zapisane v Doleh 26. velkiga serpana 1838. Ant. Žakelj) (Carniolan Folk Songs, Recorded in Dole, 26 August 1838. Ant. Žakelj). The first of Ažbe's folk songs he recorded were published in the fifth and final volume of Krajnska čbelica in 1848.

Another notebook of folk songs was once kept at the former Our Lady's Orphanage and School . From it, Jakob Šilc published the original version of the song "Mlada Breda" (Young Breda) in the journal Dom in svet in 1913. He was the last person known to have seen the notebook, which later disappeared.

The best-known ballads and romances recorded by her son from her singing include "Zvesta deklica," "Marija na svetih Vošarjih," "Marija z Jelenta," "Mlada Mojca," "Mlada Breda," "Mlada Zora," "Zidar v Ljubnim," "Cigan," and "Alenčica."

Later life and death As she neared seventy, her health declined and she was no longer able to work. In the spring of 1849, she moved to live with her son Anton, who was then serving as a curate in Bloke. She died there on 5 January 1850 after a brief illness of only three days. She was buried in Bloke.