Katarina Zupančič

Katarina Zupančič, also known as Živčkova Katra, (30 April 1860 – 2 November 1918) was a Slovenian field labourer, straw plaiter and folk singer.

Early life She was born on 30 April 1860 into a poor Slovenian family in Kamnica. Her mother was the field labourer Marija Cotman, born in Trnjava, and her father was the shoemaker Janez Zupančič (1815–1893), born in Podgora pri Dolskem. Two were published in the collection of folk songs Stare žalostne (Old Sad Ones), and two in the fourth volume of Slovenske narodne pesmi (Slovenian National songs) from the collection edited by Karlo Štrekelj, which Franc Kramar edited after his death.

The best-known song that she related to him is Pegam in Lambergar (Pegam and Lambergar) .

The Ljubljana Committee for Folk Song in Austria-Hungary acknowledged Katra's importance for musical folkloristics by having her photographed, seated on a low wall by the stove and dressed in national costume. This is the first official photograph of any Slovenian folk singer.

Later life and death In 1911 her son, who had become a shoemaker and accordion player, married and moved away. Katarina continued to live in Vinje and earned her living as a field labourer. She never married. She died on 2 November 1918 of Spanish flu.