With programme specialist supervisor Andrija Ivančan were Tibor Bun, Vjekoslav Martinić, and Siniša Leopold. Joining them as lecturers were top folklore and ethno-choreography experts and renowned Croatian folklore researchers Goran Oreb, Katarina Horvatović, Kristina Benko Markovica, Miro Kirinčić, Štefan Novak (Austria), Lydia Novak and Philipp Tyran, all ably assisted by musical rehearser Antun Kottek.
The latest round of the Winter School of Croatian Folklore, a long-standing Croatian Heritage Foundation programme, was held from 2 to 10 January. The event, staged in collaboration with partner city Koprivnica, whom we thank for their hospitality and assistance, gathered over sixty participants. This programme achieves a number of key Croatian Heritage Foundation objectives: preserving, strengthening and promoting the Croatian identity through traditional culture in our diaspora and among members of ethnic Croatian communities abroad, in the Croatian minority enclaves, and among the Croatians of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and through networking among culture and arts associations in Croatia and around the world. We are particularly delighted that 2022 has been declared the European Year of Youth and that the Croatian Heritage Foundation has opened with this initiative and activities targeted at young folklore heritage enthusiasts, whose worthwhile activities help preserve and promote our cultural heritage.
The 2022 instalment of the Winter School saw participants learn about folk costumes, songs, and musical instruments (tamboura type and traditional), and the folk dance customs of the Croatian highland ethnology/choreography zone, more precisely the dances, songs, folk costumes and music of the Kupa River basin in and around Karlovac, the foothills and plains of the Jaska region, the Samobor, Zaprešić, and Vrapče regions, the Zagreb foothills, the Gorski Kotar and Grobničko Polje regions, Istra County, the Međimurje region, the Croatian enclaves in highland regions of neighbouring countries, and the dances and music of the Gradišće enclave Croats.
The members of the Kolo Slavuj folklore ensemble of Gradišće Croats joined us on 7 January for the premiere presentation of a new edition detailing the folk dance customs of Gradišće Croats based on the research and notes of Ivan Ivančan. The evening programme of 8 January saw a presentation for the participants featuring Christmas melodies of the Podravina region with guest ensemble ŽVS Đurđevčice of Đurđevac.
Unfortunately, the epidemiological situation saw the national level ad hoc interministerial and interinstitutional team set up to coordinate SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures issue recommendations that meant the programme had to be halted, but we do intend to cover the Podravina and Hrvatsko Zagorje regions online, such that the programme will be wrapped up.
Joining the programme specialist supervisor Andrija Ivančan were Tibor Bun, an esteemed tamburitza authority from Varaždin supervising the tamboura section, and music pedagogue Vjekoslav Martinić, a respected traditional musical instrument maker from Garešnica supervising the traditional musical instruments section. Our guest lecturer was maestro Siniša Leopold, conductor of the tamburitza orchestra of national radio and television broadcasting company HRT, which is celebrating its eighteenth year. Joining them as lecturers were top folklore and ethno-choreography experts and renowned Croatian folklore researchers Goran Oreb, Katarina Horvatović, Kristina Benko Markovica, Miro Kirinčić, Štefan Novak (Austria), Lydia Novak and Philipp Tyran, all ably assisted by musical rehearser Antun Kottek.
We wish to thank everyone who contributed to the organisation of this year’s Winter School of Croatian Folklore, in particular our partner city Koprivnica, the local youth centre where we staged dance rehearsals, the host Hotel Podravina, and the Podravka company, which donated school materials.
The significance of this winter programme—in spite of the obstacles raised by imposed travel regimes and other epidemiological mitigation measures—was recognised by over sixty participants from Croatia and abroad, with folklore and tamburitza enthusiasts from the country joined by those from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Serbia (Vojvodina), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Sweden, and New Zealand. They all agreed that this was one of the best Winter Schools to date; but, then again, every year consistently seems to be the best yet, and we’ll see if next year’s event can outdo them all.
By: Snježana Jurišić
Lead
With programme specialist supervisor Andrija Ivančan were Tibor Bun, Vjekoslav Martinić, and Siniša Leopold. Joining them as lecturers were top folklore and ethno-choreography experts and renowned Croatian folklore researchers Goran Oreb, Katarina Horvatović, Kristina Benko Markovica, Miro Kirinčić, Štefan Novak (Austria), Lydia Novak and Philipp Tyran, all ably assisted by musical rehearser Antun Kottek.