Successful organization of the CHF Summer School of Croatian Folklore in Zadar

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This year’s seminar attendees come from North and South America, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and from various parts of our beautiful homeland.

 

The festive final performance of this summer’s session of the School of Croatian Folklore showed all the richness of the program’s ethnological and ethnomusicological contents of the Adriatic region, which were excellently adopted by the young participants from distant overseas continents as well as the closer European neighborhood, assessed the historian and ethnologist Ivan Tepeš, PhD, deputy director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, congratulating the seminar attendees and the professional team of the SCF.

The ten-day program of the Adriatic Zone started in the organization of the Croatian Heritage Foundation on August 4 and was held for ten days, until August 13, at the Hi Hostel in Borik.

More than 60 seminar attendees, participants of the Summer School were united by their love for Croatian traditional culture and folklore and participated in three groups: dance, tambourine and traditional musical instruments, and learned songs and dances of the Adriatic region in addition to theoretical lectures on the development of ethnochoreology, folk dance culture, folk costumes and other topics necessary for leading the ensemble.

The main goal of this professional and scientific program is to preserve the heritage and originality in the field of musical and performing arts, because dance, song and music are the most attractive and most frequently performed parts of Croatian folk art, especially when it comes to the cultural and artistic activity of Croats abroad, who most often choose some of the segments of folklore to express their belonging to the Croatian national being. The head of the School is Andrija Ivančan, who also leads the dance section, Tibor Bun, head of the tamburitsa section, and Vjekoslav Martinić, who leads traditional musical instruments.

The guest lecturer is maestro Siniša Leopold, and the program is taught by excellent folklore experts and renowned researchers and guardians of Croatian folk culture: Tonči and Marica Tadin, Vidoslav Bagur, Nenad Milin, prof. dr. Goran Oreb, Katarina Horvatović and Kristina Benko Markovica.

This year’s seminar attendees come from almost all continents. We have representatives from North and South America, participants from Germany, Sweden, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and from various parts of our beautiful homeland.

Lucas Mihalić from Malmo, Sweden is involved with traditional instruments and is learning to play tambura samica. He says that he will learn to play all kinds of tamburas. The same is with dance, there are many different steps, styles, and it is necessary to come to school several times in order to master all the material, and the lecturers are an inexhaustible source of stories and information from the field, literature, many years of experience, research… Zdenka Korperich, the leader of Croatian Cultural Foundation (HKZ) from Hamburg, therefore diligently records everything and writes: “…I brought two girls from the folk ensemble to dance and learn the steps and style, and I write down everything that the leader says and emphasizes, so that we can learn as much as possible and pass it on to the other members of our ensemble.” It may be a little more difficult for the participants from Argentina to follow because they are just learning Croatian, but that does not bother them: Federico Bano Albani, Karen Bauk and Paula Espinosa Alvarez from Argentina immediately fitted in and, despite the language barrier, easily learned the dance steps and how to play musical instruments. The group is harmonious and they all help each other by jumping in, directing, whispering. It is nice to see them all hugging in a big circle singing Vidoslav Bagur a happy birthday song.

Of course, there was no shortage of fun: “We dance, sing and hang out, and we have already made new friends with Croatian people from all over the world. We are bound by love for folk tradition. We all want to preserve our customs and our identity, wherever we are,” said Jelena Garić. Some have already connected and arranged future meetings, tours, and socializing. That is how Valentina Capek from Germany became an associate member of Croatian folk ensemble Klokotić from Romania and folk ensemble Klas from Podsused… There are a lot of stories and you just need to come and join this big folklore “family”.

Everyone is satisfied with the presenters and lecturers who selflessly shared knowledge and encouraged the participants to continue passing it on and thus be part of the chain in order to preserve our cultural tradition. And so the whole days passed in song, music and dance, even during short breaks and in the evening after the working school day. There is something special about the Summer School of Croatian Folklore—it is love for tradition, a love that fulfills, helps participants grow through culture and awakens creativity. That is exactly why it is always fun and interesting at #LJŠHF2022. We ended with the session with appropriate words from the deputy director of CHF, Ivan Tepeš, PhD, where all participants presented a part of what they had learned and through the Lastovo song “Lijepa se Mare udala” (Pretty Mare Got Married)….tambura ensemble “Dalmatinski biseri”(Dalmatian Pearls) with soloist Filip Martinić…, Kaštela dances – “Izrasla ruža rumena” (Ruddy Rose Grew) and numerous other performances said goodbye to Zadar and scheduled a new meeting already at the Winter School or again at the Summer School next year.

 

Text and photos: Snježana Jurišić

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