Motto: There are a lot of them…
Interests: Music (my job and my hobby), art, national heritage, ethnomusicology, literature, creativity, teaching, writing, sports, travelling.
About me: I was born in 1954. I am retired, but I am not resting. After completing music education in Zagreb, I came to Đakovo Region, where I taught music (and even art for a few years) in several schools (mostly in Gorjani and Đakovo). I also taught guitar in schools of music in Đakovo, Donji Miholjac and Vinkovci. In the early 1990s, I registered and opened a private school of music called “Adameus” in Đakovo. It was the first school of that kind in Đakovo Region and among the first ones in Slavonia and Baranja. Besides the teacher’s calling, since the 1970s, I have been actively playing the tambura, composing and arranging music, and doing melodic transcription and ethnomusicology. I am a member of the Croatian Composers’ Society (HDS-ZAMP). For years, I was also a member of the Croatian Society of Folklore Choreographers and Art Directors (HDFKiV). Engaged in traditional, folklore music, I was the head of the tambura section and the president of the “Gorjanac” cultural and artistic society from Gorjani. I was also the organiser and head of tambura schools in many places in Osijek-Baranja and Brod-Posavina County. For years I have been doing independent research on folk music and transcribing recorded material from the field and folklore festivals. Much of it has been published in various books, some of which are: “Narodni plesovi Đakovštine”, “Pjesmom na Vezove”, “Pjesmom i plesom na Vezove”, “Katarinsko kolo”, “Starogradske pjesme i plesovi”, etc. I have researched and recorded Slovakian melodies from Jurjevac Punitovački and Josipovac Punitovački as well as Hungarian melodies from Ivanovci Gorjanski (now Ivanovci Đakovački). I have also participated and helped many associations with their work in different ways. I was a long-time member and associate of the Đakovo Embroidery Festival (starting from 1977) as well as the president of the Folklore Committee for a few years. Since the 1990s, I have been a member of the Program Committee of “Brodsko Kolo”, the oldest folk festival in Croatia. For years, I have been a member of expert commissions for evaluating music and singing performances at festivals all across Croatia. I participate in and hold lectures at several seminars about tambura, folk and old city music. In 1977, I made a record with the “Gorjanac” cultural and artistic society, featuring “Đakovo, Đakovo Grade”, among other songs.
I was the conductor and the choirmaster of the mixed choir “Sklad” from Đakovo, one of the oldest choirs in Croatia, formed in 1863. In the late 1980s, I cooperated with Radio Đakovo station as the editor and host of a show about classical music called “Vodič kroz glazbu” (“Guide to Music”). Also, since the 1990s, I have been writing articles for “Glas Slavonije”, “Đakovački list” and “Đakovačke novine” newspapers. I published a monograph titled “Gorjani – povijesni i prosvjetno-kulturni razvoj” in 1986 and a book titled “Đurđanci kod Đakova” in 2006, jointly with Tomo Šalić, a professor from Vinkovci. I gave my expert opinion as a review for the book “Povjesnica Đakovačkih vezova 1967-2007”, written by Zvonko Benašić, PhD. Zvonko Benašić is also the author of the book “Đakovački portreti – 155 životopisa”, in which he decided to include my biography as well.
I was also the head of the municipality of Gorjani and the president of Budućnost Football Club. I have received many awards for my work from various societies, associations, the Croatian Cultural Association and others. I am a Croatian war veteran and volunteer awarded with the Homeland War Memorial Medal.