Music of Croatia
Interest in music began to spread outside of monastic and church walls with growing influence of new spiritual tendencies from Central European and particularly Italian cities.
Tomaso Cecchini, from Verona, who spent his entire working life (1603–44) as a choirmaster, organist and composer in Split and Hvar, published his madrigals Armonici concetti, libro primo (1612) as the oldest Baroque collection written for the Croatian milieu.
The Franciscans and Paulists cultivated sacral chants, mostly monophonic and without organ accompaniment (the manuscript cantos of Frane Divnić, Bone Razmilović, Filip Vlahović-Kapušvarac, Franjo Vukovarac and Petar Knežević).
They were mostly organists and maestri di cappella, skilful composers who had small vocal and/or instrumental ensembles and who frequently acted as music teachers (private or in church schools).
In addition, public balls and other events were organised (music academies, theatre performances) with the participation of local and foreign musicians (from Italy, Austria, Bohemia etc.)
[1] An excellent early example of pre-classical symphony and chamber music was given by Luka Sorkočević, a nobleman educated in Rome, as well as his son Antun, a historian and diplomat.
[2] In the course of the 1830s, as a reflection of such tendencies in Europe, the Illyrian Movement emerged in Croatia which assigned not only to literature but to music as well a particular socio-political role: the forming and guarding of national awareness including the struggle against Hungarization and Germanization.
[2] Taking into consideration the presence of folk music, the aspirations of the Illyrians went far beyond the results achieved, something that is also continued in the work of Ivan Zajc (1832–1914) in the second half of the century.
His masterpiece, the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinjski, ever since its opening night in Zagreb in 1876, had not lost in popularity, partly because its heroic patriotism functions as a symbol of Croatia's victory.
Finally, owing to the founder of Croatian ethno-musicology and musical historiography, Franjo Kuhač (1834–1911), the systematic research of folklore evolved simultaneously with Zajc's endeavours.
It can also be heard in concert music: the American composer Craig Walsh incorporates a ganga-inspired wailing, sighing, pitch-bending, micro-tonal vocal style in his 'String Quartet No.
1' (2010), a work commissioned for the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival and the Manhattan String Quartet, the second movement of which is clearly paying homage to ganga style.
Only recently has ganga begun to address political issues, frequently adopting overtly nationalistic overtones and incorporating themes from the Croatian Homeland War.
Gusle players are known for glorifying outlaws such as hajduks or uskoks of the long gone Turkish reign or exalting the recent heroes of the Croatian War of Independence.
The Slavonian town Požega hosts a known folk music festival, Zlatne žice Slavonije (Golden strings of Slavonia), which has prompted musicians to compose new songs with far-reaching influences, recently including American bluegrass.
The towns of Vinkovci and Đakovo, also in Slavonia, host yearly folklore festivals (Vinkovačke jeseni and Đakovački vezovi) where folk music is also listened to as part of the tradition.
Seasoned pop singers in Croatia include: Meri Cetinić, Mišo Kovač, Ivo Robić, Vice Vukov, Krunoslav Slabinac, Zlatko Pejaković, Arsen Dedić, Vinko Coce, Zdenka Vučković, Darko Domjan, Tereza Kesovija, Gabi Novak, Ivica Šerfezi, Oliver Dragojević, Tomislav Ivčić, Doris Dragović, Radojka Šverko, Maja Blagdan, Jacques Houdek and many others.
In more recent times, younger performers such as Nina Badrić, Severina, Gibonni, Toni Cetinski, Jelena Rozga, Danijela, Lidija Bačić, Antonija Šola, Lana Jurčević and many others have captured the attention of the pop audience.
For example, Thompson's songs include traditional epic themes from the Dinaric regions; Severina threads between Croatian pop and a folk sound.
Croatian pop music is fairly often listened to in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia due to the union of Yugoslavia that existed until the 1990s.
There are several rather popular and long-lasting mainstream rock acts like Parni Valjak, Prljavo Kazalište, Crvena Jabuka, Atomsko Sklonište, Aerodrom, Tutti Frutti Band, Daleka Obala, Đavoli, Stijene, More, Osmi putnik, Metak, etc.
Of some note is also the Sarajevo school of pop rock which influenced many of these bands, and which also included singers like Željko Bebek who later worked in Croatia.
The new wave scene has collapsed by the end of the eighties, to be replaced by the newcomers like; Tutti Frutti band, Daleka Obala, Majke and Laufer.
The first is said to be Vještice, who combined Međimurje folk music with rock and set the stage for artists like Legen, Lidija Bajuk and Dunja Knebl.
At the same time on the other side of Croatia, in Istria, a band called Gustafi started playing their own strange amalgamate of rock and Istrian folk, but it took them more than a decade to reach the nationwide audience.
The first rap band to gain widespread and lasting acclaim was The Beat Fleet (TBF) from Split, whose members took inspiration from harsh economic and social conditions of war-torn Dalmatia, not that different from American inner cities.
[7] Jazz has left its mark on the Croatian pop scene throughout the years, most notably in the works of Drago Diklić and occasionally Josipa Lisac.
The first inscription about that kind of singing dates from 1177, when it was sung laudibus and canticis "in eorum sclavica lingua" to Pope Alexander II during his visit in Zadar.
[11] Christian pop is very popular among Croatian Catholic youth, especially bands such as Emmanuel, Božja pobjeda (God's Victory) and Srce Isusovo (Heart of Jesus).
The most famous contemporary Christian music singers and composers are Dragutin Hrastović, Čedo Antolić, Alen Hržica, Nika Vlahović, Husar and Palić sisters.
