Kroatien

IVAN GORAN KOVACIC   Zagreb


The folk group has been active within the Student Cultural Group Ivan Goran Kovacic since its beginning in 1948. From the very beginning it has been faithful to folk music and dance from Coratia. The group presents music and dancing from almost all parts of Croatia: Baranja, Slavonija, Medimurje, Posavina, Prigorje, Zagorje, Istram Dalmatia, Dalmatinska zagora and of Croatians from Backa (Bunjevci).  

The collection of folk costumes includes about 450 outfits. They were carefully chosen and bought and some had to be carefully redone. Some of those outfits have historical value.  

The group toured Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brasil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Moldavia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain and the USA, where it was well received and obtained great reviews.  

During the aggression on Croatia the group held a number of charity concerts in Croatia and abroad with the cooperation of DD Pliva and the Croatian Ministry of Defense.  

During 1993 and 1994 the group went on a very succesful tour of Autralia, New Zealand and Brasil. There they held many concerts for the Croatian immigrants. The Croatian community had the opportunity to enjoy their cultural heritage for the first time.  

‘.. The folk group Goran raised interest and admiration from the french audience. In the concert in L’Arbresle the mayor said to the young Croatians: ‘We are trilled and impressed. This was such a great performance that it is difficult to believe that it was performed by amateurs. The performance was on a high professional level. The song, movement, music and the beautiful folk costumes were in such harmony that I have only one word: Fabulous...’
Lyon Matin, France.

‘...At the international folk competition in Poland there were 20 groups from 14 European and Asian countries; among them Zagreb folk group Ivan Goran Kovacic. Although the competition was strong Goranovci won the second price The Silver Axe. A special prize for the high level of arrangements and performance ( a wooden sculpture) should be added to this great success...’
Vecernji list

‘...The first visit of a Croatian culture group in Belgium after the international recognition of Croatia was in the centre of attention of the Belgian public and the number of Croatians...’
Vjesnik

 

ENSEMBLE LADO   Zagreb


LADO - the Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia - is a national, professional folklore ensemble founded in 1949, its task and aim being to research, collate, artistically interpret and arrange choreography, for the most beautiful examples selected from the boundless wealth of Croatian music and dance tradition.  

The seat of the ensemble is in Zagreb , the capital of Croatia , itself a city of long standing tradition, steeped in rich history.

In the 50 years of its existence, LADO has travelled the lengths and breadths of the Worid, and has performed on the world's most prestigious stages and in its most famous concert halls, never fging to win the highest acciaims of delighted audiences, from prominent names in the fields of culture, art and polities, as weil as from professional critics, who rate LADO as being one of the most superb folklore ensembles anywhere in the world.  

In its endeavours, LADO engages not only the best ethno-choreologists and choreographers, ethno-musicologists, music score writers and folkloiists, but also composers and conductors whose work is inspired by folklore music. This approach has resulted in an impressive choreographic and musical repertoire, which cherishes above all, original, autochthonous folklore art, and which has in tum made LADO recognised and famous throughout the world.

Being what they are, it is hardly surprising that LADO owns a quite unique collection of authentic folklore apparel of exceptional beauty and value, amounting to more than

a thousand complete outfits, thereby complementing their presentation of songs and dances with a festival of traditional Croatian costumes.  

The Ensemble's repertoire comprises over a hundred different choreographies and several hundred vocal, instrumental and vocallinstrumental numbers, with as many as thirty-flve superb dancers, all of whom are equally brilliant singers, who can effortlessly svách from a folklore dance ensemble to a trily wonderful folklore choir. They are accompanied by fourteen highly qualified musicians who are able to palay a total of forty different instruments between them.

During the course of a single season, LADO can offer its audiences three completely different, full evening programmes, mouth each programma comprising ten to twelve choreographies, as well as three distinct full evening vocal and instrumental programmes of secular and sacral traditional folk music, which include the Concert of Croatian Folk Dances and Songs, a Christmas concert, and an Easter concert. Another fact worth noting is that within a single tour, LADO can present two quite separate programmes - a dance programma and a concert programma.