A CAPPELLA (KLAPA) SINGING AND ORCHESTRA
At the initiative of Stijepo Stražičić, a female vocal group, the nonet, was founded in 1965 as part the Ensemble, for the purposes of performing musical numbers between dance performances. It consisted of the members of the Dubrovnik Radio Choir. The leader and conductor of the mixed Dubrovnik Radio Choir was the esteemed Dubrovnik composer Vladimir Berdović and rehearsals were held in the Radio Dubrovnik studio in Pile. The choir brought together high-quality singers and was the centre of Dubrovnik cultural and art life in the sixties and afterwards. Picked out from the numerous members of the choir to sing in the newly established female vocal group were Ivančica Krce, Katica Simoni, Tamara Glavinović, Maja Nodari, Maja Ajduković, Teica Baća, Margit Lenert, Blaženka Trojanović and Ilka Zec. The group's musical programme included traditional Dalmatian klapa songs performed a cappella and those adapted by Vladimir Berdović. Thus, he may be considered as the precursor of female klapas in the wider Dalmatian area. The group was part of the Linđo Ensemble until 1967. The following songs can be singled out from their numerous vocal performances: Izašla je zelena naranča, O more duboko, Kad si bila mala Mare, Vozila se Mare Kata, Tiridonda, Ružice rumena, as well as the Dalmatian songs adapted by Vladimir Berdović, from his works Dubrovačke rukoveti and Dalmatinske rukoveti. The composer Vladimir Berdović adapted more than 500 folk songs for vocal and vocal and instrumental groups and was the first to adapt the Dubrovnik Linđo for orchestra.
The male vocal group of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble was formed in the 1970s, and somewhat later, in 1979, it obtained the formal status of a klapa, although it had been informally performing as such even before that. The founder of the first klapa (before 1979) was Antun Simatović (baritone) and its other members were Stijepo Granada (tenor), Srđan Gjivoje (second tenor) and Ivo Miloš (basso). Other distinguished singers who made up the broader membership of the male vocal group were Željko Njirić, Branko Njirić, Radomir Tešanić, Miho Bulić and Mario Romanović. At the initiative of Krešimir Magdić, a renowned musician and musical pedagogue who worked in the Linđo Folklore Ensemble during the 1970s and became formally employed in it in 1978, and by the decision of the Executive Board of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble in 1979, the Linđo klapa was formed, with Krešimir Magdić as leader. In light of his rich opus, Magdić is recognised as a unique adapter of more than a hundred authentic folk songs from Dalmatia, but also as an author of original compositions. What distinguished Dubrovnik's Linđo klapa was the fact that it included a female voice, a soprano, sung by Ilka Zec, while the rest of its members were men.
The male membership of the klapa consisted of Jerko Vukušić (tenor), Nikola Cvjetković (baritone), Krešimir Magdić (baritone and mandolin), Vinko Dragojević (basso and mandolin) and occasional singers Boris Blašković (basso and mandolin), Josip Marčić (basso), Edi Marčić (baritone and recorder), Vlaho Ljutić (baritone), Maro Bajurin (tenor), Ante Dražeta (tenor), Ivo Kordić (basso) and Božo Stanić (basso). In 1985, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble, the Linđo klapa released an LP with the following vocal and vocal and instrumental musical numbers: Žilju moj pribili, Divne li ste Konavli nam milo, Dragi dragu ostavljaše, Da li te ljubim, Ah pribila moja vila, Tvoji bojeg jemaju, Kolo svetog Tripuna, Evo ti kitu vraćam, Djevojka hodi, I kliče divojka, Smilje brala, Lopućka Mare, Kampošonto and Stari sat. In 1986, the Linđo Folklore Ensemble male klapa stopped performing as a section of the Ensemble and started performing independently. At that time, the klapa also performed the authorial compositions of guest composers Igor Brešan and Radoslav Koštan. The klapa debuted at the 13th Dalmatian klapa festival in Omiš in 1979 and won the award for best debutant.
In 1987 and 1991, at the same festival, it was awarded the first prize by the expert jury. It received third prize by the festival audience in 1991 and first prize in the same category in 2007. The Ensemble made 21 appearances at the Omiš klapa festival and performed at the Split Festival as well. In the closing evenings of the 1991 festival edition, the klapa was presented with the "Bašćinski glasi” klapa leaders' award, while in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1990, it received the award of the Expert Jury for best performance of a new composition. In 1990, 1997 and 2005, it received the festival plaque in honour of its continuing performances. Apart from the festival, the klapa performed at klapa presentations. After 1995, in honour of its deceased member Nikola Cvjetković, the Linđo klapa changed its name to Linđo N.
At the end of the 1970s, in addition to the male klapa, Krešimir Magdić initiated and supervised the forming of the female vocal section of the ensemble – the female klapa. The klapa's first soprano was Ilka Zec Đapo, who also sung in the male klapa, and the other members of the klapa were Ankica Tomić, Jelica Tomić, Marina Tomić, Mirela Pilaš, Ana Musladin, Roberta Prebisalić, Sandi Marić, Jelena Obradović and Helena Kulaš. The female klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble performed at the Festival of Patriotic Songs in Bugojno and their musical performances are recorded on the LPs of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble released by Jugoton in the 1980s. In 2000, thirty-three years after the establishment of the first female vocal group and just over twenty years after the forming of a female klapa by Krešimir Magdić, the female klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble was formed. The klapa consisted of Lina Ivanković – first soprano, Ana Bačić Vukota – second soprano, Luči Vierda – second soprano, Paula Lazarević – second soprano, Margarita Dundić – first alto, Fani Favro Bukvić – second alto, Marija Puljić – second alto, Ivela Matičević – second alto. From its founding, the leader of the klapa has been Vedran Ivanković. At the 43rd Festival of Dalmatian Klapa in Omiš in 2009, the klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble won the first prize of the Expert jury and the first prize of the audience. The klapa has performed at numerous international festivals and standing out among its many successes is the gold medal awarded to it at the International Festival of Choir Singing in Verona in 2002. From its founding, the klapa has won eighteen awards. In 2003, in cooperation with Nenad Bach and John Holbrook, the Linđo Folklore Ensemble Klapa recorded a SuperAudio CD with klapa songs under the title Mediterranean sounds – Croatia's mystic voices Fa Linđo. Thirty-three years after the first female ensemble and a little more than twenty years since the women's klapa founded by Krešimir Magdić, the women's klapa of the Linđo Folk Ensemble was established in 2000. The members of the Klapa are Lina Ivanković - first soprano, Ana Bačić Vukota - second soprano, Luči Vierda - second soprano, Paula Lazarević - second soprano, Margarita Dundić - first alto, Fani Favro Bukvić - second alto, Marija Puljić - second alto, Ivela Matičević - second alt. The leader of the klapa since its foundation is Vedran Ivanković.
At the 43rd festival of Dalmatian klapas in Omiš, in 2009, the FA Linđo klapa won the first prize of the Expert Judging Committee and the first prize of the audience. The choir participated in numerous international festivals, where it achieved success, one of which is the gold medal at the International Choral Singing Festival in Verona, held in 2002. Since its foundation, the klapa has won eighteen awards. In 2003, in collaboration with Nenad Bach and John Holbrook, the klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble recorded the klapa SuperAudio CD Mediterranean sounds – Croatia's mystic voices Fa Linđo. From its official beginnings in 1965, the musical orchestra of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble has gathered Dubrovnik musicians, professionals and amateurs, and been an indispensable participant in all folklore performances. Although its primary purpose is to accompany the dancers, from its very beginnings to this day, the orchestra has also developed an extensive repertoire of independent instrumental and vocal and instrumental numbers. Most of the musicians who joined the Ensemble at the very beginning did so at the invitation of Đelo Jusić, while others, such as accordionist Stijepo Granada and Đorđe Begu, initially a dancer and later a lijerica, contrabass and basprim player for the rest of his career at Linđo, were already part of the folklore group before the formal establishment of the Ensemble.
The musicians who joined the Ensemble at the invitation of Đelo Jusić were Pero Bošković, Jozo Ajduković, Đuro Asić (basprim), Dino Putilli, Ivančica Krce (violin). During the late sixties and 1970s, Krešo Skansi (bisernica and violin), Jakša Jurjević (clarinet), Antun Simatović (clarinet, flute, kaval, ocarina and lijerica), Srđan Gjivoje (contrabass and guitar), Marin Dujmić (violin) and Arif Bajrami (tapan, tarabuka, kaval, bagpipes and clarinet), as well as, over the following years, Krešimir Magdić (lijerica, bisernica and violin), Branislav Silić (Macedonian tambura), Milan Sentić, Mirsad Omerčahić, Miho Bulić, Tonko Nodilo, Pero Vranjković, Antun Petrović, Ivo Martinović (basprim), Marina Torić (bisernica), Dragiša Nikolić (bisernica and violin), Boris Hafner (contrabass and basprim), Niko Rudinović (lijerica), Edi Marčić (clarinet), Nikša Đurić (violin), Antun Petrović, Miho Kristić, Nikša Beno and his brother, Matko Vierda, Radomir Tešanić, Špiro Veselinović (flute), Đorđe Trkulja (violin), Antun Kunić (violin), Đuro Radić (lijerica), Nika Radić (fiddle), Tomislav Macan, Krešimir Macan, Tonći Karužić, Slavko Perić, Mario Romanović (bugarija) and Vinko Dragojević (bugarija). Since the basis of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble orchestra were string instruments, tamburicas, most musicians in the ensemble played the bisernica, the basprim and the contrabass. Some musicians also played other, solo instruments, and a large part of them was able to display their musical prowess on a variety of different instruments.
The head of the tamburica section was Krešimir Magdić, followed in 1983 by Pero Vranjković, for a brief period. In the mid-eighties, led by Krešimir Magdić, a whole new generation of tamburica players known to us only by their surnames—Dišipulo, Vidoš, Šimunović, Burmas, Dileo and others—joined the Ensemble. From 1965 to 2018, the musical directors of the orchestra were as follows: Đelo Jusić, Antun Simatović, Krešimir Magdić, Edi Marčić, Đorđe Begu and Enes Omerčahić. Today (2018) the tamburica section consists of the first and second E-prim (bisernica) with three players, the first and second A-basprim (basprim) with six players, the third voice E-basprim (basprim) with one player, the cello with one player and the contrabass with one player. The following musicians are members of the tamburica orchestra: Enes Omerčahić, Miho Kalauz, Antonio Grdović, Vedran Ivanković, Rikard Kužnin, Mario Lale, Nikša Pavlović, Amar Omerčahić, Mario Kristić, Jadran Radonić, Danijal Omerčahić, Ivan Beusan, Luka Bonić, while Marko Ajduković, Ivan Bonić and Luka Kusalić are backup players. Apart from those mentioned, the orchestra's members until recently were also Amel Omerčahić, Antonijo Kondrić, Dario Lučić, Kristian Mazić and Mario Mazić. In addition to the tamburica, some players also play other instruments – Rikard Kužnin plays the clarinet and the contrabass, Antonio Grdović plays the clarinet, Mario Lale plays the lijerica, Jadran Radonić plays the lijerica, Slavonian bagpipes, Istrian and Dalmatian diple bagpipes, the double flute and the jedinka, while Ana Vidojević, Simona Belloti and Karmen Maškarić perform solely as violinists.
The Ensemble's depository contains some twenty antique instruments, among which are four Macedonian tamburas, three tapans, six kavals, a violin, a čelović and a chanter (never played). Of the newer instruments, the Ensemble uses bisernicas, basprims, a cello, two contrabasses, two samica tamburas, two clarinets, two lijericas, two accordions, Istrian and Dalmatian diple bagpipes, Slavonian bagpipes, a double flute, jedinkas and two violins, whereas the upcoming procurement of cimbaloms and mandolins will significantly enrich the musical inventory of the orchestra.
The male membership of the klapa consisted of Jerko Vukušić (tenor), Nikola Cvjetković (baritone), Krešimir Magdić (baritone and mandolin), Vinko Dragojević (basso and mandolin) and occasional singers Boris Blašković (basso and mandolin), Josip Marčić (basso), Edi Marčić (baritone and recorder), Vlaho Ljutić (baritone), Maro Bajurin (tenor), Ante Dražeta (tenor), Ivo Kordić (basso) and Božo Stanić (basso). In 1985, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble, the Linđo klapa released an LP with the following vocal and vocal and instrumental musical numbers: Žilju moj pribili, Divne li ste Konavli nam milo, Dragi dragu ostavljaše, Da li te ljubim, Ah pribila moja vila, Tvoji bojeg jemaju, Kolo svetog Tripuna, Evo ti kitu vraćam, Djevojka hodi, I kliče divojka, Smilje brala, Lopućka Mare, Kampošonto and Stari sat. In 1986, the Linđo Folklore Ensemble male klapa stopped performing as a section of the Ensemble and started performing independently. At that time, the klapa also performed the authorial compositions of guest composers Igor Brešan and Radoslav Koštan. The klapa debuted at the 13th Dalmatian klapa festival in Omiš in 1979 and won the award for best debutant.
In 1987 and 1991, at the same festival, it was awarded the first prize by the expert jury. It received third prize by the festival audience in 1991 and first prize in the same category in 2007. The Ensemble made 21 appearances at the Omiš klapa festival and performed at the Split Festival as well. In the closing evenings of the 1991 festival edition, the klapa was presented with the "Bašćinski glasi” klapa leaders' award, while in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1990, it received the award of the Expert Jury for best performance of a new composition. In 1990, 1997 and 2005, it received the festival plaque in honour of its continuing performances. Apart from the festival, the klapa performed at klapa presentations. After 1995, in honour of its deceased member Nikola Cvjetković, the Linđo klapa changed its name to Linđo N.
At the end of the 1970s, in addition to the male klapa, Krešimir Magdić initiated and supervised the forming of the female vocal section of the ensemble – the female klapa. The klapa's first soprano was Ilka Zec Đapo, who also sung in the male klapa, and the other members of the klapa were Ankica Tomić, Jelica Tomić, Marina Tomić, Mirela Pilaš, Ana Musladin, Roberta Prebisalić, Sandi Marić, Jelena Obradović and Helena Kulaš. The female klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble performed at the Festival of Patriotic Songs in Bugojno and their musical performances are recorded on the LPs of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble released by Jugoton in the 1980s. In 2000, thirty-three years after the establishment of the first female vocal group and just over twenty years after the forming of a female klapa by Krešimir Magdić, the female klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble was formed. The klapa consisted of Lina Ivanković – first soprano, Ana Bačić Vukota – second soprano, Luči Vierda – second soprano, Paula Lazarević – second soprano, Margarita Dundić – first alto, Fani Favro Bukvić – second alto, Marija Puljić – second alto, Ivela Matičević – second alto. From its founding, the leader of the klapa has been Vedran Ivanković. At the 43rd Festival of Dalmatian Klapa in Omiš in 2009, the klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble won the first prize of the Expert jury and the first prize of the audience. The klapa has performed at numerous international festivals and standing out among its many successes is the gold medal awarded to it at the International Festival of Choir Singing in Verona in 2002. From its founding, the klapa has won eighteen awards. In 2003, in cooperation with Nenad Bach and John Holbrook, the Linđo Folklore Ensemble Klapa recorded a SuperAudio CD with klapa songs under the title Mediterranean sounds – Croatia's mystic voices Fa Linđo. Thirty-three years after the first female ensemble and a little more than twenty years since the women's klapa founded by Krešimir Magdić, the women's klapa of the Linđo Folk Ensemble was established in 2000. The members of the Klapa are Lina Ivanković - first soprano, Ana Bačić Vukota - second soprano, Luči Vierda - second soprano, Paula Lazarević - second soprano, Margarita Dundić - first alto, Fani Favro Bukvić - second alto, Marija Puljić - second alto, Ivela Matičević - second alt. The leader of the klapa since its foundation is Vedran Ivanković.
At the 43rd festival of Dalmatian klapas in Omiš, in 2009, the FA Linđo klapa won the first prize of the Expert Judging Committee and the first prize of the audience. The choir participated in numerous international festivals, where it achieved success, one of which is the gold medal at the International Choral Singing Festival in Verona, held in 2002. Since its foundation, the klapa has won eighteen awards. In 2003, in collaboration with Nenad Bach and John Holbrook, the klapa of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble recorded the klapa SuperAudio CD Mediterranean sounds – Croatia's mystic voices Fa Linđo. From its official beginnings in 1965, the musical orchestra of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble has gathered Dubrovnik musicians, professionals and amateurs, and been an indispensable participant in all folklore performances. Although its primary purpose is to accompany the dancers, from its very beginnings to this day, the orchestra has also developed an extensive repertoire of independent instrumental and vocal and instrumental numbers. Most of the musicians who joined the Ensemble at the very beginning did so at the invitation of Đelo Jusić, while others, such as accordionist Stijepo Granada and Đorđe Begu, initially a dancer and later a lijerica, contrabass and basprim player for the rest of his career at Linđo, were already part of the folklore group before the formal establishment of the Ensemble.
The musicians who joined the Ensemble at the invitation of Đelo Jusić were Pero Bošković, Jozo Ajduković, Đuro Asić (basprim), Dino Putilli, Ivančica Krce (violin). During the late sixties and 1970s, Krešo Skansi (bisernica and violin), Jakša Jurjević (clarinet), Antun Simatović (clarinet, flute, kaval, ocarina and lijerica), Srđan Gjivoje (contrabass and guitar), Marin Dujmić (violin) and Arif Bajrami (tapan, tarabuka, kaval, bagpipes and clarinet), as well as, over the following years, Krešimir Magdić (lijerica, bisernica and violin), Branislav Silić (Macedonian tambura), Milan Sentić, Mirsad Omerčahić, Miho Bulić, Tonko Nodilo, Pero Vranjković, Antun Petrović, Ivo Martinović (basprim), Marina Torić (bisernica), Dragiša Nikolić (bisernica and violin), Boris Hafner (contrabass and basprim), Niko Rudinović (lijerica), Edi Marčić (clarinet), Nikša Đurić (violin), Antun Petrović, Miho Kristić, Nikša Beno and his brother, Matko Vierda, Radomir Tešanić, Špiro Veselinović (flute), Đorđe Trkulja (violin), Antun Kunić (violin), Đuro Radić (lijerica), Nika Radić (fiddle), Tomislav Macan, Krešimir Macan, Tonći Karužić, Slavko Perić, Mario Romanović (bugarija) and Vinko Dragojević (bugarija). Since the basis of the Linđo Folklore Ensemble orchestra were string instruments, tamburicas, most musicians in the ensemble played the bisernica, the basprim and the contrabass. Some musicians also played other, solo instruments, and a large part of them was able to display their musical prowess on a variety of different instruments.
The head of the tamburica section was Krešimir Magdić, followed in 1983 by Pero Vranjković, for a brief period. In the mid-eighties, led by Krešimir Magdić, a whole new generation of tamburica players known to us only by their surnames—Dišipulo, Vidoš, Šimunović, Burmas, Dileo and others—joined the Ensemble. From 1965 to 2018, the musical directors of the orchestra were as follows: Đelo Jusić, Antun Simatović, Krešimir Magdić, Edi Marčić, Đorđe Begu and Enes Omerčahić. Today (2018) the tamburica section consists of the first and second E-prim (bisernica) with three players, the first and second A-basprim (basprim) with six players, the third voice E-basprim (basprim) with one player, the cello with one player and the contrabass with one player. The following musicians are members of the tamburica orchestra: Enes Omerčahić, Miho Kalauz, Antonio Grdović, Vedran Ivanković, Rikard Kužnin, Mario Lale, Nikša Pavlović, Amar Omerčahić, Mario Kristić, Jadran Radonić, Danijal Omerčahić, Ivan Beusan, Luka Bonić, while Marko Ajduković, Ivan Bonić and Luka Kusalić are backup players. Apart from those mentioned, the orchestra's members until recently were also Amel Omerčahić, Antonijo Kondrić, Dario Lučić, Kristian Mazić and Mario Mazić. In addition to the tamburica, some players also play other instruments – Rikard Kužnin plays the clarinet and the contrabass, Antonio Grdović plays the clarinet, Mario Lale plays the lijerica, Jadran Radonić plays the lijerica, Slavonian bagpipes, Istrian and Dalmatian diple bagpipes, the double flute and the jedinka, while Ana Vidojević, Simona Belloti and Karmen Maškarić perform solely as violinists.
The Ensemble's depository contains some twenty antique instruments, among which are four Macedonian tamburas, three tapans, six kavals, a violin, a čelović and a chanter (never played). Of the newer instruments, the Ensemble uses bisernicas, basprims, a cello, two contrabasses, two samica tamburas, two clarinets, two lijericas, two accordions, Istrian and Dalmatian diple bagpipes, Slavonian bagpipes, a double flute, jedinkas and two violins, whereas the upcoming procurement of cimbaloms and mandolins will significantly enrich the musical inventory of the orchestra.