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Welcome back to a new episode of the All Things Croatia podcast.
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I'm your host, Stanko Zovak.
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Born and raised in Los Angeles, I'm now living in Zagreb and studying the Croatian language.
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Before we start, just do me a favor and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're
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listening, as well as the Facebook and Instagram page.
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In this series, I'll be talking with people both in the homeland and around the globe who
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have connections to Croatia.
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We'll hear from startups, returning to Aspora, musicians and athletes, and the biggest Croatian
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celebrities and what returned my calls.
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But enough about me.
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I'm Idem Odaulje and let's get started.
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Alright, welcome back to the podcast everybody.
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In this episode, our special guest is Gjelko Jirgan.
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Gjelko is a renowned choreographer and teacher of dance throughout the world.
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Originally from Varajdin, he performed in Lado, the Croatian National Folk Ensemble,
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and then moved to the US.
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He now shares his in-depth knowledge and style in teaching Croatian folk dancing as he travels
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around the world to spread the culture and traditions of Croatian dance.
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Gjelko, thanks for coming on the podcast.
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I'm glad to be with you.
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Now I want to start this off by saying, you know, I don't know too much about the Croatian
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traditional dances.
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Growing up, my older sister got to go.
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We have a church in downtown Los Angeles, Croatian church, and my older sister got to
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go to those classes.
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I guess my parents got tired of driving her, so when I was old enough they didn't take
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me, so I never got to do Kolo or anything like that.
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But I wanted to start off by asking, is Kolo, I don't even know, is that just like one style
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of dance or is that the entire Croatian traditional dance?
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Yeah, Kolo is mostly like international, where everybody is using Kolo as a circle
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dance, like a folklore stuff.
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But personally I don't use every Kolo as a folklore, but most of the people on the American
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continent around the world use Kolo.
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One thing is, you see, if your parents were not tired to drive you to Los Angeles church,
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I would probably teach you, because I'm teaching over there for the last 27 years.
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I'm choreographer for the Kolo group, St. Anthony's, and yeah, I'm enjoying this tremendously.
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And so this is it.
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Kolo, actually it translates just as a circle dance, but doesn't mean folklore.
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I like to call folklore dancing or folklore art, folklore traditions and stuff like that.
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I see.
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Okay, okay.
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I'll get into that a little bit more in depth later on, but first of all, I wanted to ask
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just a little bit about your background.
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You were born in Watterstein.
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What was growing up in Watterstein like for you?
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Yeah, I was born in Watterstein long, long time ago.
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And as most of the kids in my time, just to do something through the winter months and
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stuff like that, we joined the folklore groups.
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And this was like, Watterstein at that time had like a five or folklore groups and they
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were very active.
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And then most, a lot of us went to the music school.
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And so this is why I decided to attend a very famous Watterstein music school.
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And this was my beginnings.
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I was going to the folklore twice a week.
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I was going to music school two, three times a week to take classes.
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And actually that helped me tremendously in my future life teaching because I read the
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music and yeah, because I think to be a call out teacher, let's call call a teacher, if
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you read the music and if you can understand the music makes much, much, much simpler for
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me and for my students.
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And so how old were you when you first started doing those during the winters?
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I was seven and six or seven.
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And this was like, yeah, yeah.
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And when eight, I started to go into the music school.
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And it was kind of challenging because I couldn't read properly, you know, and then I have to
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know the notes and listen.
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But it was wonderful program.
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And yeah, and I was doing this dancing in several different groups in Watterstein for
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like a couple years.
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So I was not one group like after a year, it was not enough for me.
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So then I started to take, go into other group.
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And then I was having like four times a week, folklore.
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And it was just getting more and more.
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So I was doing this until I was 15.
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And then when I was 15, I started to be assistant dance instructor in one of the groups in Watterstein.
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And then I was doing this until I was 18.
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And after 18, I came to Zagreb to university for it to be an architect.
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And somebody stopped me, my colleague from Watterstein stopped me, who was a member of
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the state ensemble Lado.
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He asked me if I would like to go to Lado.
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And I said, you know what, I'm studying, you know, like, I don't have time for that.
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It's architecture.
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It's very, very demanding university.
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And Lado was going on tour to Eastern Germany and Russia and they need guys.
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So I just, he asked me if I can come for audition.
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So I came to Lado and you know what Lado was like for me was like something, then I
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was just dreaming about.
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And you know what is interesting, let me go a little bit back.
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You know, the first time I saw Lado when I was seven years old in Croatian theater
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in Watterstein.
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And I turned to my father and said, I said, I want to do this one day.
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And my father just looked at me and said, okay, we'll see.
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And you know, believe it or not, you know, one day I did surprise him with that, you
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know, like he saw me on TV.
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And he asked my mother, what is he doing on TV?
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He's supposed to be in university.
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But you know what, as I said, you know, they asked me to come for audition to Lado.
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And first time I came to the building of Lado is behind the Croatian National Theater in
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Zagreb.
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And I walk in and they had the singing warm-ups and they were singing and I got scared and
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I left.
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Wow.
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You know, I really did.
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You know, that was just stupid, but you know what, even when you're 18 and you hear these
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beautiful voices, I just left the building, you know.
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And then my friend called me and said, what happened?
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And said, can you come again?
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And a week later I came back for audition and this was it, you know, seven or ten days
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later I started to be like, start coming to rehearsals in Lado in the morning, afternoon,
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went to university and a month later we went on tour to East Germany and Russia, Soviet
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Union at that time.
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And this was it, you know.
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And I just couldn't believe that I was outside member of Lado.
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I didn't have a contract yet.
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About a year later my professor in the university, they were asking me, is a colleague a Juergen?
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You're going to dance or you're going to study?
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Because in that time Lado traveled a lot, a lot, a lot, probably like 200 days a year.
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And so, and then I just looked at my professor and I said, you know what, I think I'm going
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to dance.
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And this was it.
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I was hooked for the rest of my life in working very, very hard, like in Lado, five hours
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a day we had rehearsals.
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Afternoon I would go to the Zagreb ballet because they need guys also at that time so
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I danced with the ballet company in Zagreb.
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Then at night, you know, I was dancing with studio for the modern dance with Tika Naskrinjiric.
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Also we danced on the TV shows with the following, the singers and stuff like that.
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And this was it.
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So with 19, when I was 19, 19 and a half, my path in my life was dance for the rest of
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my life.
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And this is it.
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And so 47 years later or so I'm still dancing.
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Yeah, that's incredible.
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Well, it sounds like, I mean, that was already a full-time job.
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I mean, you were doing three different dance classes already in 19.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Actually I signed the contract when I was 19 and I don't know, a couple months.
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And so this is a full-time job.
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So you're a professional dancer of the state ensemble.
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And all this later on what I was doing, I was just hungry to learn more about dancing.
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So this is why I joined the Zagreb Ballet and the modern companies.
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But yeah, I was professional dancer from 1974 to 86, a member of Lado.
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I was a soloist in Lado.
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Enjoyed every minute.
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And many things change.
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Like actually, you know what I was at the artistic committee of Lado.
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And one day, like this was 1984, somebody came with a letter to the meeting and said,
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oh, we have one girl from Pittsburgh, United States who she would like to join company,
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you know, just for a year to see how we work.
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And I look at the picture of this girl and I said, oh, I don't like it.
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I didn't like a makeup.
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I didn't like the style of dancing.
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So I said, I'm against.
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So anyway, to come to the end of this story, two, three months later, my good friend, Alexander
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Abtichar came to my dressing room and said, oh, do you remember this girl from America?
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I said, you said you didn't like it.
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She's here.
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You have to come see her.
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And I said, OK.
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And by the way, she grabbed me from my arm and took me across the dance hall.
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And you know, when I saw her, I said, wow, she was gorgeous.
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And that's my wife today.
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Wow.
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That's crazy.
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And did you ever, when did you end up telling her that, you know, originally you were against
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her coming there until you saw her?
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The problem was this at that time I couldn't speak any English and she couldn't speak
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any Croatian.
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She could understand Croatian because she graduated at the University of Tamburistas.
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That's a company.
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That's the best dance company at that time on the American continent.
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And after she graduated the company, she decided to, before start to get real job, to get to
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Lado.
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And this was a dream, of course, you know, to see how the company works, maybe be a part
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of the company.
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And she finds some, President of CFU, Croatian fraternity unit, you better not look at each
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helper to get entrance to Lado.
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So she was the first actually American first person out of the Croatia who came to join
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our company and performed with company.
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Wow.
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And so, yeah, like two, three months later, you know, like we were just looking at each
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other and couldn't have any conversations.
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And then just happened, you know.
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To start, we start dating and it was not easy.
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And I remember, you know, we were going on tour to China and Japan and everything was
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84, 85.
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And I said to her, you know what, can I miss India?
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I put some sentences together.
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I said, you know, we really should, this will not work if we don't talk, if we cannot
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converse.
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And I said, you know what, and I was kind of like, I said, you know, when I come back
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from the tour, if we cannot speak and to have a conversation, I think we should just
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let go, break up.
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Because we were in love, we were together, but we just couldn't talk.
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And three weeks later, I went in Zagreb airport and she said to me, Box star, you know what
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I said.
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And she could understand Croatian, she could speak Croatian, but she was afraid.
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And this was it.
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And then after that, everything changed.
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Wow.
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And yeah, that's an interesting story, huh?
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Yeah.
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So the whole time then she could speak a little bit.
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She was just nervous.
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Yeah, she was correct.
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And she was answering me in English, but I was speaking to her Croatian, so it would
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be in two languages.
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And so I started to learn a little bit English.
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Because in my very beginning, I just know, okay, Malboro and I love you.
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It's about the airport that could speak.
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And so that's happened.
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So we got married in Varajdin, like we had a civil wedding in May 10th of 1986.
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And it was beautiful.
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The whole Lado came and they sang for us.
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And then the Lado was going on the tour in the United States and Canada.
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And she said to me, you know, when you're already on tour, because she couldn't travel
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with us outside of Croatia.
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It was love at that time.
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So she said, how about if you come to Pittsburgh and we have a church wedding in Pittsburgh?
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And after my last show in Montreal, we flew to New York and then Lado went for Croatia,
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for Zagreb, and I went to Pittsburgh.
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And what happened, I did ask my director for the leave of absence, you know, so that I
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can have a wedding in United States, church wedding.
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And he didn't let me.
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He didn't want to give me six months leave of absence, what I was asking for.
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And then I said, you know, when you were in love, you said everything.
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I said, you know what?
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I'm going to quit the company.
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I said, don't quit.
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Okay, we'll give you six months, but you have to promise you'll be back after six
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months.
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And so we have a wedding in Pittsburgh.
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It was beautiful.
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And five months later, I'm asking my wife, you know, it's time to go back to Zagreb,
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you know, I still had an apartment in Zagreb and everything.
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And she said to me that she would prefer to stay in United States.
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And that was the reason why I stayed here.
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And so you wanted to go back?
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I wanted to go back and you know, she had also the job in Lado, like she could dance
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in Lado.
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But I guess when she came back, you know, to the States and family and friends and everything,
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she would prefer to stay in United States.
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And that was the reason why I stay here.
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And then the problem started, you know, what, what I'm going to do here, you know, because
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of us, and then she suggested for me to finish architecture like university.
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And I said, no, I don't want to do that.
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I said, you know what, I want to dance.
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I want to teach because it's six months and I was here, this leaf of absence from Lado.
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I would start, people learned that I'm in the country, so they were calling me.
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So I was traveling from one group to other group and start teaching.
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And so then I said, no, I want to teach and from 86 until now I'm teaching creation folklore
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around the world.
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Wow.
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And what was it like for you to go into Pittsburgh and then living there?
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Were you speaking English at that point yet or no?
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You know, not very good.
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Not that I'm very good now, you know, but either my kids always tell me that I sound
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worse now than I did 15 years ago.
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But yeah, it was a cultural shock for me.
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It was a cultural shock because, you know, when I was with Lado and Zagreb Ballet and
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all this, when I was over there, I was really like, I didn't need a ticket to any theater
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in Yugoslavia or I knew the dances around the Europe.
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So a year before I came here, New York's Eve, I went to Rome, Rome took, you know, for
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New York's Eve.
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And then when I came to Pittsburgh and stayed here and, you know, I went to the Creation
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Club called Yavor and it was a cultural shock for me, you know, because these people were
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singing songs from 50 years ago before me, you understand?
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And that was really, and then I just, I was very, I was depressed in some time and then
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I decided that I have to make changes.
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And then I gave 100% of me, you know, to change everything, starting from Pittsburgh, going
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around the continent and Canada, you know, and I was making changes.
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I was making changes.
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People didn't understand the difference between Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian dances and anything.
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My job was just to educate them and this is how I did.
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And I thought I did put over 500 choreographies on the American continent in the last 37 years.
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And yeah, I teach in Australia.
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I've been a couple of times over there.
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I'm teaching Croatian dances to non-Croatian people, to folk dance community.
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That's it.
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This is why I was in Japan on tour for like 11 or 12 times, I was in Japan on tour.
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And I brought from some musicians, Croatian boys with me, you know, Tambora players who
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went with me on tours.
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And we started couple of Tamborets orchestras in Japan and I was teaching in Taiwan and
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I was, I'm teaching all over the Europe, like in Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Croatian
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dances, you know, but it's kind of funny to hear because I live in United States and they
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call me, folk dance communities, they call me to teach in Europe and Croatia is like,
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from Munich it's an hour away.
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Yeah, a lot closer.
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What is the interest for non-Croatians to learn this Croatian folklor dance?
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You see, I think in the 70s, especially Eastern European dancing started to be popular in
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United States.
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And in Pittsburgh is the company called, at that time was called, you can't junior Tambore,
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you can't university Tamboretsas.
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And my wife graduated from that company and they're very, very good.
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And it was, it was, companies consist like 40 members who play, sing and dance and they
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were doing all Eastern Europe.
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But it was started like Croatian Tamboretsa group ensemble.
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And now, like a month ago, they were just celebrating 85 years of existence.
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And I'm a choreography for them now for the last 35 years and Croatian, so through this
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company, some directors who were there like the cram, they started to teach Eastern European
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dances in universities in United States.
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And this is how Croatian dances were introduced to non-Croatians.
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Croatian clubs, Croatian, they dance Croatian dances, but non, like Americans, they didn't
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do.
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And so right now the folk dancing, it's very, very popular with in folk dance communities
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of Americans who are lead by American people or Canada or everywhere around the world.
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It's a multi-million dollar business actually.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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That's very interesting.
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Yeah, I wouldn't, I mean, I didn't know that and I wouldn't think that.
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Oh yeah.
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It's, yeah, it's, yeah, it's like I'm telling you, you know, it's, it's just a couple of
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us teachers who work and who can make living through teaching folk dance communities who
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are not, they're not ethnically connected to our backgrounds.
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So it's one Turkish guy, one Bulgarian guy, me, but you know what I'm lucky enough also
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then I can make very, very great living teaching Croatian groups around the world plus non-Croatians.
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What do you mean?
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It was not easy.
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It was not easy.
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You know, but especially, you know, I always say it was not easy because it's very, very
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difficult to compete in these American groups, dance groups with Russian dancing, Bulgarian
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dancing, Turkish, then totally different than our Croatian dances because nobody wants
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to do Dremesh for like half an hour, do you understand?
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But they will do Turkish dances or Bulgarian dances.
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So to compete with that different nationalities was a huge challenge.
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But you know what, I always recorded great music.
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I recorded over 11 CDs and I guess like everybody said, and when they're on dance floor with
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me, they could feel my love for my culture.
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And this is why I have a lot of followers.
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Hmm.
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Yeah, the passion is, you know, the most important thing.
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Correct.
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I wanted to go, sorry, I wanted to go back because you mentioned that even some of the
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Croatian communities that you were teaching were dancing a mix of Yugoslavian styles at
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the time?
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Yes, you know, the first time in 87 when I came to this festival, CFU Festival, Croatian
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fraternal union festival was actually happening this weekend.
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This was happening in Baltimore.
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And this is my first time I missed in 37 years.
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When I came to this Croatian festival, you know, like it's this Croatian fraternal
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union, the biggest Croatian organizations in the world.
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And they have a membership in Canada, United States, Europe, everywhere.
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And so I came to the festival and you know what?
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The groups who were attending the festival, and the festival is usually 4th of July weekend.
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They were dancing Slovenian dances, they were dancing a little bit Macedonian, they were
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dancing, playing some Serbian music, the hair was not correctly done.
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I lost that, I lost that, you know what?
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With my broken English, you know what?
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Everybody heard me.
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And I always said if it's Croatian festival, present Croatian culture.
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If it's Serbian festival, present Serbian.
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If it's Bulgarian, present Bulgarian.
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And I started to be a little policeman on that kind of Croatian events.
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Because I always said it's Croatian, present Croatian.
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The only one, like, and everybody knew this around the world.
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And I got my respect so people, I earned my respect so people really follow my directions
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and they respect me.
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But in Pittsburgh it's still, you know, because the tambourinescence and I just posted something
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today on the Facebook that, because they were dancing Bulgarian dance on the Croatian
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festival.
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You know, makes my stomach, you know, it doesn't make me, yeah, I'm still fighting.
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It's not easy to fight.
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But you know what, I always said, you know what, if you unrespect people will listen
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to you.
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And that's, yeah.
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I don't think so then I will change, ever change in the Pittsburgh community because
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tambourinescence is so strong.
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They're active for 85 years.
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But it's, yeah, some, when I'm around they will not play anything else than Croatian
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music here in Pittsburgh.
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Anyway.
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Well, that's sort of another brings up another question I wanted to ask about how do you,
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when you're teaching these, you know, Croatian dances, say in the US and Pittsburgh, are
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you adjusting them at all to be, I don't know, more modern or more American or no, are you
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keeping exactly the same?
375
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I'm a strong believer in the traditional folk art.
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I always, in my choreographies, I always use the traditional folk steps, traditional
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music, traditional instruments.
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But I did change through the years a little bit.
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And when I came here, I would put one choreography together like eight, nine minutes long.
380
00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:58,640
And it was usually three or four different dances.
381
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,320
So today I'm doing much shorter choreographies about six minutes long.
382
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,920
And I have like seven or eight different parts.
383
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,520
First of all, everything is go, it's faster today.
384
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The life is moving.
385
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Everything is faster than was like 30 years ago, 40 years ago.
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I don't change traditional steps.
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I just speed up a little bit, everything.
388
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I'm not talking about tempo, I'm talking about the parts of the choreography.
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The other thing to compete with different nationalities, especially like, like I'm talking
390
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:40,480
now about Tamburica's ensemble in Pittsburgh, who present all Eastern Europe.
391
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And further now, they went to other countries like Scandinavia, Italy and everything.
392
00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:54,640
I have to compete with them because the Ukrainian choreographer comes with these elements who
393
00:27:54,640 --> 00:28:05,160
are not folkloristic, but they're beautiful and challenging, challenges in the dance movements
394
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and stuff.
395
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I do have to go a little bit forward with it in creations of my stage choreographies on
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stage.
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I still am very, very erratic, traditional, but as a professional choreographer, when
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I was asked about six years ago to put the modern choreography for Tamburica's, I did.
399
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And it was like almost the third world war in the community.
400
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:45,920
But you know what, every step I did a fusion choreography, very modern with a computer
401
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:52,880
sound in the beginning and very, very, like a lot of drums, written stuff like that.
402
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:58,440
Costume was done by a lady from Slovakia.
403
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:04,400
And the only thing close to our culture was red and white, but actually they look like
404
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,560
Armenian costumes.
405
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,200
But I'm professional, I was asked to do that.
406
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:17,680
I told the director then I think then we will disturb a lot of people here.
407
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But you know what, it was a beautiful set with every step, traditional step, I made
408
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,080
a modern choreography.
409
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,600
So sometimes I have to do this, but I do prefer traditional folklor.
410
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:40,360
And you brought up the costumes and different costumes from what I've heard in Croatia.
411
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:45,800
It changes from village to village and from area to area, the costumes as well as even
412
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,160
the dances themselves, if I'm not mistaken.
413
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So how do you decide what elements from what parts of Croatia to bring in?
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It depends.
415
00:29:55,280 --> 00:30:02,560
If I have open hands to decide what to do, this depends what kind of talent I have.
416
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:11,960
So if it's a very talented group like Tamburidzans or some groups that I work with for 35 years,
417
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:18,960
like Kralicaela and Afram Kicim or even Los Angeles group now I'm with them for 25 years,
418
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then I make decision or talk to directors over there what we're going to do.
419
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:29,480
So every region has a different dances, every village has a different dances, every village
420
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:37,040
has a different dances through the year, it depends if it's Easter time, Christmas time,
421
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harvest, the salt, everything is different.
422
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:43,720
This is how I decide what to do.
423
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:50,240
Every region has hundreds and hundreds of different variations of the steps, costumes.
424
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:56,240
And I said, I did study at New Musicology in Zagreb for two years, I don't think so
425
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than any country in the world, and I'm not saying this because I'm just Croatian, you
426
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:06,160
know what, because I do my presentations on universities here and stuff.
427
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:13,600
I don't think so than any country has so many different types of the costumes in one small
428
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,560
region like Pokuplje.
429
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:22,880
And you know why, because everybody wanted Croatia all the time.
430
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:30,320
And you know what, so every different nationalities who occupied us, like Hungarian, Syntalians,
431
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:36,640
French, Turkish, everybody brought a little bit in Croatian, our land, and they left
432
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:37,640
that.
433
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:44,440
So we adopted, we took, so this is why in one Pokuplje, let's say in Yasterbarsko, in
434
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:50,360
this little area, in like 20 different villages, you have like 50, 60 different types of costumes.
435
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,080
No other country has that.
436
00:31:53,080 --> 00:32:00,960
It's mind blowing, you know, like how traditional, our traditions is rich, and many people, they
437
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:01,960
don't know that.
438
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:07,000
And what are some of your favorite styles from which regions or costumes as well?
439
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,560
I cannot say that because people will kill me.
440
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:10,560
That's true.
441
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,560
I can't say that.
442
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,680
I'll say, you know what, if somebody asked me, can you do something for Slovakia, Eastern
443
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,760
Slovakia, Middle Slovakia, so then I'd do the best what I can, you know, and I'd take
444
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:24,120
the, and you know what, I did a lot of research.
445
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,920
That's one thing.
446
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:32,720
I was lucky enough when I came to the United States, then I got grants from the different
447
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,760
artistic, cultural organizations.
448
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:45,160
Like Pennsylvania Art Council gave me grants, like I got $5,000 like 30 years ago, go to
449
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,600
Croatia, do the research, and when you come back, put something on stage, then nobody
450
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:50,600
did.
451
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,200
This is what I did.
452
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:58,120
And I bought a lot of costumes, then actually many, a lot of costumes I preserved here,
453
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:05,560
bringing here, because during the last war, like in village of Komletins, it was by Vinkovts,
454
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:10,600
it was almost level, and two weeks before I was there, and I took two suitcases full
455
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,280
of costumes here.
456
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:17,200
So I preserved these costumes, I saved them, do you understand?
457
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,640
These costumes are going back to Croatia.
458
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:27,480
So I'm donating them now, everything what I collect, everything what I have here, and
459
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:28,560
I have a lot.
460
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:34,680
My libraries, my like costume wise, I'm gonna give back everything back to Croatia.
461
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,280
Wow, and that will be in a museum or to Lado?
462
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:43,400
I have pieces, and they will go, some pieces that I know, then for sure they can go to
463
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:49,600
Lado, or they can go to the ethnography museum in Zagreb.
464
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:59,000
I have some really great examples of our, some costumes that I have like over 100 years
465
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,000
old.
466
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:01,000
Wow.
467
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:09,600
And the other thing what I really did during the war, I couldn't go really to Croatia at
468
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:19,600
that time, Yugoslavia, so I did a lot of research, Croatians out of the Croatia.
469
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:25,680
Actually when I was still in Zagreb, in Lado, I was teaching the Burgenland Croats in Austria,
470
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,200
and so I was every month there for a weekend, so I learned a lot.
471
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:36,480
And during the war, I went to Burgenland, I went to Hungary, I went to Romania, spent
472
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:42,240
seven days in Romania with villages over there, and it was for me, you know, it was
473
00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:50,280
just amazing that somebody who left Croatia 300, 400 years ago, they still speak Croatian
474
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,400
in the dialect, but they still speak.
475
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:59,400
So I did preserve a lot of this material, I did a lot of recordings, audio and video
476
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:08,880
recordings, and now just we have to organize all that and just share with right organizations,
477
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:13,720
because in that way we're going to preserve our culture for more than one generation.
478
00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:14,720
Yeah.
479
00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:20,000
Well, that, Gjelko, that brings me to, I mean, my final question here as we're running
480
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:25,480
low on time, but I wanted to ask you, why is it important for you to preserve, you know,
481
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,680
this aspect of Croatian culture?
482
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:37,720
I always said traditions can be preserved one generation at a time, and that sentence
483
00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:40,240
says everything.
484
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:51,360
If I don't do that, you see, I dedicate my life, and I'm getting emotional now, to preserve
485
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,760
my culture.
486
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:58,760
Many of my colleagues just go around and they put the choreography together to get money,
487
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,480
and you know, that's it.
488
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,880
For me, it's totally different.
489
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:12,520
You know what, I just gave to myself, and I left Croatia, I said, what I will do, I
490
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:17,160
will promote my country and my culture around the world.
491
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:25,920
And it's one thing, you see, if I, yeah, and I always do 100% my job, and this is why I
492
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:34,320
never ask for one job in 37 years, and I'm out, I cannot do everything what people ask
493
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:36,320
me, and this will tell you something.
494
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:43,080
I really, my heart is in that, and this is it, and this is my duty.
495
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,240
Before I die, I have to leave something to the world.
496
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:48,760
That's very powerful.
497
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:57,080
This is, you know what, and as I said, I go to Japan and I'm treated like a celebrity,
498
00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:03,240
and you know, because I, these people in Japan who really couldn't understand, I'm teaching
499
00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:08,120
in Japan, mostly in English, but little bit of Japanese than I have learned through the
500
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:14,600
years, but you know what, they can feel my passion for my culture, and that's why, you
501
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,800
know, they love me.
502
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,400
And that answers everything.
503
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:25,480
And I always said, you know what, I have over 70 couples that go to merit on American
504
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:32,360
continent, okay, Canada, United States, that they met in my groups when I was teaching.
505
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,400
So you know what, that's something, that's also achievement.
506
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:42,120
When you have 70 couples, you know, and I know that these people, they're bringing me
507
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:48,960
kids again to teach them, and yeah, I prolong one generation, you understand, of preserving
508
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:49,960
our culture.
509
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:54,520
Well, even more than one, it sounds like they're bringing their kids, maybe even grandkids
510
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:55,520
someday.
511
00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:00,720
Yes, I do have, and you know what, and my adult group in Pittsburgh, because I have some adult
512
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:08,720
groups too, I had the three generations on stage, and that's, you know what, I just smile.
513
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:11,400
It's no words to explain that, you just smile.
514
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:12,400
Yeah.
515
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:17,960
Well, I think one of the great things about the Croatian culture globally is how, I mean,
516
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:22,440
the diaspora all around the world is really, you know, trying to preserve the Croatian
517
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:24,240
culture and the traditions.
518
00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:27,000
You can find Croatian communities all over the world.
519
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,000
You know, I'll diet diaspora.
520
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,960
You know what, I get angry, you know what, because I really don't have a filter.
521
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:37,240
I get angry for some critiques from the Croatian.
522
00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:47,560
When they try to judge people in diaspora, I think diaspora here, we preserved more,
523
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:54,080
and we are stronger than people in Croatia, except a couple amateur groups, very good
524
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:55,640
groups and stuff.
525
00:38:55,640 --> 00:39:01,560
Here people drive to the, first of all, we are not sponsors by government, city or anything,
526
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:02,560
out of Croatia.
527
00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:07,120
We all have to do fundraisers to group to survive.
528
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:12,880
People drive for hour and half for rehearsal, and then drive hour and half home.
529
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,920
They were born here.
530
00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:19,680
They don't speak the language sometimes, you understand, but they also, you know what,
531
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,880
they do so much.
532
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:29,600
Then I think that diaspora will preserve more and did preserve more than in the homeland.
533
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,280
This is why I feel like you're absolutely right.
534
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:34,760
You remind me of that.
535
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,040
We are doing an amazing job here.
536
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:44,920
You know what, amazing job, when you go to the festival and you see 700 kids, young
537
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:54,120
people, on stage, when I was a conductor in Chicago for CFU, I had 750 kids, youngsters,
538
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:55,800
on stage conducting.
539
00:39:55,800 --> 00:40:00,560
They were born here, they sing Croatian songs.
540
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:01,560
That's amazing.
541
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:02,560
Isn't this?
542
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,680
It really is, yeah.
543
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,520
The diaspora's love for Croatia is so strong, I feel like.
544
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:10,520
It is.
545
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:16,520
I always said, you know, that my great friend in Los Angeles, Heidi Granić, I worked with
546
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:23,000
her for years, we just sit in the, like, when we have a Los Angeles festival in February,
547
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:28,960
we start 15 years ago, we just sit in the corner and we just look at each other, we
548
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:33,360
smile, because you know what, California didn't have a festival.
549
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:37,080
And so everything was happening in the eastern side of the country.
550
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:41,440
And we decide to do that, you know what, and we achieved, we have people from New Zealand
551
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:47,800
coming from Canada, from all over the United States in February in Los Angeles, extravaganza.
552
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,840
And we just look at each other, we smile, because we start.
553
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:59,120
So we put a little seat in these people's hearts and yeah, we're going to survive for
554
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:00,840
the next 20 more years.
555
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:01,840
Wow.
556
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,480
And that's a goal, that's my goal in my life.
557
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:09,120
Oh yeah, that's very powerful and it gives us a lot to think about.
558
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:13,320
You know, Gielko, I really want to thank you again for taking the time to do this interview
559
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,520
with me and to come on the podcast.
560
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,000
I learned a lot and you're making me want to dance.
561
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,560
You know, I've never been much of a dancer, but now I'm excited.
562
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:23,240
You know what?
563
00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:26,600
Never too late to start dancing.
564
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:31,640
And thank you for having me and I'm sorry if I didn't go, you know, jumping from subject
565
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:36,360
to subject, but you see, when I talk about my traditions, I just get excited.
566
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,120
I see that, I see that.
567
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:39,160
You're very passionate.
568
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:40,440
Yes, I am.
569
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:45,480
And this is one thing, you know, so you can always see and you probably met some of my
570
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:50,840
former dancers when they see me, these Tretkovich brothers and stuff like that.
571
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:56,320
When they see me, I always get the biggest hug ever and this hug says everything.
572
00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:01,000
In the moment, sometimes they didn't like me because I was, I'm strict, but you know
573
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,000
what?
574
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,160
Today, they love me.
575
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:09,000
I think they're coming to Croatia here in August and I'll probably see them.
576
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:10,000
I'm here now.
577
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,000
So I'll see them when they come this summer and I'll have to ask them about you.
578
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:14,000
Please, sir.
579
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,000
You know what?
580
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:21,640
I've been in Croatia in two weeks for like six weeks and so let's meet and let's talk.
581
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:25,200
Let's have a little shot of a glass of medicine, how I call it.
582
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:26,200
Glass of medicine, exactly.
583
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:27,200
Perfect.
584
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:28,200
Well, thank you again so much, Yoko.
585
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:30,000
I really appreciate it.
586
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,000
It was fun.
587
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:32,000
Thank you, buddy, for having me.
588
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,000
Okay.
589
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:38,960
That's it for today's episode of the All Things Croatia podcast.
590
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:41,320
Thanks for tuning in and I hope you all enjoyed it.
591
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:45,400
You can subscribe to the Patreon and check out the All Things Croatia Instagram page
592
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:46,920
to stay updated.
593
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:51,080
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, tips, or ideas and make sure to tune back
594
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:52,920
in to the next episode.
595
00:42:52,920 --> 00:43:11,880
Thanks again and vide mosten.