"

66.185.85.80's rant

Presently, we are witnessing  an open war against Croatian Dinaric culture.  Croatian Left often portrays this culture as ""primitive"" and ""rural"" (even ""fashist"") being  in  service of Conservative HDZ party. Croatian writer Predrag Raos, for instance, ""performed"" on gusle instrument in Zagreb on several occasions this year (2004) with only one intention - to ridicule the same instrument and its rich poetic tradition.
 
Another ""apostle"" of Croatian Left - Miljenko Jergović - refers to his political opponents on the Right as ""gusle players"". 

Some even claim the Serbian origin of Croatian Dinaric culture following the line of traditional greater Serbian propagabda (all štokavian people and their culture are Serbian). However, Croatian Dinaric folklore and its rich gusle heritage is primarly Croatian. Dalmatian costal region has been historically associated with this culture. For example, the first written document about the most popular folk hero of traditional gusle music, Marko Kraljević, is associated with Dalmatian island Hvar through Petar Hektorović's book ""Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje"", 1568). Also, the first historical document which mentioned gusle player and its instrument originated in  Dubrovnik (1547). Even now, a contemporary Croatian writer (born in Dubrovnik) Stijepo Mijović Kočan tells us a story about his uncle (also from Dubrovnik area) who could memorize numerous gusle songs (Stijepo Mijović Kočan: Gusle, Glasnik, May 25, 1992, p. 42). Dubrovnik is also a home of Anica Begin (born Kalafatović, 1816), a daughter of famous gusle player Ante. Although illiterate, she was able to recite by heart an immense number of gusle songs, some of which were recorded in antology of Croatian folk poetry. 
 
Not far from Dubrovnik, another coastal city - Makarska – was  also a bastion of Croatian gusle music. Actually, this region could be considered the Capital of all Croatian gusle players. This Mediterranean area  also gave birth to  Andrija Kačić Miošić (18th century Catholic priest), who is  viewed as the father of all gusle players of Croatia and beyond. To honour Kačić's work, Ivan Meštrović, the most famous Croatian sculptor, built a sculpture in America showing Kačić in his priestly clothes  playing gusle instrument.  

In addition to Kačić, Makarska Littoral produced a great many other followers of Croatian gusle music. According to dr. fra Karlo Jurišić (who quotes the work of Croatian folklorist Stipan Banović), Zaostrog alone  produced a great number of gusle players starting with Stipan Kosović-Kudrić (1771-1818) and culminating with the most known Mate Banović – Trliš (1844-1915).  As for Dalmatian women, they didn't play gusle (it's    considered   a male activity only), yet they were actively involved in spreading  gusle music  by  imitating its sound. 

Olinko Delorko, the researcher of  Dalmatian  folk poetry in the 1960s, states in his book Ljuba Ivanova (1969) that most of his Dalmatian folk poetry collection was obtained by  women, especially the ones from the island of Hvar. 

The Zadar Littoral also witnessed strong gusle tradition. English writer Maude M. Holbach, travelling through Zadar region in the first decade of 20th century  states in her book  ""Dalmatia: The Land Where East Meets West"" that the gusle was the national instrument of the region. As for Dinaric dances, which took place at markets and certain festivals, they  are very picturesque and interesting, and worth going a long way to see, being a survival of ancient custom probably unique in Europe (p.54)

This admiration for Dinaric folk music, particularly gusle, was seen in both Dalmatian Litteral and  Hinterland.  Matija Murko, the researcher of this literary/music forms,  had reported   that during his trips  through Dalmatia in the 1930s, he saw a child, barely three years old playing gusle (Eduard Osredečki: “Hrvatske narodne junačke pjesme”, Željezno-Beč, p. 9)

Now, lets  take a look at  the names of some Dalmatian sports clubs and organizations: Hajduk, Junak, Gusar, Alkar, Uskok, sinjska alka, etc. What do they have in common? Of course, their names refer to the heroic gusle tradition of the region. 

Having this in mind, one wonders why this proud Croatian heritage has become almost  extinct.  Why do we have so few gusle players today ? Is it a  result of  unavoidable urbanization  of  modern Croatian society where peasant culture is being considered  inferior to global  rock 'n' roll  culture ? If so, why has tamburitza music of Northern Croatia  gained wide acceptance from the Croatian establishment while its  Dinaric counterpart (gusle music) is looked upon with suspicion and  open hatre