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 Jergovi 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 tokavian 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 Kraljevi is associated with Dalmatian island Hvar through Petar Hektorovi s book Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje 1568 Also the first historical document which mentioned gusle player and its instrument originated in Dubrovnik 1547 Even now a contemporary Croatian writer born in Dubrovnik Stijepo Mijovi Ko an tells us a story about his uncle also from Dubrovnik area who could memorize numerous gusle songs Stijepo Mijovi Ko an Gusle Glasnik May 25 1992 p 42 Dubrovnik is also a home of Anica Begin born Kalafatovi 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 Ka i Mio i 18th century Catholic priest who is viewed as the father of all gusle players of Croatia and beyond To honour Ka i s work Ivan Me trovi the most famous Croatian sculptor built a sculpture in America showing Ka i in his priestly clothes playing gusle instrument In addition to Ka i Makarska Littoral produced a great many other followers of Croatian gusle music According to dr fra Karlo Juri i who quotes the work of Croatian folklorist Stipan Banovi Zaostrog alone produced a great number of gusle players starting with Stipan Kosovi Kudri 1771 1818 and culminating with the most known Mate Banovi Trli 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 Osrede ki Hrvatske narodne juna ke pjesme eljezno Be 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