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LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

(Photo: LADO)

Croatia’s most famous folklore ensemble LADO has recorded its first Easter vocal-instrumental album. 

The album, titled Veliko je sad veselje – hrvatske uskrsne pučke popijevke (Croatian Easter folk songs), is a compilation of 11 musical numbers from different Croatian regions – Dalmatia, Istria, Lika, Baranja, Turopolje, Banovina and Slavonia. 

This is the 34th album released by LADO, on which the ensemble collaborated with conductors Dražen Kurilovčan and Joško Ćaleta.

For decades, LADO has been systematically researching Croatian folk sacred music, this exceptional combination of church and traditional musical expression. 

LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

(Photo: LADO)

“Originally, songs from the Christmas period were collected and processed, and over time the repertoire expanded, both in terms of individual periods in the church year and in terms of their regional distribution. We can say that with this Easter program we are closing the circle of presenting the sacral repertoire,” says LADO’s artistic director and author of the Easter programme Krunoslav Šokac.

LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

(Photo: LADO)

The first single, an Easter tune from Petrinja, Veseli se, o Marijo, was released on Easter on LADO’s YouTube channel. This tune (video at the end of the article) was chosen to announce the Easter album because Petrinja, as well as the whole of Banovina and Posavina, was badly damaged in the earthquake at the end of 2020, and the desire of the LADO Ensemble is to send a message of solidarity, support, faith and hope for a better tomorrow.

This Croatian Easter folk song in Petrinja was recorded by Vladimir Stahuljak, and the musical arrangement is signed by Joško Ćaleta. Alen Vuković is responsible for making the video, and the tone was recorded and formed by Matija Auker, Robert Tanasković and Margareta Miholić. 

LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

(Photo: LADO)

Photographs and old postcards from the Photo Library of the Croatian Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and archival photo material of the Ethnographic Museum Zagreb were also used in the production of the video. 

“We especially thank Sanja Grković, the manager of the Photo Library, and Matija Dronjić, the senior curator of the Ethnographic Museum Zagreb, for their help in choosing the archive material,” said Šokac.

LADO release first Easter album with music from different Croatian regions

(Photo: LADO)

In addition to the CD release, the LADO Ensemble’s Easter programme will be able to be listened to on some of the many digital platforms, such as Deezer, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and others.

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