Croatian Heritage Festival

Sinovi Tamburitza Orchestra, based in Seattle, Washington, performs traditional and popular Croatian music featuring the tamburitza, a stringed instrument native to Croatia and southeastern Europe.  Appropriately named "Sinovi" or "Sons" in Croatian, the group consists of three brothers (George, Tim and Tom Jovanovich) and two father and son sets (George and Tom's sons Jake and Nick) and are joined by vocal/instrumentalist John Morovich. In addition to traditional dance music, the group specializes in the genre of "Becar" or "Bachelors" music made popular in the early 1920's to 1940's by immigrant musicians in Croatian American colonies across the United States. Members of the band are also expert teachers in tamburitza playing, Croatian folk singing or dancing and teach locally and national folklore workshops and camps

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern Europe. He was awarded the Washington State Arts Commission Folk Arts Fellowship for 2001. He is a featured soloist with the Sinovi Tamburitza Orchestra, artistic director of the Seattle Junior Tamburitzans, and Klapa Ruzmarin; and past conductor of the Jele Croatian Women's Choir. Most recently in 2018 he was inducted a member of the Tamburitza Hall of Fame

Lilla Serlegi was raised in a Croatian community in western Hungary, an area exceptionally rich in Croatian culture. Though Lilla grew up in Hungary, Croatian was her primary language. From early childhood she was recognized as gifted in music: she took up the tamburitza, trained with one of the best tamburitza teachers in Croatia and performed with traditional Croatian tamburitza bands in western Hungary. Consequently, Lilla mastered the traditional cultural rituals associated with tamburitza music in both the Croatian and Hungarian cultures.

$20.

Presented by Croatian American Cultural Center.