Last weekend we participated in one of the biggest folklore events in Croatian diaspora, the annual festival of the Canadian-Croatian Folklore Federation East. This year was the 49th festival and the host was the Croatian National Home in Hamilton. Twenty folklore groups from Canada and the USA performed over two days, which was over four hours of music, singing and dancing. A lot of work and love was put into these performances and they are something to be very proud of. This is something that defines us and keeps us together as a nation, far from the homeland. Upon completion of the official program, we had an “after-party” at the Ancaster Fairgrounds and a holy mass at the Holy Cross Croatian Church the following day.
The 700-seat Aquarius theatre was full for two days, the holy mass attendance was in several hundreds, and the afterparty headcount was well over a thousand. These numbers show the magnitude of the event and the effort required to organize it. The mass held by fr. Marko Stefanec was a magnificent event with the entire church singing and taking a group photo at the end. The organizer of this year’s festival – Croatian National Home from Hamilton, which is the oldest cultural organization in Canada established back in 1928, managed all the events flawlessly.
All three of our klapas performed at the event, youth male klapa Berekin, female klapa Fritule and mixed klapa Kartolina. We are immensely proud of all of our members and their performances. There is a lot of work and effort required to get all the voices together and to sing beautiful harmonies of the Dalmatian songs. We are especially grateful to all the members’ parents, grandparents and friends that continuously support our members. Without them, nothing would be possible.
Our group, as the only Dalmatian klapa in the Canadian-Croatian Folklore Federation East, adds a beautiful diversity to the already rich folklore program of the federation. We are hoping that our work will influence others to start their own klapa, or any other folk singing groups.
See you all next year at the big jubilee, the 50th Festival!
Prošlog vikenda sudjelovali smo na jednom od najvećih folklornih događanja u hrvatskom iseljeništvu, godišnjem festivalu Kanadsko-Hrvatskog Folklornog Saveza Istok. Ove godine je bio 49. festival po redu, a domaćin je bio Hrvatski Narodni dom u Hamiltonu. Dvadesetak folklornih skupina iz Kanade i SAD-a nastupilo je u dva dana, što je bilo više od četiri sata glazbe, pjesme i plesa. Puno rada i ljubavi uloženo je u ove nastupe i time se svi možemo ponositi. To je nešto što nas određuje i drži na okupu kao narod, daleko od domovine. Po završetku službenog programa imali smo “after-party” na Ancaster Fairgrounds, a slijedeći dan svetu misu u hrvatskoj crkvi Svetog Križa.
Dvorana kazališta Aquarius sa 700 sjedećih mjesta bila je puna dva dana, na svetoj misi bilo je nekoliko stotina ljudi, a na after-partyju više od tisuću. Ove brojke pokazuju veličinu manifestacije i truda koji je bio potreban za organizaciju. Misa koju je održao vlč. Marko Štefanec je bio veličanstven događaj, gdje je pjevala cijela crkva, a završen je sa zajedničkim fotografiranjem. Organizator ovogodišnjeg festivala – Hrvatski narodni dom iz Hamiltona, koji je najstarija kulturna organizacija u Kanadi osnovan davne 1928. godine, je sve izveo besprijekorno.
Na priredbi su nastupile sve tri naše klape, dječja muška klapa Berekin, ženska klapa Fritule i mješovita klapa Kartolina. Neizmjerno smo ponosni na sve naše članove i njihove nastupe. Puno je rada i truda potrebno da se svi glasovi slože i otpjevaju lijepe harmonije dalmatinskih pjesama. Posebno se zahvaljujemo svim roditeljima, bakama, djedovima i prijateljima članova koji kontinuirano podržavaju naše grupe. Bez njih ništa ne bi bilo moguće.
Naša grupa, kao jedina dalmatinska klapa članica folklornog saveza, pridonosi još većoj raznolikosti bogatog folklornog programa Kanadsko-Hrvatskog Folklornog Saveza-Istok. Nadamo se da ćemo svojim radom utjecati i na druge da osnuju svoju klapu, ili bilo koju drugu folklornu pjevačku skupinu.
Vidimo se sljedeće godine na velikom, jubilarnom, 50. Festivalu!
Canadian-Croatian Folklore Federation East
Croatian National Home Hamilton
Von Sajko Photography Von Sajko Media
(The official videos of the performances will come at a later date)
