Our recently completed tour with klapa Teranke from Pula and Mr. Mijo Stanić, director of Festival Dalmatian klapa in Omiš, was an amazing time and exceeded all our expectations. We held four concerts and one seminar in 7 days, travelled almost 2000 km in our cars, visited two countries and eight cities and towns. At the end of the tour we were tired, but our hearts were full.
Klapa Teranke is one of the top female klapas in Croatia and they really proved it to the Canadian public firsthand. They love to sing, and sang everywhere they had the chance; at the Detroit Pistons Training facility, Riverside Windsor, General Motors Headquarters, Downtown Detroit, Niagara Falls, the Hard Rock Café, and Toronto Pearson International Airport. They are exactly what klapa is supposed to be, a group of friends gathering to sing for the enjoyment of it.
Our first couple days were in Windsor, the home of Klapa Kartolina. Since Windsor is just across the border from Detroit Michigan, we went to the USA together before our first concert. We went to the home of one of the NBA teams – the Detroit Pistons, where we toured through their offices, meeting rooms and their training center, where they held open tryouts exactly at the time when we were there. We visited the Renaissance Centre; a 73-story complex of seven buildings where the General Motors Company has its headquarters, and we also had a ride in the Detroit People Mover – an elevated train that encircles downtown Detroit.
The concert in Windsor was held at the Music Académie St. Cecile where we saw performances of our three klapas; Berekin, Fritule and Kartolina, and our dear guests from Croatia – klapa Teranke. Mr. Stanić gave a very nice introduction to the concert and his speech emphasized the importance of our work to preserve our national cultural heritage. The concert itself was a wonderful experience for everyone, where all the ensembles truly enjoyed performing in a beautifully acoustic hall and sharing their joy for klapa with the audience. The songs performed ranged from traditional klapa songs to newly composed arrangements and the audience rewarded the performers with immense applause. Our audiences in Windsor have had some exceptional privileges, comparable to no place in North America, where over the years they have had the opportunity to see and hear many renowned klapas from Croatia. We must also mention and thank our friends from Indiana, USA; Meros and Bill Fortney that travelled over 700 km, to come to our klapa concert again this year!
The following day of the tour was a true challenge, where we had scheduled two performances during the day, both in different cities. The first concert was at the Meridian Arts Center in the city of North York in the afternoon hours, and this was our prime event that had performances from three ensembles; Klapa Kartolina, Klapa Teranke and Darbazi – a vocal ensemble based in Toronto that performs traditional singing from Republic of Georgia. The concert was a truly intimate experience where in the “black box” theatre, the audience had the opportunity to enjoy every little musical phrase and all the beautiful details and harmonies. We concluded the concert with the song “Piva klapa ispo’ volta” performed by all three ensembles. Despite performing the song being “ad hoc” with almost no rehearsal, the song enlightened the audience, where they raised up applauding and asking for more! Unfortunately, we could not fulfill their wishes because we had to rush to the city of Burlington, where we had scheduled our second performance of the day. Without changing our outfits, we packed our things and got on the road again!
The evening performance of the day was at the Burlington Convention Centre, at a reception for the occasion of a visit to Canada by the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Zoran Milanović. Klapa Kartolina opened the official program with singing the Croatian and Canadian anthems, followed by speeches by President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Zoran Milanović, the Croatian Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Vice Skračić, and the General Consul of Croatia in Canada, Mr. Ante Jović. All the speakers recognized and praised excellent and unbreakable bonds between Canada and Croatia, as well as the ties between Croatians abroad and Croatia. The official program was concluded by klapa Teranke, which performed song Rusulica and got a heartfelt round of applause for their performance. The rest of the evening was filled with mingling in a relaxed atmosphere with our Croatian community and of course, more klapa singing!
The next day it was our last working day of the tour, where in a beautiful sanctuary of the Humber Valley Church in Etobicoke, klapa Teranke had their final official appearance. In this concert, they showed their superb singing skills and truly expressed their emotions in every song. At the end of the concert, both, the audience and Teranke had teary eyes and it was beautiful, but somewhat sad because it was the last performance of the tour.
The concert was immediately followed by a klapa singing seminar held by Mr. Mijo Stanić, where our friends from Hrvatsko Kolo Toronto and klapa Maestral Toronto, joined us to form an ad-hoc klapa and to learn and broaden our knowledge and skills in klapa singing. Mr. Stanić shared with us his extensive experience with klapa singing through learning one of the legendary klapa songs; „Ju te san se zajubijo“. The seminar was about an hour and half long, yet not long enough to end our consisting interest.
The last day of the tour, to reward ourselves for all the hard work, we went to visit the most popular attraction in Ontario – Niagara Falls. We spent the entire day there, where we visited the falls, the Skylon tower, the Hard Rock Café and an unforgettable trip to just bellow the falls, either through the access tunnels, or by the boat. Of course, Teranke could not resist singing along the way, anywhere they had the opportunity!
As all good things must come to an end, we finished our tour after seven days full of action. Our guests truly amazed us with their singing, comradery and sincerity. We made friends for life, and we could not resist but start planning for us to meet again! Hope to see everyone soon!
We are immensely grateful to all the sponsors of the tour:
- Središnji državni ured za Hrvate izvan Republike Hrvatske
- Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske
- Istarska županija
- Grad Pula
- Turistička zajednica grada Pule
- Puhački orjestar grada Pule
- Dr. Laura Voltić Medicine Professional Corporation
- Effective Hair Studio
Naša nedavno završena turneja s klapom Teranke iz Pule i g. Mijom Stanićem, ravnateljem Festivala dalmatinskih klapa u Omišu, prošla je više nego odlično i nadmašila je sva naša očekivanja. Održali smo četiri koncerta i jedan seminar u 7 dana, prešli gotovo 2000 km u automobilima, te posjetili dvije države i osam gradova i mjesta. Na kraju turneje bili smo umorni, ali srca su nam bila puna.
Klapa Teranke jedna je od najboljih ženskih klapa u Hrvatskoj i to su pokazale kanadskoj publici iz prve ruke. Vole pjevati, a pjevali su gdje god su imali priliku; u Detroit Pistons Training facility, Riverside Windsor, General Motors Headquarters, Downtown Detroit, Niagara Falls, Hard Rock Café i Toronto Pearson International Airport. Oni su upravo ono što bi klapa trebala biti, grupa prijatelja koja se okuplja pjevati, jer u tome uživaju.
Prvih par dana bili smo u Windsoru, domu Klape Kartolina. Budući da je Windsor odmah preko granice od Detroita Michigan, zajedno smo otišli u SAD prije našeg prvog koncerta. Otišli smo u dom jedne od NBA momčadi – Detroit Pistonsa, gdje smo obišli njihove urede, sobe za sastanke i njihov trening centar, gdje su održavali otvorene probe točno u vrijeme kada smo mi bili tamo. Posjetili smo Renaissance Centar; kompleks visok 73 kata i sa sedam zgrada, gdje je sjedište General Motors Company, a provozali smo se i Detroit People Moverom – nadzemnim metroom koji se kreće poviše gradskih ulica i koji povezuje dijelove centra Detroita.
Koncert u Windsoru održan je u Music Académie St. Cecile gdje su nastupile naše tri klape; Berekin, Fritule i Kartolina, te naši dragi gosti iz Hrvatske – klapa Teranke. Gospodin Stanić dao je vrlo lijep uvod u koncert i u svojem govoru istaknuo važnost našeg rada na očuvanju nacionalne kulturne baštine u dijaspori. Sam koncert bio je jedno prelijepo iskustvo za sve, gdje su svi ansambli istinski uživali u nastupu u vrhunski akustičnoj dvorani, i podijelili s publikom svoj užitak u pjevanju pjesama. Izvođene su pjesme od tradicionalnih klapskih pjesama do novokomponiranih obrada, a publika je izvođače nagradila dugim aplauzima. Naša publika u Windsoru ima iznimnu privilegiju, kao ni jedno mjesto u Sjevernoj Americi, gdje je tijekom godina imala priliku vidjeti i čuti mnoge renomirane klape iz Hrvatske. Također moramo spomenuti i zahvaliti našim prijateljima iz Indiane, SAD; Meros i Bill Fortney koji su prešli preko 700 km, kako bi i ove godine došli na naš klapski koncert!
Sljedeći dan turneje bio je pravi izazov, gdje smo imali zakazana dva nastupa tijekom dana, oba u različitim gradovima. Prvi koncert je bio u Meridian Arts Centeru u gradu North York u poslijepodnevnim satima i ovo je bio naš glavni događaj na kojem su nastupila tri ansambla; Klapa Kartolina, Klapa Teranke i Darbazi – vokalni ansambl iz Toronta koji izvodi tradicionalno pjevanje iz Republike Gruzije. Koncert je bio istinski intiman doživljaj gdje je u „crnoj kutiji“ kazališne dvorane publika imala priliku uživati u svakoj glazbenoj frazi i svim prekrasnim detaljima i harmonijama. Koncert smo zaključili pjesmom “Piva klapa ispo’ volta” u izvedbi sva tri ansambla. Unatoč tome što je izvođenje pjesme bilo “ad hoc” bez gotovo ikakve probe, pjesma je oduševila publiku, koja je ustala i pljeskom tražila još! Nažalost, nismo im mogli ispuniti želje jer smo morali žuriti u grad Burlington, gdje smo imali zakazan drugi nastup tog dana. Bez ikakvog presvlačenja, spakirali smo stvari i opet na put!
Večernji nastup dana bio je u Burlington Convention Centru, na prijemu povodom posjeta Kanadi predsjednika Republike Hrvatske, g. Zorana Milanovića. Klapa Kartolina otvorila je službeni program intoniranjem hrvatske i kanadske himne, nakon čega su uslijedili govori predsjednika Republike Hrvatske g. Zorana Milanovića, veleposlanika RH u Kanadi g. Vice Skračića i generalnog konzula RH u Kanadi g. Ante Jovića. Svi su govornici prepoznali i pohvalili odlične i neraskidive veze Kanade i Hrvatske, kao i veze Hrvata izvan domovine i Hrvatske. Službeni program zaključila je klapa Teranke koja je izvela pjesmu Rusulica i za svoju izvedbu dobila buran pljesak. Ostatak večeri protekao je u druženju u opuštenoj atmosferi s našom hrvatskom zajednicom i naravno uz još klapskog pjevanja!
Sljedeći dan bio je naš zadnji radni dan turneje, gdje je u prekrasnom svetištu crkve Humber Valley u Etobicokeu klapa Teranke imala svoj posljednji službeni nastup. Ovim koncertom pokazali su svoje vrhunsko pjevačko umijeće i istinski iskazali svoje emocije u svakoj pjesmi. Na kraju koncerta i publici, i Terankama, oči su bile suzne i bilo je prelijepo, ali pomalo i tužno jer je to bio posljednji nastup turneje.
Nakon koncerta odmah je uslijedio seminar klapskog pjevanja koji je održao g. Mijo Stanić, a na kojem su nam se pridružili prijatelji iz Hrvatskog kola Toronto i klape Maestral Toronto, te smo složili ad hoc klapu i učili i proširivali svoje znanje i vještine klapskog pjevanja. Gospodin Stanić je podijelio s nama svoje bogato iskustvo s klapskim pjevanjem kroz učenje jedne od legendarnih klapskih pjesama; „Ju te san se zajubijo“. Seminar je trajao oko sat i pol, ali nedovoljno da ispuni našu želju za učenjem.
Posljednji dan turneje smo se nagradili za sav trud i otišli posjetiti najpopularniju atrakciju u Ontariju – slapove Niagare. Tamo smo proveli cijeli dan, posjetili slapove, toranj Skylon, Hard Rock Café i nezaboravan izlet ispod slapova, bilo kroz pristupne tunele, bilo brodom. Naravno, Teranke nisu odolile da usput ne zapjevaju, gdje god su imale priliku!
Kako svemu lijepom dođe kraj, nakon sedam dana punih akcije završili smo našu turneju. Naši gosti su nas zaista oduševili svojim pjevanjem, druženjem i iskrenošću. Sprijateljili smo se za cijeli život i nismo mogli odoljeti, a da već ne započnemo planiranje ponovnog susreta! Nadamo se da ćemo se vidjeti sa svima, i to uskoro!