PHOTOS: Spectacular 40-year Croatian culture celebration in Sydney

by croatiaweek
November 13, 2024
in Entertainment

cfe vukovar concert in Sydney Life and Colours

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

By Mladen Leko

Croatian Folkloric Ensemble Vukovar from Sydney in Australia put on a spectacular 40th Anniversary Concert entitled ‘Life & Colours’ at a sold-out Seymour Centre in Sydney on Saturday, 2 November.

Featuring three generations of talented choreographers, musicians, singers and dancers, CFE Vukovar took the attentive audience on an enthralling 150 minute journey though the diverse traditions, music, song and dances from all Croatian regions, showcasing a wide variety of stunningly beautiful traditional costumes against equally exquisite backdrops of Croatian landscapes, carefully selected to accompany each part of the program.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

The ’Life & Colours’ concert was a massive undertaking, with over 50 performers and many behind the scenes Committee Members and volunteers preparing the magnificent souvenir booklets, pre-recording video interviews with members past and present which were tastefully interspersed throughout the program, sifting through archive footage of past performances, selecting backdrops for each performance, enabling the large number or rapid costume changes and in the process creating a thoroughly enjoyable audio-visual feast which was recorded on film and camera for eternity.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

Since 1984 CFE Vukovar has stood out as a beacon of Croatian heritage in Australia, passionately preserving the rich tapestry of traditional folkloric costumes, music, song and dance.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

Incredibly, a number of founding members of CFE Vukovar were on stage on Saturday night performing, celebrating 4 decades of dedication to nurturing a deep connection to our Croatian roots and inspiring generations to embrace and cherish our cultural legacy: most notably, Maria Mandalinić, the vocal teacher, Tom Irga, long-term President, choreographer and teacher, the Vidović family – husband Tony who makes the ensembles musical instruments, wife Tonća (nee Rokov) who is a choreographer, teacher and costume director, as well as son Stipo, who is also a choreographer and teacher, as well as the ensembles Artistic Director and Musical Director.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

From the opening notes of the concert and the ensembles signature song, ‘Vukovar’, the enchanted audience was treated to the sights and sounds of Slavonija, Hercegovina, Travnik and Bosanska Posavina, Zagorje, Baranja, Gorski Kotar, before a rousing rendition of Linđo earned the performers a thoroughly-deserved break, as those present eagerly left anticipating what was to come after the intermission.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

The second half of the concert started with dances from Zagorje, before taking the audience on a journey across the breadth and width of Croatia: from Split, Primošten, up to Vrlika, Kordun, across to Posavina, Bizovac and finally to Prigorje.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

Before the finale, President Irga and Artistic Director Vidović briefly thanked their Committee, volunteers, sponsors, past and present musicians, singers and dancers who had made the 40th Anniversary ‘Life & Colours’ Concert a reality.

(Photo: Mladen Leko)

Then it was was back one more time to the traditions, costumes, music, song and ance as the concert culiminated with an an epic finale of dances from Međimurje, before the entire ensemble then joined in for one, last encore reprisal of the Međimurje finale, resulting in a thunderous, standing ovation from the captivated audience – who were left demanding more, but will have to wait fo the next CFE Vukovar concert spectacular.