Ivan Fonović Zlatela Kršan Cultural and Artistic Society
Ivan Fonović Zlatela Kršan Cultural and Artistic Society
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The beginnings of the Zlatela Cultural and Artistic Society
The tradition of building Istrian folk instruments, singing, playing and dancing in the Kršan area has existed since ancient times, but has not been preserved. Back in 1967, with the departure to America of a number of families who cultivated the old-fashioned way of playing and singing, this tradition disappeared from the area of Kršan. Such a situation there was met by the founding of the Zlatela Cultural and Artistic Society on January 19, 1997, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Ivan Fonović Zlatela, a well-known Istrian autochthonous folk instrument maker, and a cultural and artistic society named after him was founded.
A number of performances, guest appearances and awards
Over the years, Zlatela has become famous in Istria and beyond. In addition to the many local shows, they have visited international festivals in Koper, Piran in Slovenia, Plzen in the Czech Republic, have been twice to Beilngries in Germany and three times to Belgium. They also took part in the IGF Grand Prix in Pula and Rabac, Leron in Vodnjan, Zlatna sopela in Poreč, as well as Peasant harmony Meetings in Osijek, Meetings of sopile players of the island of Krk, at the show; Moonlight fell on the Neretva; in Metković (2009 and 2019), Vinkovci Autumns (2003, 2006, 2009, 2015) and Children's Vinkovci Autumns (2011), at the International Folklore Fair in Zagreb (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020), the International Competition of the Folklore Gospojina in 2014 in Livno (BiH, 2014), the International Competition of Original Folklore; When I sing down the Livno side; in Livno (BiH, 2018) and at Đakovo Embroidery (2017), as well as at many other meetings to which they were invited. In their performances, Zlatela's sopile players and singers especially cherished the specificity of two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale which are characteristic for Istria and the Croatian Littoral, and which is protected in UNESCO’s register of intangible cultural heritage. Due to their quality and great desire to preserve a living tradition, they have had the honour of being part of national teams representing Croatian culture in Hungary, Serbia, France, Belgium and Portugal. They also sang and played at our embassy in Vienna, in the Casa della musica in Trieste, in Ivanić Grad at the Exhibition of Croatian Male Singing Groups (2007, 2013, 2016), in Buševac at the International Festival of Traditional Musical Instruments (2011 and 2016) and in Ethno Istria in Šmarje.
Organisation of various events, revitalisation of customs
In 2006, the Zlatela Cultural and Artistic Society took a step forward in the preservation of its cultural heritage. In addition to the extraordinary playing, singing and dancing so far, it presented us with a complete old custom of marriage in the Kršan area based on authentic documents found in Vienna. It is a musical-stage work called the Kršan Wedding, consisting of nine scenes lasting eighty minutes, and the entire program took place in the streets of the old town of Kršan. Besides acting, they also tried their hand at publishing. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the society's establishment, in 2007 they released a triple CD album with a book "It is time" in order to record everything that had been learned over that ten-year period.
Zlatela today
Those who are well versed in folklore say that they represent Istria in Croatia and Croatia in the world in the best possible way. Younger age groups are also often present at children's folklore shows, and also performed at one of the most famous children's folklore shows in Vinkovci. They are especially proud of their young players, female and male singers of the school of playing and singing. From its very foundation until the present day, their valuable members are constantly winning prizes in competitions. Today, the society has 130 members and is organised into 2 dance sections (with young and older dancers), a section of players (players of older untempered traditions in the spirit of two-part singing in Istrian scale and players of tonal Istrian tradition), a section of singers and a school of playing and singing for the youngest family members. Every year, Zlatela also organises a course of traditional dances for adults.
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