President Milanović in Slavonski Brod at opening of The Tamburitza House: The tamburitza defined cultural Croatia in the diaspora
“The tamburitza is the instrument of Croats, Serbs and Hungarians and I don’t know of any other people that found themselves in it. It’s something that connects us, that’s good. But in the case of Croats, there is much more to it, the tamburitza was accepted, embraced and adopted by Dalmatians”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated at the opening of The Tamburitza House – A Slavonian Musical Note Fairy Tale in Slavonski Brod.
He highlighted that today the tamburitza connects all Croatian emigrants around the world, even Croatian emigrants from the islands who never took the tamburitza along, but accepted it and embraced it in faraway countries where they settled. “The tamburitza defined and redefined cultural Croatia in the diaspora. The Croatian identity was put under the common denominator of tamburitza and today you can hear it in areas where the descendants of people who weren’t familiar with the tamburitza live”, President Milanović noted, reminding that Croatian emigrants in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Chile play the tamburitza.
Since the total value of the project of The Tamburitza House is 3.6 million euros, 85 percent of that money co-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, and the remaining 15 percent of the funds provided by the city budget, President Milanović said that this is a lot of money that was well used for a beautiful place and space.
“It’s not important that it’s a lot of money, but what is important is that you used it for a good cause. That is our money too, because we put a lot of money into the EU. That money should end up here. It’s unlikely that even richer cities than Slavonski Brod would have enough money for such an institution if it weren’t for the European funds. That is the success story of Europe. However, not all stories are good, and not all policies are good. This one is excellent and I congratulate you”, President Milanović remarked. He concluded that The Tamburitza House is “one of the contributions in developing and preserving identity and self-respect”.
Prior to the opening ceremony President Milanović, accompanied by the mayor of Slavonski Brod Mirko Duspara, the director of the art gallery of Slavonski Brod Romana Tekić and the manager of The Tamburitza House Ira Panthy, toured the Interpretation Centre of The Tamburitza House located in the renovated part of the baroque fortress in Slavonski Brod.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić and the Special Adviser to the President for Culture Zdravko Zima.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta