About us
“Folklorni ansambl Sveta Nedelja” (“Sveta Nedelja Folk Ensemble”), until 2018 named „Kulturno društvo Sveta Nedelja“, is a folk ensemble from town of Sveta Nedelja, located along the western border of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. It was founded in 1997 with the aim of nurturing traditional music, songs, dances and customs of Croatian people. The ensemble consists of 60 members aged 3 to 80, who work in 6 sections: the younger children folk ensamble, the older children folk ensemble, the representative folk ensemble, the representative tamburitza orchestra, the younger tamburitza orchestra and the veteran ensemble. So far, Ensemble has performed at all national folklore festivals in Croatia, as well as folk festivals in Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Principality of Andorra and United Arab Emirates.
Croatia occupies the 5th place on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage with 13 inscribed elements, making Croatia one of the most culturally rich countries in the world, if not the richest considering its size. Croatia is roughly divided into 20 cultural regions in which the great differences in musical expression, customs, appearance and richness of folk costumes are manifested.
“Sveta Nedelja Folk Ensemble”, in cooperation with numerous ethnical experts and artists, performs choreographed dances and songs from all parts of Croatia, making sure that every choreography is performed in original folk costumes and hairstyles of that region, and also accompanied by original traditional instruments. We are particularly proud of our tamburitza orchestra, which is a characteristic musical accompaniment for the dances of the northern cultural regions of Croatia. All the choreographies we perform are artistically processed and made to be interesting and attractive on stage, taking care not to destroy the authenticity of songs and dances. Our Ensemble present 5 elements from UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists:
- Two-part Singing and Playing in the Istrian Scale
- Spring procession of Ljelje/Kraljice (Queens) from Gorjani
- Bećarac singing and palaying from Eastern Croatia
- Nijemo kolo, silent circle dance of the Dalmatian hinterland
- Klapa multipart singing of Dalmatia, southern Croatia
The ensemble is an organizer of the “Children’s Folklore Festival” in Sveta Nedelja, which has been continuously held since 2004.
