The research group consists of seven scholars and a PhD candidate. Along with the project leader, Naila Ceribašić, members of the research group are Joško Ćaleta, Irena Miholić, Tanja Halužan and Dora Dunatov from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research; Željka Radovinović and Jelka Vukobratović from the Academy of Music in Zagreb; and Nada Bezić from the Croatian Music Institute.

dr. sc. Naila Ceribašić, project leader

Adjunct Prof. Dr. Naila Ceribašić  (Zagreb, 1964) is from 1990 affiliated with, and from 1999 employed in the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb; from 2014 in tenure position of scholarly advisor and adjunct professor. Since 1999 she teaches ethnomusicology at the Department of Musicology and occasionally at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology.

Her research and publications address traditional music in eastern Croatia, issues of ethnomusicological analysis, processes of festivalization and heritage production, music in the context of war and political changes on the territory of former Yugoslavia, gender aspects of music-making, musical expressions of ethnic minorities in Croatia, theories and methods in ethnomusicology, and the programme of intangible cultural heritage in Southeastern Europe and worldwide. On international scale, she is especially active in the leading international ethnomusicological organization – International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM). From 2011 she is a member of the Executive Board of ICTM, and from 2012 the representative of ICTM at UNESCO, including her service in the evaluation bodies of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2013–2015). On a national level, she is involved in the work of several expert committees at the Ministry of Culture and the Council for National Minorities.

Selected publications relevant for this research project:

Ceribašić, Naila. 2000. “Defining Women and Men in the Context of War: Images in Croatian Popular Music in the 1990s”. In Music and Gender, eds. Pirkko Moisala and Beverley Diamond. Urbana – Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 219-238.

Ceribašić, Naila. 2009. “Festivalizacija hrvatske tradicijske glazbe u 20. stoljeću”. In Hrvatska glazba u 20. stoljeću, eds. Jelena Hekman and Vesna Zednik. Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 241-266.

Ceribašić, Naila, and Joško Ćaleta. 2010. “Croatian Traditional Music Recordings: The 1990s and 2000s”. Journal of American Folklore 123(489): 331-345.

Ceribašić, Naila, Hana Zdunić, Petra Ćaleta, Matija Jerković, Iva Božić, Matea De Bona and Klara Zečević Bogojević. 2019. “Sevdalinka i Zagreb do kraja 1950-ih: Pokušaj rekonstrukcije”. Narodna umjetnost 56/1: 149-191.

 

dr. sc. Nada Bezić, research associate

Dr. Nada Bezić (Zadar, 1963) is since 1988 head of the library at the Hrvatski glazbeni zavod [HGZ, Croatian Music Institute] in Zagreb. She graduated musicology at the Music Academy of the University in Zagreb, where in 2011 she also defended her PhD in musicology. She graduated in librarianship at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb in 1992. As a fellow of the “Otvoreno društvo Hrvatska” (Open Society Croatia) she was in 1998 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Her main fields of research are the history of the HGZ and musical life in Zagreb in the 19th and 20th centuries. She has published over 100 academic papers and essays, along with book monographs and has contributed to the Third Programme of Croatian Radio. She is the executive editor of a publishing project of the HGZ Collected Works of Blagoje Bers. She has actively participated in some 30 academic conferences in Croatia and abroad, and in international and Croatian musicological projects. She won Josip Andreis Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society (with E. Sedak and individually), and reward Dragan Plamenac of the Croatian Musicological Society. Dr. Bezić is the author of some 20 exhibitions on topics from the history of Croatian music. She was president of the comittee for music libraries and collections of the Croatian Library Association and is a member of the editorial board of the reviews Arti musices and HaGeZe.

Selected publications relevant for this research project:

Bezić, Nada. 2003. “Izvedbe Zajčevih bečkih opereta u Hrvatskoj u razdoblju 1865.-1918”. In Mladi Zajc: Beč, 1862-1870. Zbornik radova s Međunarodnog muzikološkog skupa održanog 2001. u Rijeci, eds. Vjera Katalinić and Stanislav Tuksar. Rijeka: Izdavački centar Rijeka, 41-49, 147-156.

Bezić, Nada. 2012. Glazbena topografija Zagreba od 1799. do 2010. godine: Prostori muziciranja i spomen-obilježja. Zagreb: Hrvatsko muzikološko društvo.

dr. sc. Joško Ćaleta, research associate

Ass. Prof. Dr. Joško Ćaleta (Trogir, 1964) is a research associate at the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb and an assistant professor at the Music Academy and the Institute for Church Music of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb. He graduated music pedagogy from the University of Split, gained his master thesis from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (Canada), and a PhD from the Department of Musicology at the Music Academy in Zagreb.

In addition to scholarly research, mainly focused on the music practice of Dalmatia and Dalmatian hinterland, he has directed his work towards application of scholarly knowledge and the transfer of musical knowledge as a music author, ensemble conductor and a member of expert committees of numerous folklore festivals and governmental bodies. He participated in the elaboration of several proposals for the protection of intangible cultural heritage at national and international levels. He held papers at numerous domestic and international conferences, published two and edited one book, as well as about 40 scholarly articles in journals and collections of papers, and about a hundred professional papers. He was also music producer of numerous CDs. Since 2001 he has collaborated with National Ensemble “Lado” and founded the vocal ensemble Kantaduri. For his work he was awarded with numerous awards (“Orlando”, “Porin”, “Josip Andreis”, “Ivan Lukačić”, “Milovan Gavazzi”, “Ljubo Stipišić Delmata”) and the prestigious Order of Danica Hrvatska with the character of Marko Marulić.

Selected publications relevant for this research project:

Ceribašić, Naila, and Joško Ćaleta. 2010. “Croatian Traditional Music Recordings: The 1990s and 2000s”. Journal of American Folklore 123(489): 331-345.

Ćaleta, Joško. 2003. “Klapa Singing and Ča-Val: The Mediterranean Dimension of Popular Music in Croatia”. In Mediterranean Mosaic: Popular Music and Global Sound, ed. Goffredo Plastino. New York: Routledge, 241-267.

Ćaleta, Joško. 2008. “The Klapa Movement: Multipart Singing as a Popular Tradition”. Narodna umjetnost 45/1: 125-148.

Ćaleta, Joško, and Jakša Primorac. 2011. “‘Professionals’: Croatian Gusle Players at the Turn of the Millennium”. In Balkan Epic: Song, History, Modernity, eds. Philip V. Bohlman and Nada Petković. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 145-200.

dr. sc. Dora Dunatov, senior assistant

Dora Dunatov (Zadar, 1992) is a senior assistant at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb. She obtained her PhD in ethnomusicology in 2024 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. As part of the “Diskograf” project, her doctoral research focused on the market aspect of domestic record production at 78 RPM, including the diaspora. Her dissertation falls within the fields of historical and economic ethnomusicology.

She completed her master’s degree in ethnomusicology in 2017 at the Music Academy in Zagreb, exploring the Zadarski tanac as a newly emerged tradition. She is the editor of the book Oj, devojko Maro: Izbor tradicijskih napjeva sa Smotre muških pjevačkih skupina Hrvatske u Ivanić-Gradu (2002.–2021.) by authors Joško Ćaleta and Ivan Buljan, which received the “Milovan Gavazzi” award from the Croatian Ethnological Society in 2024 in the category of professional popularization.

In addition to her research work, which primarily covers discography and the traditional expression of southern Croatia, she is also involved in music criticism for Croatian Radio programs and popular science journalism for various magazines and online portals.

 

Selected publication relevant for this research project:

Dunatov, Dora. 2018. Zadarski tanac (the Dance of Zadar) as a Newly Created Tradition. MA thesis at the Music Academy in Zagreb.
Dunatov, Dora. 2016. Reception, influence, and aftermath of the Yu-Mex phenomenon. Seminar paper at the Music Academy in Zagreb.

dr. sc. Tanja Halužan, senior assistant

Tanja Halužan (Zagreb, 1991) is a research assistant at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research. In her doctoral dissertation, defended in 2023 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, she explored music and performance at wedding celebrations in the Zagreb area, with a focus on the perspectives of musicians, newlyweds, and other wedding participants.

Since 2015, she has worked as an associate for the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb, the Third Program of Croatian Radio, and Cantus magazine. She has presented the results of her research at academic conferences in Croatia and abroad and has published several scholarly articles.

 

Selected publication relevant for this research project:

Halužan, Tanja. 2014. Etnografija suvremene kantautorske scene u Zagrebu. Diploma thesis at the Music Academy in Zagreb.

 

dr. sc. Irena Miholić, research associate

Dr. Irena Miholić (Zagreb 1973) is a research associate at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb. She studied percussions and musicology at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and gained her master degree and her PhD at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

As a percussionist and an educator, she was employed in the Symphonic Orchestra of the Croatian Army, Music School “Elly Bašić”, and in the City Theatre Komedija. She was previously a collaborator on the projects of the Ministry of Education and Science and Croatian Science Foundation and currently participates in two internal projects of the IEF. She is a member of the Institute’s Scholarly Council and a member of the editorial board of the Institute’s series Iz arhiva (From the archives). The topics of her research interests and publications include Croatian traditional and popular music, traditional musical instruments and ensembles, technology in music, and digital humanities. As part of the National Scholarship Program of the Slovak Republic, she conducted field research on popular/entertaining music and contemporary musical life among Croats in Slovakia and as the author of a textbook for primary schools Croatian Traditional Music she was awarded the “Milovan Gavazzi” prize of the Croatian Ethnological Society.

Selected publication relevant for this research project:

Miholić, Irena. 2009. Zabavna glazba u Hrvatskoj: Etnomuzikološki i kulturnoantropološki pristup. PhD thesis at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.

dr. sc. Željka Radovinović, research associate

Dr. Željka Radovinović (nee Dolić, Zagreb 1963) is the head of the library of the Zagreb Music Academy. She graduated musicology and music journalism at the Music Academy in Zagreb and gained her PhD at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.

Since 1987, she has been employed in music collections of libraries in Zagreb (Municipal Library, library of the Music Schools Zagreb, and library of the Academy of Music). She was a regular adjunct collaborator/editor of the Music Programme of the Croatian Radio, publicist in daily and periodical press, and producer of the festival Music Biennale Zagreb. In four terms of office she was the chair of the Commission for Music Libraries and Collections of the Croatian Library Society, and the same applies to her position of the president of the Croatian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centers, a national branch of IAML. Since 2006 she has been dealing with the issues of protection and preservation of sound recordings belonging to Croatian musical heritage. She has presented on the topic at domestic and international conferences, and published several papers. Research on this circle of topics she has completed with her PhD thesis entitled “Zaštita zvučnih zapisa hrvatske glazbene baštine postupkom digitalizacije” (Digitization as a method for preservation of sound recordings of the Croatian musical heritage). She is secretary of the Initiative Committee for the Establishment of the Croatian Central Phonographic Archive, which was established in March 2019.

Selected publication relevant for this research project:

Radovinović, Željka. 2014. Zaštita zvučnih zapisa hrvatske glazbene baštine postupkom digitalizacije. PhD thesis at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.

dr. sc. Jelka Vukobratović, research associate

Dr. Jelka Vukobratović (Koprivnica 1984) is a teaching assistant at the Department of Musicology of the Music Academy in Zagreb. She gained MA in flute performance and musicology at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb and a PhD at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria.

She worked as a flute and music history professor at the Albert Štriga Music School in Križevci and as a research assistant at the East and Central European Communities Project in Cape Breton, CA, conducted at the Cape Breton University, Canada. She was also a collaborator at the Third Programme of the Croatian Radio. She has actively participated in international academic conferences and published academic papers in domestic and international journals and symposia proceedings and a book chapter. Her research interests are various aspects of the role of popular and traditional music in everyday life, including relation to (ethnic) identity, memory, and musicians’ labour.

Selected publication relevant for this research project:

Vukobratović, Jelka. 2010. “Odnos tradicijske glazbe i zakona o autorskom pravu u Hrvatskoj”. Etnološka tribina 33(40): 97-106.