Welcome to the May issue of Croats in London
This month: Darko Rundek’s Cargo Okestar, Pips Chips & Videoclips at Spitz, Dialogos - The Agony of Judith, In the Press

Darko Rundek’s Cargo Okestar

Croatian musician Darko Rundek returns to London, this time at the Lyric in Hammersmith with his
‘Cargo Orkestar’ for two performances on Friday 12 and 13 May at 8.00PM. Their publicity describes
their act as being “sometimes in Ramones-tempo Balkan folk-jazz-jams, at other times creating
moody gypsy pop with Arabic melodies”.

Rundek’s music career started in the 1980’s as a singer. He became a composer with the Zagreb
band Haustor, which was very popular in the ex-Yugoslavia before disbanding in 1980. He went to
Paris in 1991 and involved himself with theatre music. His first album ‘Apocalypso’, in collaboration
with 20 other artists, came out in 1997. A further album, ‘U Sirokom Svijetu’ (In a Wide World) came
out in 2000, concentrating on traditional folk music. This was followed in 2004 by the album ‘Ruke’
(Hands), which saw the coming together of Darko Rundek and Cargo Orkestar. Their latest release
is “Mhm A-ha Oh Yeah Da-da”.

More recently, Darko Rundek played at the London Jazz Festival.

Dialogos - The Agony of Judith

The Paris based group Dialogos played at London’s prestigious Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall on 26 April. They presented a music-drama called ‘The Agony of Judith’, based on the biblical story of Judith and Holofornes via poetry from Venetian and Croatian texts and music from Beneventan and Glagolitic sources.

Katarina Livljanic performed the vocals whilst Albrecht Maurer played the lirica. (fiddle - a traditional Croatian stringed instrument).

English subtitles were projected behind the performers. The performance was previewed in the London newspaper Metro on the day as well as The Independent (21 April) , which also carried comments from Livljanic.

The show was highly unusual and very engaging. Hopefully it will not be too long before Dialogos returns to London.

In the Press

Croatia continues to have good publicity regarding its tourist scene in the Croatian press. The Daily Telegraph of 3 May carried a feature entitled “Aye-aye to the Adriatic”. ‘Confirmed landlubber’ Stephen Cooper went on a sailing holiday to Croatia with his family and seems to have had a good time. “Not once did we see a ‘tourists welcome’ sign, yet welcomed we were, in a manner that belonged to an older Mediterranean, before package days.” he said.

Croatia - or rather its football team - is coming in focus as the World Cup approaches. The Times of 8 May said that “Croatia will rely upon a solid defence marshalled by Igor Tudor and Robert Kovac that will make them hard to beat.” It named Darijo Srna as the ‘Player to Watch’.

Noticeboard

Only events run by known and reputable bodies will be listed here.

12 and 13 May at 8.00PM - Darko Rundek’s Cargo Orkestar
Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, London W6 0QL Booking Office 08700 500 511 http://www.lyric.co.uk/

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