About the association

A Heritage of song

Founded in 2005 and registered in Croatia, the Croatian cultural association “A Heritage of song” (HKU Pjevana baština) is a not-for-profit cultural association with its own statute and managing administration. The aims of the Association are the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage, especially Croatian song heritage and traditional glagolitic church singing. The Association aims are being achieved through the following activities:

Research, conservation and nurturing of original Croatian traditional heritage
involvement of individuals and groups in the promotion and development of traditional singing
Organization of cultural events and activities
Publication of related literature, CDs, and DVDs
Cooperation with other similar associations in Croatia and abroad

About project

Each man grows out from his past, building his present on it and in turn projecting himself into his future. Neglecting one’s past and tradition would be to deprive oneself of an essential creative component. In that sense, regions and religious centres have a noble past, which can be traced through numerous written and oral records saturating and refineing the present. Following the example of its icons (noblemen), it transmits its culture and spiritual and historical heritage over many generations. The evolution of cultural tradition is not a spontaneous process: it demands instead conscious organization of certain cherished values and traditions. This work has required a great deal of effort for the preservation of these traditional values, involving many ambitious projects whose goal is to popularize traditional glagolitic church singing, edited by HKU Pjevana baština.

The singing of liturgical, para liturgical and traditional songs, with spiritual and secular themes provides an example of the creation and maintenance of Croatian identity through the music’s spiritual and cultural contents and language. Parishioners were allowed to sing either in the vernacular when the official liturgical language was Latin, or were permitted to use a vernacular language in response to Latin prayers. . This sung vernacular represents a unique cultural and historical asset, nationally and internationally making us feel the necessity for the preservation of this musical jewel, and for the dissemination of these old songs for the benefit of future generations. It should be said that despite the threat represented by secular and consumer society to traditional and spiritual values, it appears that a certain awakening of consciousness is taking place: an awareness of the importance of traditional values and of how, over the centuries the spiritual and national identity of the men of the region has evolved