It is maybe a little cheesy to say that I always knew I wanted to be a musician, but it was like that. I grew up in a household in which people cherished music and listened to very different kinds of music, so from the time I can remember I was surrounded with sounds coming from radio, cassettes, LP’s, CD’s and pretty much anything that could carry music. Music was something magical to me, because I understood it like that from the way my family acted about it. Music was always something important. It gave more meaning for every of my family’s life situations. According to different events, music was getting us up on our feet dancing, or taking us on a trip through our own thoughts, but maybe the most important part of all was to see my dad playing his guitar, which eventually I started playing, too. There were still those times in which it was completely normal to gather as family and friends to celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or any other opportunity we had. Every single of those occasions would end up with my day playing his guitar in a very simple manner and the rest of the people sitting and singing around the table. In time, I joined them and after some time the rest of the family wanted to hear me sing alone.
About the same time, I discovered local children’s choir. I wasn’t afraid of public exposure, so very soon I got solo parts and a year after joining the choir I made an album with them, singing my first ever song as a soloist and falling in love with recording and production. Of course, I didn’t know anything about one, or the other, but that going in the basement of the house in which the studio was and the smell of it…huge mixing console and the sound of Studer’s twenty four canal master tape recorder was something truly special to me. Yes, it was analogue recording and I am so lucky to have been able to experience it!
Somewhere between singing with my dad in front of my family and recording an album with the choir, my dad passed an audition for the National theatre opera choir. From the time, I was six years old, I got to go to the rehearsals in the Opera and see and listen to the opera ensemble rehears Othello, Wilhelm Tell, Carmen and many other operas with most renowned Croatian conductors. It is needless to say that I fell in love with it. To tell you the complete truth, I wasn’t so much into singing, but the atmosphere of creating something so big as an opera, all that people involved…the orchestra, choir, soloists, scene, costumes and the fact that I could see everything that was going on behind the scenes was like stepping in and out of the fairy tale, for me. Six years later I got the opportunity to join a children’s choir that was needed for the production of Orff’s “Carmina burana” and Monteverdi’s “Vespro”. I passed an audition and for the first time I was the part of it all!
One year later, my parents finally understood that I was serious about going to music school, so my dad took me to the audition, which I passed.
As many other children, especially when they are 13 years old, I wanted to play the guitar, but as I was told, I was too old.
I didn’t care. At that time, before the internet and all of these You tube channels one can learn from, music school was the only place in which one could learn music and I was determined to go there, so I didn’t care which instrument they would let me play, I just wanted to finally start learning music!
I was offered few instruments, but I chose clarinet. No special reason. Actually, in that time I honestly didn’t even know how clarinet looked, but I knew how it sounded, because I was listening to “Rhapsody in blue” by Gershwin, all the time, so I decided it’s going to be clarinet.
Classical music school is a tough place, as I discovered shortly after the school year started. I had an old teacher with not a lot of nerves left for his students and at that time I was still trying to follow all of my interests and not focusing only on music school, which made him focus on all of what I was doing “not good enough”, which made me think that going to music school wasn’t such a good idea.
It was too late and I already was too much involved into everything, so luckily after a few years I got the chance to change the teacher, which I did and from that moment on things started going into right direction and I became determined to go to music academy and study to be a professional musician. I never forgot my first, old teacher and how his approach influenced me in a bad way, so today when I am also teaching kids and adults I am still trying, as funny as it may sound, not to be like him.
Couple of years later I got my Masters degree. In between, I got the opportunity to work on radio, which I took, so for some time I had my own radio show on the local radio station which covered my hometown and few cities surrounding it. It was an awesome experience, because I learned how radio station functions, how news are produced, I was on press conferences, making playlists for the show, talking to audience and guests in the studio…Then I went on to a regional radio station to work as a reporter. It was completely different kind of experience. Searching for something interesting that I could present to the radio audience in order to earn some money from going on the air with the story. Everything was happening in a very short period of time, with almost no preparation. You are in the middle of a situation, you grab (if you can) someone with whom you can talk and call the studio…great experience!
I also took singing lessons and passed an audition for the Opera choir in which I sang for a few seasons. I finally got the opportunity to be a part of opera production, from the first rehearsals until the opening night. After that few seasons my career as singer began to interfere with my studies, so I had to quit that job and concentrate on my studies. Nevertheless, soon after I quit, I got an offer to play clarinet in few operas, not as a part of the orchestra, since I was still a student, but as a part of a stage orchestra for the operas that had that kind of musicians. It was a great new experience for me and I enjoyed it very much. I got to do what I thought I did best and I hoped that some day I will earn my place in the Opera orchestra in which my professor played. Maybe even besides him. Well, it didn’t turn out like that, because even before I got my Masters degree, I got an offer to start teaching at music school. I taught in one private music school during my studies at the academy, but this was a full time job in state music school and I wanted my independence, so I took that job, quit my career at the Opera and moved to another city.
However, I always kept in mind how differently I felt taking advice from my first teacher who was a wonderful player at his time, but it was long time ago before I became his student and taking advice from my professor at the academy, who was an active player with a lot of experience. I understood that if I wanted to be a good teacher I needed to continue playing as much as possible, so I played recitals as much as I could, but there were not as much opportunities to play classical music, as it was with other styles. I had to think about some other options.
I started conducting a small amateur wind orchestra from a town near my hometown. That made me learn about arranging for wind orchestra and playing modern music, including jazz, funk, rock and pop music. And blues, of course. I was not only conducting it for 13 years, but I was also hosting the concerts, engaging the audiences, playing improvised solos and making everybody have a good time, so I learned a lot, not only about modern music, but also about human relations, how to move people in the right direction and make them interested in my ideas, but one of the first things that I learned was how fast and strong is the response from the audience when you can break that barrier between the stage and the audience. I liked it so much that I started doing it when I was playing classical music, as well. During this period I included saxophone in my daily practice and gradualy switched to saxophone, like a lot of my colleagues did before me.
Somewhere between orchestra rehearsals and teaching in music school I started playing with everyone and anyone who would let me play with them. So I played with bands, duos, trios…all kinds of music, from jazz and blues to rock and pop. I wanted to learn as much as possible and be as versatile as possible. My goal was to be able to join anyone at any time, on stage, and play freely. Have a good time and make the audience have good time, too.
Then I finally discovered DJs.
It took me some time to understand how to play with a DJ, to adapt to the style and improvise to the tracks they were playing, but I was totally blown away by this new situation in which I was in the centre of attention, moving freely amongst people and sensing their vibe. Sometimes just colouring their night out with the gentle sound of saxophone, making the atmosphere intimate and at other times serving as a kind of leader who will move them, make them dance and in general, make them feel better then they would feel if I wasn’t around.
That is what I mostly do now. If such an occasion arises, You will probably not be able to tell that I am playing with the DJ I never met before in my life and we will all have a great time together, dancing through the night and making some beautiful memories. I love it and enjoy it very much and I’m happy to share all I have to offer with the people to whom I have the pleasure of playing for.