Saturday, July 16, 2011

Bog i Hrvati - God and the Croatians

Dear Reader, if you've followed along from the beginning of this little collection notes, you may have begun to notice that music we are talking about and the topics we are addressing are not entirely some scholarly matter for me.  The music is real flesh and blood, real heart, and real soul.  The music is part of of who I am, who I have always been.  The videos, such as they are, are the product of  my hands as I have learned make them.  You may be able to witness the progress I made in learning how to make these videos too.

In each video, I try to  communicate something from the song and something from me, my life with the song.  In each video, even with the saddest song, I try to show some element of joy and hope because this is how I see life. Even in the midst of the worst of things, there is joy, there is hope. We have a history.  Actually every person has a history and every family has a history. Their stories need to be told and need to be heard.  I'm going to recommend to you a blog which tells some stories which are delightful to read -  Crandall Notes. Those stories are not about Croatians but they are delightful stories to read and they are real stories about real people.


The Hrvati people are also real people who have a history, and some of that history has taken place far far away from the mass of other Hrvati.  There are stories to tell.  The  music and the musicians tell some of those stories.  These are stories of hope, stories of joy, sometimes the joy is simply the joy of having survived what might seem hopeless to someone else. In those cases the  joy is hidden somewhere in the fact we lived  to tell the story, but its there nonetheless and the message is always a message of hope for better times.  Hope. Joy. Thanksgiving.

The Lord above tells us to give thanks and praise in all things, always. He also tells that He has plans for us, not for our harm, but for our  good, so that we may give Him thanks and praise in all things.  The Psalms tell us to come each day before the Lord with a new song.  And there you  have it.


This is the heart and soul of the Christian Croat in Texas. In the darkest hour, when all else is gone, when all else disappoints, when all else fails, when Home seems too far away to ever see again, when we feel forgotten and alone, we have the music.  In the music there is truth. In the music there is memory of who we were.  In the music there is the memory of our fathers and mothers and their fathers and mothers and the glory of times long past. In the music is memory of who we are - that we are God's children after all and He never forgets us. In the music there is hope for what we may become.  In the music there is beauty.  In the music there is joy.  In the music there is hope. Always.

This is the true meaning of Bog i Hrvati - God and the Croatians.




do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac

2 comments:

  1. Well, Bog Bless the Croatians. If they are all half as talented as you, we have a wonderful subculture on our hands here in the US. You are teaching us some really important things about the people from the Balkans and that area of the world. Thank you.

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  2. thank you! your are most kind. I am the least of the Hrvati

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