The ties that immigrants to the United States have with their native traditions usually weaken with each succeeding generation as it becomes absorbed in American society. Today on New American Voices, however, we introduce you to a third-generation Croatian American who is an active member of the Croatian community of Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington, and a teacher of Croatian music and culture.
John Morevich says he first realized that he was different when he started school.
John Morevich?s great-grand-parents immigrated to the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. Like many other Croatians, they gravitated to the Pacific Northwest, where they could find work that they were familiar with from home.
John Morevich says members of the large and strongly-knit Croatian community of Washington state are quite Americanized, on the one hand, but on the other retain a strong sense of ethnic identity.
Growing up in this community, John Morevich learned the Croatian language and traditions. He also learned to play the tambouritza, a guitar-like instrument that is considered the Croatian national instrument.
Mr. Morevich now is the director of the fifty-member strong Seattle tambouritza ensemble, which, he believes, plays an important role in passing on traditions to new generations of Croatian-Americans. Indeed, says Mr. Morevich, the traditional songs the ensemble performs, and that Seattle Croatians enjoy as part of their heritage, are often not familiar to new immigrants or visitors from Croatia.
Even though his parents and grandparents were born in this country, John Morevich is steeped in his Croatian heritage. He has become a folklorist. He sings, performs with bands, and also teaches singing at an annual Balkan camp attended by Americans interested in folk music and dance. Although the Americans have to learn the words to the songs phonetically, the sound is authentic.
In teaching Croatian music, Mr. Morevich says he tries to open up the whole world of Croatian culture to his American students.
John Morevich, third-generation Croatian-American, folklorist and musician.