The “A-Ha” Moment

By the summer of 1970, the band was on tour in Europe as members of the Pittsburgh Junior Tamburitzans. At that time, recordings of Croatian music from “The Old Country” were in very limited supply in the United States. 

While in Zagreb, Steve and Dan ventured out of the Hotel Dubrovnik on Ban Jelačić Square in search of new Croatian records. On a side street, they discovered a Jugoton record store, and as they walked inside they heard an old familiar song in the air, “Marijana.” 

But this was a Marijana they had never heard before. It wasn’t played on tamburas, but on guitars and keyboards and drums. It had a driving rhythm and exciting vocals that sounded a lot more like American pop music rather than the traditional Croatian folk music so dear to audiences back home. It was performed by the groundbreaking Croatian pop band Dubrovački Trubaduri. And it was mesmerizing. 

Steve and Dan knew they had been gifted with a new vision for Mladi Veseljaci. They bought a copy of Marijana and several more Croatian pop 45s on the spot. And after returning to the States, they immediately began rebuilding their band around this revolutionary, new sound. 

Soon, Steve’s Bugarija and John’s Čelo were replaced with guitars, Ron’s acoustic Bass became an electric bass guitar, and Mike doubled on Brač and Mandolin. They also grafted electric pick-ups onto their acoustic instruments. This enabled them to reserve their microphones for singing because their instruments now had – heaven forbid – amplifiers. 

Mladi Veseljaci began to transform much of their repertoire in the same way that Marijana had been transformed. They began to experiment with pop and rock styles, seeking to modernize and energize other time-honored tambura standards. They also expanded their repertoire with American pop and rock music standards. 

Of course, the traditional tambura community didn’t exactly welcome many of these changes with open arms, but Mladi Veseljaci began attracting droves of young people who completely embraced their exciting new sound. As a result, they added even more Croatian and American pop and rock music to satisfy their new audience.