Antun Nikolić Tuca (

Županja Županja (, , ) is a town in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, located 254 km east of Zagreb. It is administratively part of the Vukovar-Syrmia County. It is inhabited by 12,090 people (2011). Županja lies on the Sava river opposite Bosnia and He ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, 10 June 1943) Croatian musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist,

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

tamburitza Tamburica ( or ; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura) or tamboura (; ) refers to a family of long-necked lutes popular in Southeast Europe and southeastern ...

virtuoso

Biography

Antun Nikolić Tuca is a Croatian composer, arranger, music producer, music editor, ethnographer, tamburitza virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist. Along with

Pajo Kolarić Pajo Kolarić (1821–1876) was an early Croatian composer for tamburitza. Kolarić formed the first amateur tamburitza orchestra in Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the large ...

Franjo Kuhač Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (November 20, 1834 – June 18, 1911) was a Croatian piano teacher, choral conductor, composer, and comparative musicologist who studied Croatian folk music. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and ...

, Julije Njikoš, Mijo Majer and Branko Mihaljević, he is a living

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. He was born in

, Croatia, on 10 June 1943. As a six-year-old boy, he played

in a school show. His family moved to

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in 1956, where he attended Osijek's reputable music school, “

”, along with primary school. In 1958, before he was fully fifteen, he became a member of Radio

's Tamburitza Orchestra, led by the giant of tamburitza music, Julije Njikoš, until 1964. In this orchestra Nikolić played all of the tamburitza instruments. There his successful music work started, not only with folk significance, but also with a

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

dimension. At the beginning of the 1960s, along with tamburitza instruments (and other stringed instruments

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

balalaika The balalaika (, ) is a Russian string instrument, stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck, and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perf ...

, then

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

mouth organ A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed. Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, ...

fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

ocarina The ocarina (otherwise known as a potato flute) is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the bo ...

) Nikolić also played the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. Along with Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac, he formed the band Tornado and then, in 1963, the legendary

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

Dinamiti, which was the most famous rock band in ex-

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in the 1960s, and which also performed around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1967 Antun Nikolić Tuca went into military service. After serving in the military he came back in 1969 to tamburitza music. The same year he re-formed and began leading The Big Tamburitza Orchestra of Radio Osijek, with which he works as

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and music editor. He also collects, records and preserves the enormous

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

values of Northeast Croatia. In the year 1971 from The Big Tamburitza Orchestra of Radio Osijek, Antun Nikolić formed the tamburitza ensemble

Slavonski bećari Slavonski bećari were a Croatian tamburitza ensemble founded in 1971 by tamburitza player and rock musician Antun Nikolić Tuca. The ensemble continued until 2011. History In 1971 from The Big Tamburitza Orchestra of Radio Osijek Antun Nikoli ...

which remained active until 2011. Slavonski Bećari is the oldest and the most famous tamburitza ensemble in

. Through their 40 years of work they have been performing countless number of times, traveled around the world (16 times in the United States and Canada, 2 times in Australia, in most of the European countries).

published 4 single and 11

long play The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificatio ...

studio albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

, 7 compilations, 35 festival records, 532 in HUZIP recorded television performances. They have cooperated with many well-known homeland and overseas singers and earned many international and national rewards and prizes.

Significance of Tuca's work

Along with playing instruments, directing and arranging, Antun Nikolić Tuca was also collecting and recording the cultural music heritage of Northeast Croatia. What

started in the 19th century, was continued in the 20th century by Branko Mihaljević and Julije Njikoš, and in his own way in the 21st century by Antun Nikolić Tuca. Along with ethnographic work on collecting and preserving folk heritage, as the long-standing music editor on Radio Osijek (1969 -2005), Nikolić used his position to record a great number of folk motifs, and in his many television appearances and radio broadcasts he promoted folk songs and traditional dances from the area of

Slavonija Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

, Baranja and Srijem. Among his many public performances, his solo at the concert of the 100 best Croatian tamburitza players under the name of “Šokačka Rapsodija”, which was included in the

Guinness book of records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for its number of players, stands out. 235 of Tuca's works are listed in the Croatian music authors database and in the Radio Osijek music library there is about 500 music numbers signed by the name of Antun Nikolić Tuca.

Discography

Video publications

* Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac and Slavonski bećari for Croatian Fraternal Union * I. S. V. Rodna grudo moja – Slavonski bećari, Mirjana Primorac and Miroslav Škoro * I. S. V. Slavonski bećari, Mirjana Primorac and KUD Osijek 1862

Discography

* 1970. Blaženka and Pero Nikolin with Radio Osijek's Tamburitza Orchestra – Meni nana za mog diku brani – Otkrit ćemo, diko, tajnu – Dosta mi je momkovanja – Hajd' u kolo (A. Nikolić, Z. Batistuta, A. Nikolić), music producer A. Nikolić Discography – "Bećarac"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1970. Blaženka and Pero Nikolin – Daleko je domovina (Z. Čaćija, Z. Čaćija, A. Nikolić), music producer A. Nikolić Discography – "Daleko je domovina"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1970. Aca Đigunović – Lovačka pjesma (A. Nikolić, A. Đigunović, A. Nikolić), conductor A. Nikolić Discography – "Lovačka pjesma"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1971. Radio Osijek's Tamburitza Orchestra – Slavonijo, zemljo plemenita (Slavonian folk songs and kola, arranger A. Nikolić), conductors A. Nikolić and D. Repar Discography – "Slavonijo, zemljo plemenita"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1972. Zdenko Dobek – Moja seka (B. Mihaljević, B. Mihaljević, A. Nikolić), conductor of Radio Osijek's Tamburitza Orchestra A. Nikolić Discography – "Moja seka"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1973. Blaženka and Pero Nikolin – Daleko sam u tuđini (Z. Čačija, A. Nikolić, Z. Čačija) Discography – "Daleko sam u tuđini"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1973. Blaženka Nikolin – Plakat ću do posljednje suze (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Plakat ću do posljednje suze"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1973. Pero Nikolin – Stare bekrije (lyrics and arrangement for some songs A. Nikolić) Discography – "Stare bekrije"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1975. Matija Pavlović and Radio Osijek's Tamburitza Orchestra under the leadership of Antun Nikolić Tuca – Ej, Baranjo (lyrics and arrangement for some songs A. Nikolić) Discography – "Ej, Baranjo"
Retrieved 12 October 2015.

Discography Slavonski Bećari

* 1973. Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac and Slavonski bećari – Bećarac (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Bećarac"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1974. Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac and Slavonski bećari – Kad čujem tambure / Lijepa moja Slavonija (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Kad čujem tambure"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1975. Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac, Slavonski bećari and Radio Osijek's Tamburitza Orchestra – Hej, bećari (conductor and arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Hej, bećari"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1979. Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac – Seoska sam lola (arranger A. Nikolić, K. Slabinac) Discography – "Seoska sam lola"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1984. Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac and tamburitza ensemble Slavonski bećari under leadership of Antun Nikolić Tuca – Svatovac / Svi se momci oženiše (arrangers P. Nikolin i A. Nikolić) Discography – "Svatovac"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1982. Ensemble Slavonski Bećari – Hrvatske Božićne pjesme (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Hrvatske Božićne pjesme"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1983. Slavonski bećari and Mirjana Primorac – Ljubila sam crno oko (arranger and music producer A. Nikolić) Discography – "Ljubila sam crno oko"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1985. Fabijan Šovagović and Slavonski Bećari – Pokraj Karašice (music editor and arranger A. Nikolić) Discographya – "Pokraj Karašice"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * Šima Jovanovac and Slavonski Bećari – Stari Graničari / Pjevat će Slavonija (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Stari Graničari"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1986. Slavonski bećari – Zaplešimo uz tambure (music producer and arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Zaplešimo uz tambure"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1988. Slavonski bećari, Mirjana Primorac, Miroslav Škoro and Zdenko Nikšić (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Slavonski bećari"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1992. Ensemble Antuna Nikolića Tuce Slavonski Bećari – Neće snaša tamburaša (music producer and arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Neće snaša tamburaša"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1995. Ensemble Antuna Nikolića Tuce Slavonski Bećari (arranger and author of some songs A. Nikolić) Discography – "Ansambl Antuna Nikolića Tuce"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 1998. Slavonski bećari – Baš je bila luda godina (arranger and author of some songs A. Nikolić) Diskografija – "Baš je bila luda godina"
Retrieved 12 October 2015. * 2003. Slavonski bećari – Narodne Božićne pjesme (arranger A. Nikolić) Discography – "Narodne Božićne pjesme"
Retrieved 12 October 2015.

References

External links

"Vukovaru, srećo, dobar dan" Slavonski bećari and Marta Nikolin – official music video

"Sveta Kata bit će snig za vrata" Slavonski bećari – official music video

"Kućo moja na pol šora" Slavonski bećari – official music video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuca, Antun Nikolic Croatian musicians Croatian composers Croatian record producers Living people People from Osijek 1943 births