Biography

Tamara Obrovac (born 1962 in Pula), Croatian singer, composer, songwriter and flutist is one of the most impressive artists on the Croatian music scene, her main expression is ethnically inspired contemporary jazz influenced by the particular musical and dialect traditions of her homeland, the Croatian peninsula of Istria. She started her musical career in Zagreb in the 1980s, when she discovered jazz, having graduated in flute performance at the music school in her native Pula. She began to perform in clubs in Croatia and Slovenia, and soon created her own distinctive musical expression, connecting the musical and dialectal tradition of her native Istria with jazz music, which brought her international recognition.

She has written around 200 compositions, published 13 CDs for which she composed all the music and wrote most of the lyrics. She writes lyrics in her local dialect and sings in other ancient and endangered Istrian dialects, of Slavic and Romance origin.

Since her early career in the 1980s, she has formed and led several international bands (Transhistria ensemble, quartet, etc.) and held more than 500 international concerts. She was highly praised by both the audience and press.

Her performances are marked by her charismatic stage energy, expressive voice and improvisational skills, as well as excellent performances by the bands.

In addition to her concert activities, she composes music for theater and film; she composed music for 10 movies, 40 theater plays and ballets, performed in most national and city theaters in Croatia and in the region. Unlike her main musical expression, in which she blends Istrian tradition and contemporary jazz, her stage and film music work is unlimited in genre.

She has received numerous awards for her work, among others: 9 Porin awards (Croatian national music award), she was the first woman who received the national award Golden Arena for the best film score (for Što je muškarac bez brkova at the Pula Film Festival), also, among many other nominations, she was nominated for the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award (European music and Audience award).

Her many international collaborations and projects include, among others: Glauco Venier, Theodosii Spassov, Vlatko Stefanovski, Kostas Theodoru, Karen Asatrian, Wolfgang Puschnig, Simone Zanchini, Elvis Stanić, Dario Marušić, Miroslav Tadić, Epoque string quartet, Vienna Radio String Quartet Vienna and enjoys long term collaborations (band members) with Fausto Beccalossi, Krunoslav Levačić, Uroš Rakovec, Žiga Golob, Matija Dedić and, recently, Salvatore Maiore and Stefano Battaglia.