January the 6th, 2021 - Croatian musicians have gifted instruments to the students of the now destroyed Petrinja music school, which suffered during the recent earthquake which struck central Croatia.
As Morski writes, Croatian musicians Zlatan Stipisic Gibonni (52) and Niksa Bratos (61) launched an action to collect instruments for children attending the Fran Lhotka Music School in Sisak. The school was badly damaged in the earthquake on December the 29th, 2020, and Gibonni's official Facebook page announced everything regarding the initiative. The announcement also states that many Croatians musicians were also quick to join the action.
''The idea was originally Gibonni's. He soon called me to help out somehow, and of course I agreed. In such situations, we musicians usually play, we do a charity concert, but as it's simply not possible to do it now during the time of the pandemic, we thought about what we could do additionally as a group of people. Gibonni suggested that we help these young musicians out with some instruments and that's how the idea was born,'' explained Bratos, 24 sata reports.
This story, of course, will not stop at just the two of them, with more Croatian musicians eagerly getting involved.
''Soon, several more Croatian musicians, people from the stage and from the profession, all got involved. I might not come out with their names at this moment because someone new will join soon… And I don't think names are the key part of all this either,'' the Croatian composer and producer concluded.
Still, this nice idea with instruments will have to wait a while longer, as the Fran Lhotka Music School is 140 years old and suffered serious damage in the recent quake. First of all, a thorough renovation and rehabilitation of the building itself is necessary.
''We won't be able to do it alone, of course. It's a job that state structures have to deal with and raise funds for. We still don't know exactly what the situation is with the instruments inside the school, so we'll have to wait a bit. Some instruments children can take home, some will stay. We heard that the pianos were allegedly not badly damaged, we don't know the exact condition of the school yet,'' he added.
The whole story is on hold for now, but this part of Croatia will definitely need help for some time to come, and not just for the first few days of the new year.
''We haven't yet worked out these details, such as whether we'll buy these instruments or donate our own belongings to the school, but the initiative has certainly come to life. Because of some symbolism, I think it would be nice if these were our instruments, so that one day at school the children might play Gibonni's own guitar. In addition to guitars, I used to play wind instruments, I also have a saxophone, a clarinet… We'll adapt to their needs, that is now the least we can do,'' concluded Bratos.
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