Video 1: Kolo Club Marian Performs a St. Lucy’s Day Festival Dance
Published on Apr 16, 2018. Kolo Club Marian performs a dance reminiscent of the St. Lucy’s Day celebrations of Croat community of the Molise province of Campobasso, Italy. The dance was performed at the Croatian Folklore Festival, sponsored by Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in New York City, April, 2018. The group is led by Rick Vukmanic, assisted by Marija Krpan Kuren. The button box is being played by accordionist Cody McSherry.

Broadway reverberated with the unmistakable sounds of Croatian music on April 14. Croatian traditional circle dance groups, called “kolo clubs,” from across the U.S. and Canada filled the Symphony Space on Broadway at 95th Street in New York City for a celebration of dance and music. The dance groups provided their own traditional accompaniment, and the stage resonated with music from dozens of tambura players, and one accordionist – Cody McSherry.

The event, hosted by the Kolo Club Kardinal Stepinac, associated with Sts. Cyril and Methodius and St. Raphael Catholic Church, was the 2018 Croatian Folklore Festival. The festival drew invited groups from Chicago, Mississauga, Oakville and Montreal Canada; Steelton, Pennsylvania and three groups from New York. Accordionist Cody is a member of Kolo Club Marian, which is associated with the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Steelton.

The group is led by Rick Vukmanic who donates an incredible amount of time to teach song and dance to the group, as well as manufactures their costumes and props. Under Vukmanic’s direction and nearly infinite patience, the organization had prepared two presentations for inclusion in the concert. The two presentations came from a Croat community of the Molise province of Campobasso, Italy. The first was an instrumental and vocal presentation of “Lipa Mara Homo U Ruzice.” The group entered the stage with the accordion front and center, with the tamburists and vocalists surrounding.

The second presentation was a complicated dance recreating the celebrations surrounding St. Lucy, full of changing patterns with street festival energy and spontaneity. The dance was accompanied by a group of musicians playing the stringed prim, brac and berda tamburas, all following Cody’s lead as he poured out the dance’s music on the diatonic button accordion.

With all of the groups involved, the show of costume, music and dance went on for several hours, showcasing traditions from all areas of the small Balkan country which is part of the former Yugoslavia. The nearly sold-out theater reverberated with enthusiasm and applause for the work of those preserving the traditions of the land from which many in the audience, or their parents and grandparents, hearkened from.

Cody’s position of being the sole accordion was not lost on the audience. He was approached by appreciative audience members who congratulated him on his keeping this musical tradition alive and sharing it. Cody loves the music of Croatia and the other Balkan countries and has begun adding the tambura to his repertoire of instruments.

At present Cody plays not only the piano, diatonic and chromatic accordion, he also performs on both theater and pipe organ, baritone and tenor saxophone, bass ukulele, marimba and hammered dulcimer and also sings. His time is divided between his personal concert schedule, performing on the accordion with his school’s pit orchestra, playing in the school’s concert band, jazz band, and percussion ensemble, as well as singing in the school’s concert choir, Mass choir and the competitive acapella group “Vox Pop.”

Cody has performed in many professional stage productions and now is in rehearsals for another – “I’ll Fly Away” – with Servant Stage Productions. Cody also leads his own band – “Polterabend.” Cody has won many national and international awards for accordion and has performed on both the east and west U.S. coasts and in Europe. In his spare time, he maintains his position on the school’s distinguished honor roll. Though a freshman, Cody hopes to study secondary education and Classics at Duquesne University, and travel and perform with the Pittsburgh Area Tamburitzans.

In the meantime he will soak up the traditional music and dance of Croatia with his friends in Kolo Club Marian.

For further information: pat@lmsetch.com