Shkoro, Miroslav

Miroslav Škoro was born on July 29, 1962 in Osijek , the former capital of Slavonia (Eastern Croatia ). I bought my first guitar in the winter of 1978 . As a vocalist and guitarist, he participated in the work of Osiek rock groups ( 1979 - 1983 - "Zadnja stanica", 1983 - 1985 - "OK Band").

In 1985, Shkoro actually changed the genre: until 1998, he performed songs of his own composition in the traditional Croatian manner: tamburica ( Croatian tamburica ) - stringed stringed instruments like a mandolin, were used as accompaniment instruments. It all starts with cooperation with the Osiene ensemble “Slavonski bećari” (created by Antun Nikolic-Tuce).

At the same time, Shkoro graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Osijek University. Strossmeier .

In 1989, Shkoro left for the USA , where he enrolled to study at Community College of Allegheny County. Then he met with a Pennsylvania-based musician of Croatian origin Jerry Grtsevich, with whom he recorded his first album - "Ne dirajte mi ravnicu".

The album was released in 1992 in Croatia , where Shkoro had already returned by then. The song of the same name, whose name translates as “Do not touch my plain,” instantly becomes popular, as its author. And the very expression “Ne dirajte mi ravnicu” against the background of the war of independence going on at that time becomes idiomatic and is used by many other Croatian authors.

Having organized his own ensemble of folk instruments “Ravnica”, in 1993 Shkoro recorded the album “Miroslav Škoro i Ravnica”. It includes another song that quickly became popular during the war - “Mata” ( Russian Matvey ). In it, Shkoro deals with the events of May 1945 in the Austrian Blaiburg (the so-called Blaiburg massacre ), during which the Yugoslav partisans, the Titans, organized the mass extermination of Croatian and Slovenian collaborators who had fled to Austria and their family members.

In 1995 - 1997 Shkoro holds the post of Consul General of Croatia in Hungary ^[1] , but despite being busy, he manages to give concerts, and in 1996 he even released the next album with Jerry Grcevic - “Sitan vez”.

In 1997, a movie by director Goran Rusinovic “Mondo Bobo” was released in Croatian film distribution, in which Miroslav Shkoro plays an episodic role. ^[2]

February 16 and 17, 1998 Shkoro performs in the Concert Hall. Vatroslava Lisinsky in Zagreb . Soon there will be a recording of this concert on two CDs - “Miroslav Škoro, uživo”. This is his last album, performed in a purely folk manner.

After this, Shkoro begins to move away from folk music in the direction of the popular : he collects “Band iz Osijeka” - a group with which he records all his subsequent albums. And if in the album “Ptica samica”, published in 1999, there are still clearly folk motifs, then with each new album Shkoro more and more turns into a pop musician.

In 2001, Miroslav Škoro became chairman of the board of directors of Croatia Records, Croatia's largest music label (formerly Jugoton ). In the same year his album “Slagalica” was released. Next come the albums “Milo moje” ( 2003 ), “Svetinja” ( 2005 ).

Having completed work on “Svetinja”, in 2006 Shkoro writes music for the film of the Croatian director Branko Schmidt “Put lubenica” (“The Way of the Pumpkin”) ^[3] . Then he resigned from the post of chairman of the board of directors of Croatia Records ^[4] .

The next album of the singer is a collection of his best songs “Sve najbolje” ( 2007 ). In 2008, the album "Moje boje" was released.

In 2010, the Croatian publishing house “ Večernji list ” published an autobiography of Miroslav Škoro “Stoput bih isto ponovo”, which comes with 2 CDs with the best songs ^[5] .

Miroslav Škoro conducts active concert activities in Croatia and countries where there are large Croatian diasporas .

Married, has two children.

Miroslav Shkoro is known for his patriotic views and extremely negative attitude to the trials of the Croatian military at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia .

In 2002 - 2003 together with Marko Perkovich Thompson, he writes the songs “Reci, brate moj” (“Tell me, my brother”) and “Sude mi” (“Judge me”) in support of General Ante Gotovina, who was then on the international wanted list ( arrested on December 8, 2005 Canary Islands and extradited to The Hague ).

The military answer Shkoro with mutual respect: so, shortly before his death, another Croatian general, Janko Bobetko, whom the Croatian authorities flatly refused to extradite to the Hague Tribunal , ordered that Miroslav Shkoro perform the song “Mata” at his funeral. On May 2, 2003, the singer fulfilled the last will of the general ^[6] .

On October 30, 2007, Miroslav Škoro joined the Croatian Democratic Commonwealth and participated in the parliamentary elections in Croatia . After successfully passing into parliament , Shkoro was nominated as a candidate from the CDU as mayor of Osijek , but lost the election.

• Order of the Croatian star with the face of Marc Marulic
• Order of the Croatian Shamrock
• Gratitude medal of the motherland

Festivals are highlighted in bold, on which Shkoro won.

• 1994 - “Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana” (song “Čovjek sunčani”).
• 1998 - “Zlatne žice Slavonije” (song “Lako ćemo mi”).
• 1999 - “Hrvatski radijski festival” (song “Što te imam, moj živote”).
• 1999 - “Etnofest Neum” (song “Ptica samica”).
• 2001 - “Hrvatski radijski festival” (song “Maria de la Lovrez”).
• 2001 - "Etnofest Neum" (song "Dida").
• 2002 - “Melodije hrvatskog Jadrana” (song “Reci, brate moj”).
• 2002 - “Zlatne žice Slavonije” (song “Sve od Drave, pa do Jadrana”).
• 2003 - “Hrvatski radijski festival” (song “Milo moje”).
• 2003 - “Splitski festival” (song “Četri vitra”).
• 2005 - “Hrvatski radijski festival” (song “Svetinja”) .
• 2005 - “Splitski festival” (song “Vrime”).
• 2005 - “Zlatne žice Slavonije” (song “Golubica”) .
• 2007 - “Hrvatski radijski festival” (song “Šil, dil, daj”).
• 2007 - “Hercegovački radijski festival” (song “Daleko je kuća moja”) .

CD

• 1992 - "Ne dirajte mi ravnicu"
• 1993 - Miroslav Škoro i Ravnica
• 1996 - Sitan vez
• 1998 - Miroslav Škoro, uživo (collection)
• 1999 - Ptica samica
• 2001 - Slagalica
• 2003 - Milo moje
• 2004 - Čuvati na srcu (instrumental versions of the best songs)
• 2005 - Svetinja
• 2007 - Sve Najbolje (compilation)
• 2008 - Moje boje

DVD

• 2003 - "Milo moje - Dom Sportova"

• Stoput bih isto ponovo. Zagreb , Večernji list, 2010 , ISBN 978-953-7313-66-1

• Official Website (Croatian)
• Miroslav Škoro on the website of the Croatian Parliament (Croatian)