Marin Jerkunica - Marin Jerkunica - Badija (2019)

About Marin Jerkunica & the Album (By Dragi Sestic)

In the summer of 2017, while on holiday on the Island of Korcula (Marco Polo’s birth town) I heard a duo playing in a local bar (Vanda and Marin). I was totally impressed with them, especially with Marin’s guitar technique and improvisational skills. In front of me was one extraordinary artist, this sort of musician you find only once in a lifetime.

After getting to know the two of them I suggested to Marin that we should record something together and he suggested an album with his jazz compositions. With that idea I was sure, he was going to be noticed in the jazz scene. He is a unique guitar player with a unique story.
So we agreed that January 2018 we would start recording in the studio. I was totally amazed by his performance, compositions and technique. It was something from other dimension from what I heard last summer.His musical aesthetics and passion in ballads and his fury and energy in free jazz is a complete contradiction - which proves the depth of his music, and his talent.

After the recording session we talked more about his life - when he started playing, his influences etc. I needed his story. He told me he was born on 6th of February 1976 in Kastel Sucurac, a small Adriatic village near Split, Croatia. He said he got his first guitar lesson at the age of four, and started attending music school at six. His father was an opera singer and also sang a traditional Dalmatian acapella called “Klapa”. This Croatian musical tradition is still practiced today and is listed as a national music under The UNESCO World heritage association.

With all sorts of music around him, Marin was entertaining the whole family by singing and playing “klapa” songs. Soon he discovered flamenco and jazz, and along with his classical education began to explore and study those genres to develop his own different kind of musical skills. He also developed his own exercises in order to strengthen his fingers and wrist muscles and to play more accurately and fast.
At the age of 7 Marin performed his own composition in front of an audience. It seems the moment Marin took a guitar in his hands he was composing and improvising. Still he is always searching and exploring for new ways to improvise, to express himself, to communicate with the audience through his music.

I asked him how much does he practice? I had to ask, because I knew that practicing was the key. (I didn’t manage to practice much myself, when I was young) He answered me that when he was younger he used to play guitar for 10-12 hours a day, practicing in the woods so that he could get better sound and more natural and resonant he stated. He said “I was looking for the inspiration in the woods, just listening to the sounds and the breeze in the trees”.

Tracklist:
01. Marin Jerkunica - Otok Snova
02. Marin Jerkunica - Ganga
03. Marin Jerkunica - Badija
04. Marin Jerkunica - Cordoba
05. Marin Jerkunica - Traffic
06. Marin Jerkunica - Once Upon A Time In Mostar
07. Marin Jerkunica - Indian Blues