Episode 32

Photo Cred: Luca Boscain

adriaticnature.wordpress.com

Dobra večer, prijatelji!

Good evening, friends!

A new day and a new episode.

In this lesson, we will learn the traditional words for genders.

We’ll also dip our toe into learning about Croatian’s complex grammar, but just a little!

We promise.

Grammar Lesson

Feminine ends in “a” -ulica

Neuter ends in “o” or “e” -susjedstvo

Male ends in a consonant. - grad

Lesson

man - čovjek

woman - žena

sir - gospodin

maam - gospođo

boy - dječak

girl - djevojka

boyfriend - dečko

girlfriend - cura

Super Slatko Report

DJ Moe will teach us about a special musical instrument in the city of Zadar.

Yes, our SSR will cover Zadar’s famous Sea Organ.

Oh what marvelous things humans can do!

Here we go!

There are about 3 Sea Organs of this type in the world, one located San Francisco,  CA known as the Wave Organ and another in Blackpool, England called the Blackpool High Tide Organ.

The Croatian version is simply called the Sea Organ or Morske Orgulje, and is located in Zadar. 

In post Second World War the city of Zadar was forced to reconstruct pretty quickly, part of that was to build a massive  wall along its coastline. In 2005, architect Nikola Bašić opted to replace a portion of that concrete wall with a nature based experimental musical instrument.

Thus the Sea Organ was born. The Sea Organ itself is built into a jetty and tucked into large white rectangular marble steps that lead into the sea. 35 tubes in all and a large resonating chamber are situated under the steps that help propel the sound into the air.

Comparatively speaking the San Francisco Wave Organ has 25 pipes while the Blackpool High Tide Organ has a respectable 18.

The Sea Organ is 230 feet long and converts waves into random tones. Each step contains 5 organ pipes and is tuned to a different musical chord. The pipes are connected underfoot through a series of narrow channels and react based on the waves that lap up against the Sea Organ that are pushed into it by the wind.

If you haven’t heard it before, the most common comparison is perhaps whale sounds.

That being said, why not judge for yourself and give it a listen now...

Loved by the locals, the Sea organ is a great tourist attraction; tourism being big part of the Croatian economy.
In 2006,  the Sea Organ won a the European Prize for Urban Public Space. 

Something worth doing if you get the chance to visit for yourself; is to sit on the steps, looking out to sea during sunset, watch the sun disappear behind the island of Uglijan off in the distance, while the Sea Organ provides the soundtrack. 

Yes please.