...its members are a retired Gary firefighter, a beer distributor, a day trader, a judge and an ironworker turned businessman...
F or over 30 years, Drina Tamburitza Orchestra has been entertaining audiences throughout the Region. Drina represents an older tradition of music in American Serbian and Croatian communities, especially popular among those whose families immigrated from the South Slavic countries of Europe before World War II. Tamburitza ensembles feature stringed instruments of the tambura family.
D rina is pictured here serenading Lisa Vrtikapa, a Serbian-American bride in 1990. Core members Milan Opacich, a retired Gary firefighter and maker of tamburitzas (playing prima on far right) and Jack Tomlin, now deceased (standing left with the tamburitza cello), played together nearly 25 years. Nick Rakich (kneeling) plays a tamburitza Opacich made for him when he was a teenager. Rakich works for a beer distributor in Illinois and is teaching his 20 year-old son to play the tambura. Mark (Moe) Brajak on bass (center standing), is a day trader and ironworker. Two members joined the band in the recent past (not pictured): George Ivancevich replaced Tomlin on cello and Steve Brajak, Mark's brother, joined the group to play tamburitza brac. Ivancevich is a judge and Brajak is an ironworker turned businessman.
Photos courtesy of the Drina Tamburitza Orchestra
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