Matija Cvek Arrives at Kastav's Crekvinа
The Porin Award winner for Album of the Year performs on Friday, August 7, 2026, as part of the Kastav Cultural Summer, with presale tickets at €25.
The Porin Award winner for Album of the Year performs on Friday, August 7, 2026, as part of the Kastav Cultural Summer, with presale tickets at €25.
This Friday, August 7, 2026, Matija Cvek and his band The Funkensteins take the stage at Kastav's Crekvinа, one of the most prominent domestic singer-songwriters of the younger generation. The concert, part of the Kastav Cultural Summer, begins at 9 PM; presale tickets are €25, while tickets on the day of the performance will cost €27.
A recipient of multiple Porin awards, including Album of the Year for his debut "Izbirljivo i slučajno," he has crafted a distinctive blend of pop, soul, and funk over the past few years. The setlist will feature songs like "Trebaš li me," "Pristajem," "Nudim ti se," "Na jastuku," and "Zalazak," along with numerous other hits that the audience sings along to from the first to the last verse.
He arrives in Kastav at a significant point in his career: following the release of the single "Nisam taj" and ahead of a major concert at Zagreb's Arena. In an interview with Novi list, Cvek shared how he experiences different concert venues.
"Every concert carries its own special emotion. Arena Zagreb is the realization of a big dream and will certainly be an evening I'll remember for the rest of my life. But I equally adore places like Kastav, where you can literally see people's facial expressions and feel their every reaction. My relationship with the audience doesn't change; it's just the way the space breathes. On large stages, the energy is monumental, while on smaller ones it's intimate. Both have their charm, which is why I look forward to every concert regardless of the stage size."
Cvek emphasized that The Funkensteins are not just a backing band but equal creative partners. "Each person brings their own character, their own idea, and their own musical sensibility," he said. "That sometimes means more discussions and more time, but the result is much richer. That's why concerts are never identical. There's always room for a moment of inspiration, for some new energy or a small improvisation. I think the audience feels that, and that's why people come back."
Speaking about his latest single "Nisam taj," Cvek described a lengthy creative process. "We searched for it for a long time, changed it, returned to it, and at one point we simply felt it was right," he explained. He added that he is now more confident in his decisions but hasn't lost the "healthy doubt" that drives him to constantly question himself. "When you stop questioning your own work, I think you stop growing."
When asked about the increasingly fast-paced domestic music scene and the pressure to stay constantly present, Cvek admitted that the pressure exists, but he still believes in quality over quantity. "If I need more time to create something I can fully stand behind, I'd rather wait than release something just to stay active. People might forget how often someone released songs, but they don't forget the songs that truly touched them."
One of the most beautiful parts of the job, Cvek says, is when the audience reveals their own meanings in his songs. "I often realize that a song means something completely different to them than it meant to me while I was creating it. That's wonderful because it confirms that music doesn't have just one meaning. I think the moment you release a song, it's no longer just yours. It belongs to everyone who finds a piece of themselves in it."
