He Wanted to Be a Priest, Became a Champion Accordionist
Ratko Bartulović, a 55-year-old from Trogir originally from Travnik, now plays eleven instruments, and his music workshop is even attended by doctors seeking therapy through music.
Ratko Bartulović, a 55-year-old from Trogir originally from Travnik, now plays eleven instruments, and his music workshop is even attended by doctors seeking therapy through music.
Ratko Bartulović, a 55-year-old musician with a degree from the Sarajevo Music Academy, has lived in Trogir since 1980 and has been involved in music his entire life. Although he dreamed of a priestly vocation as a boy, life led him down a completely different path, where he became the Yugoslav champion in accordion playing, and today he runs a music workshop attended by about thirty students of all generations.
Bartulović lived in Travnik until he was seventeen, a town he describes as rock 'n' roll. It was this environment that shaped his attitude toward the accordion. "You know how it is, I lived in Travnik until I was seventeen, and you couldn't pick up women with an accordion. Travnik is a rock 'n' roll town, you know, with an accordion you were considered a hick by the women. So I learned to play guitar, and just in case, about ten other instruments. I'm currently learning the trumpet," he told Slobodna Dalmacija.
Despite turning to guitar and other stringed instruments, it was the accordion that brought him the greatest recognition. In 1983, at a competition on Brijuni, he became the Yugoslav champion in classical accordion playing.
For nearly 20 years, Bartulović has been running a music workshop in Trogir in the Pantan area. Among the thirty or so students, there are children and adults, and some come even on the recommendation of doctors because engaging in music, as he says, is the most beautiful therapy. "Some of them are doctors themselves," he adds.
He started teaching during his collaboration with the People's University in Trogir, after returning from Munich, where he lived for five years and taught at the university. In Munich, he also worked as a producer in the music studio of renowned musician Brano Likić. "I started giving lessons during my collaboration with the People's University in Trogir, when I returned from Munich. I lived there for five years, teaching at the faculty. Two of my students were European champions in accordion," he proudly notes.
The most significant collaboration in his career was with legendary singer Seid Memić Vajta, with whom he played for seven years. "The first Bosnian to win the Split Festival! 'Mornareva pjesma'... Vajta was a great friend of Miljenko and Lero Smoje, in love with Dalmatia, a bohemian at heart, a great man. I played with him for about seven years, but on guitar. On keyboards, Vajta was accompanied by Željko Šparmajer," Bartulović recalls.
During that phase of his life, he literally traveled the world, from the former Yugoslavia to America and Japan. The only place they didn't go was North Korea. Alongside Vajta, he has been performing with Nenad Vetma for 17 years, and he has also played with Mineo, dance star Ella, Katarina Rautek from ET, Ivo Amulić, Zorica Andrijašević-Donna, and Dora Bačić.
In Brano Likić's studio in Munich, he did arrangements for many famous performers, including Plavi orkestar and Halid Bešlić. "Halid was the greatest man in show business; there was no better person," says Bartulović.
His lifelong role model since childhood has been Nikša Bratoš, one of the best musicians in the region. "He also grew up in Travnik; we hung out-me as a kid, him already a young man. I always wanted to be like Nikša 'when I grow up'; I still strive for that," he admits.
Although he didn't become a priest, Bartulović is grateful for what he has. "I have two beautiful daughters," he says. His older daughter, from his first marriage to his late wife, sings in the church choir Izvor, which won a Porin award. In his second marriage to a social worker, he has a nine-year-old daughter who also shows an inclination toward music.
Although he didn't take the priestly path, spirituality has remained an important part of his life. When he's not playing or teaching, he often goes on pilgrimages, most often to the Vepric shrine or to the Holy Cross parish with Father Joze Čirko. "We talk and pray, but sometimes we also sing together," he reveals.
Bartulović often performs on cruise ships with a singer colleague, where he plays a repertoire of evergreens like the theme from Doctor Zhivago, Under Paris Skies, and songs by Edith Piaf. He also plays at wedding parties, with a repertoire of Halid and Hanka.
For sixteen years, he hosted the popular show "Pisme za dušu" on local television, worked as a producer on Nova TV in the first music talent show that produced Saša, Tino, and Kedža, Nera Stipičević, Rafael Dropulić, and Natali Dizdar. He also worked in the production of Turbo Limach Show, and is currently a producer of the Pop Festival for young people up to 15 years old in Kupres. For his work, he received an award from the city of Trogir for his contribution to his field.
