Marches of my youth

Almost nine years old, in the early Spring of 1958, my father taught me, along with 12 or 13 other youngsters, music. We were learning to play various instruments in a marching band in my hometown Dubrovnik, "Gradska Mužika." A month or two later we joined the band. I played an alt horn and loved it.

For the next nine years I enthusiastically played in that band. We marched, we held concerts playing various opera potpourris and overtures, fantasies, we visited neighboring towns, it was a lot of fun. As a 14-year old I "graduated" to play a solo baritone horn (euphonium). Playing music was an outlet for me for my otherwise troubled young life.

My favorite marches to play then were "Sveti Lovro" (San Lorenzo) and "Stari Drugovi" (Alten Kameraden). Little did I know of the connection those two marches would have to my later life when as a 50-year old I renewed my love of Argentine Tango and now I live in Berlin, Germany.