Vinko Zganec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Vinko ganec (1890-1976) is a well known Croatian ethnomusicologist. He was born in Vratiinec in Međimurje, (Medjimurska zupanija). ganec started to be interested in music early in his childhood and jotted down his first folk song in 1908. In 1916, he published his first book of Croatian folk songs from Međimurje. Later he extended the work to cover the Bunjevci Croats in Hungary, Croats from Gradiče - Burgenland in Austria. He studied theology and later law, becoming a Doctor of Law in 1919. The famous composer and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok kept in close contact with him while collecting folk songs along the border of Hungary and Croatia.
Bartok respected ganec both because of the accuracy of his research as well as the notation. Music started to be his primary focus in 1945 when he become the head of Ethnografic Museum in Zagreb. During the span of his research ganec collected, recorded, and wrote down more than 19 000 songs; these have been preserved for future generations to be used and studied. More than 25 000 (15 000 just from his native Međimurje) has been evidented, not entirely documented. ganec became the first director of the Institute of Folklore Research, and was an active participant in the Folklorist Society of Croatia. He taught at the Academy of Music in Zagreb where he was a great influence on his colleagues and students.
