A few hours ago you could almost cut the heat with a knife, and even now the summer evening in Dubrovnik is still very warm. The sky over the Old Town is a clear midnight blue although it is only eight thirty and the streets inside the vast stone city walls are teeming with people.
O.K., the Old Town was teeming with people during the day, but they were tourists from coaches and cruise ships, a Babel of languages following tour guides with flags, signs and drooping Iris flowers held high leading their groups around the cathedral, the museums and the galleries. The Troubadour cafe and bar in the corner of Bunićeva Poljana square is quiet; the name plate that confirms the piano as 'Victor's' stands silent against the wall, and there is just one person sitting with a coffee at one of the outside tables.
The evening is different. Visitors and Croatians alike 'out on the town'. At 8.30 pm people are taking their seats outside the Troubadour Hard Jazz Caffe. Inside, the cafe itself is deceptive, just a bar where the waitresses collect drinks to take out to people sitting at the tables. Victor is playing the piano and after a while a woman in a sequined black shoulder shawl takes a seat at the front and tells people to stop talking and listen to the music. She claps Victor loudly and people go on talking.
A few tunes in and Marko Brešković picks up his bass and the tempo picks up until Victor retires and his place is taken by Marko's son, Tony. Tony has a good voice, sings mainly in English and will sometimes play trombone. Another son, Nikki, joins in on drums, and friends Davor, Branko and Berko may or may not come along with guitar and saxophone.
The tables outside the Troubadour and adjacent cafes, bars and restaurants are now filling up and passers by stop to listen. A little boy who has not long seen his third birthday stands with his mother by the piano, bopping to the music, eyes fixed on Tony.
Marko himself has been playing for many years, in Dubrovnik and across the world, his band even supported the Yugoslavia entry for the Eurovision Song Contest the year that Cliff Richard sang Congratulations for the UK. Two of his sons now have a band of their own experimenting with music in more modern idioms, but he tells them that it is important for them to go on playing jazz to make sure the foundations stay in place.
The band plays late and some visitors leave before midnight to catch the last bus back to their hotels or apartments away from the city, but the Troubadour band, some or all of them, will be back at the Hard Jazz Caffe again tomorrow. If you visit Croatia, make sure not to miss them.
The Troubadour band playing Night and Day:
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© Ian Maund 2008