Photos: ‘Gavrani’, private album
In an intimate conversation, the members of Gavrani—a Croatian family pop-rock band—share their journey from Melbourne, Australia to their current home in Zagreb, Croatia.
Since signing with Croatia Records in 2020 and releasing their debut album in 2024, this close-knit musical family has been making waves on the Croatian music scene. With their infectious rhythms, emotional depth, and layered vocals, Gavrani opens up about their creative process, family dynamics, and the bold decision to leave Australia behind to pursue their musical dreams in their ancestral homeland.
To begin with – who are Gavrani? Although it would be rare today, after your already lengthy musical experience, how would you describe the band to someone hearing you for the first time?
We are a Croatian family pop-rock band from Melbourne, Australia, currently based in Zagreb. We’ve been performing cover songs and creating original music since 2017.
In 2020, we signed with Croatia Records and released our debut album in 2024. During this period, we performed and promoted our original songs at numerous music festivals throughout Croatia.
We would describe our sound as infectious, rhythmic and emotional, balanced with electric and acoustic instruments and layered vocals. We live for music and try to convey that passion through our songs and live performances.
How did you decide as a family to return from Australia to Croatia?
We had been exploring possibilities for several years before making the final and joint decision to pack up our life in Australia and move back to Croatia.
An extended stay in Croatia as a family solidified our decision – it didn’t take much convincing. The relaxed lifestyle and energetic music scene perfectly matched our shared goals.
The success of our family band is directly linked to the enthusiasm of Croatian people and their appreciation for family values and creativity. For us, Croatia is the ideal place to continue our creative career, as it has plenty of bars, concerts, venues and festivals for performances, and the music scene is flourishing more and more each year.
What was the main motivation for relocating – personal reasons, music, or a combination of everything?
Our joint decision was definitely the result of a combination of reasons. We wanted to be closer to our family and friends in Croatia, find a deeper sense of belonging and community, and develop our music careers.
How did you as a family decide to create music together? Did it happen spontaneously or was there a specific moment when you knew “Gavrani” had to become a band?
We were already performing as a family band at various events and celebrations, performing Croatian and English covers, when we noticed the potential for releasing our own songs.
After performances, people from the audience would approach us and ask where they could find our band on Spotify or where they could buy our album, thinking we already had our own music. Unfortunately, at that time we had to answer: “We haven’t released anything original yet”, which we weren’t happy about.
Thus began our new and ambitious collaboration and the recording of the first demo versions of our songs.
At that time, Tamara was studying songwriting and music production at JMC Academy in Melbourne, while Mijat already had many years of experience in songwriting, recording and production. With Jasmina’s strong vocals and our collective knowledge, our confidence to embark on this project grew further.
What does your creative process look like? Who writes the lyrics, who composes, who takes the lead in the studio?
The creative process isn’t simple and requires a combination of all our skills to create the best possible songs. We’ve tried different methods of creation, which can be heard in the diversity of our songs.
Most often, Mijat writes the lyrics, Tamara composes and arranges, and we perform and record the instruments and vocals ourselves.
In the studio, we often collaborate with top producers and session musicians who help our demo recordings reach their full potential. You can hear this broader collaboration on our debut album “Svirači, hvala vam” (Musicians, thank you).
How would you describe your musical style and what are your main musical inspirations?
We would describe our musical style as pop-rock with acoustic elements. We draw inspiration from both English and Croatian music scenes, and that blend of influences can be heard in our songs.
It’s difficult for us to compare ourselves exactly with certain bands, but we share a love for Croatian rock bands of the 80s, such as Parni Valjak, Prljavo Kazalište, Divlje Jagode, Plavi Orkestar and others.
Is there a difference between the music you created in Australia and what you’re creating now in Croatia?
There are several differences, especially when creating our debut album. We had the privilege of collaborating with talented producer and arranger Zvonimir Domazet on most of the songs.
Some songs we produced ourselves, as a family, and we want to continue that practice, developing our own production skills.
Currently, we’re working on our own production, as Daniel is studying audio engineering at MPA in Zagreb and possesses great knowledge and skills in recording and mixing. His passion further motivates us to release more of our own music.
What is the working dynamic like when a family forms a band? Is there more understanding or more challenges? Who is the most stubborn in the band? And who is the “peacemaker” when tensions arise?
Family dynamics create a completely different professional atmosphere. There’s much more care and understanding, which encourages growth and honesty.
Of course, there are challenges sometimes, but we overcome them with good communication and love.
We consider ourselves a very close-knit family and greatly value our closeness. There is no challenge that could undermine our unity.
We all agree that stubbornness is a human trait and that finding solutions is key.
However, our mother Malika is our biggest supporter and peacemaker, and we can thank her for our resilience and mutual understanding.
How do you separate private life from professional – or is that impossible in your case?
It’s difficult to completely separate private life from a professional career. As time passes, our private lives develop too, so we’re constantly seeking balance between private and professional.
For example, more than a year ago Tamara moved to Switzerland after meeting the love of her life. Today she is married and expecting her first child soon.
The distance requires extra effort, planning and understanding to maintain continuity in our band’s work, but this is just another challenge we successfully overcome.
‘There’s no country like Croatia’
How have you adjusted to life in Croatia after living in Australia? What surprised you the most (positively or negatively)?
We’ve adjusted excellently, made many friends and professional contacts, and found our peace in this environment.
There’s no country like Croatia.
The strong personal connections we’ve established here make us feel as if we’ve been living here forever, and that hospitality was the most pleasant surprise.
We are happy, secure and satisfied with our decision.
How does the Croatian audience respond to your music compared to the Australian audience?
The main difference is in the number of listeners.
In Australia, there were very few Croatian bands to listen to and connect with, while in Croatia there is an abundance of bands and original performers.
Here we are exposed to a greater number of Croatian music lovers and we’re very grateful for the positive audience reaction.
Did you experience culture shock or did everything somehow bring you “home”?
For us, the return was more a feeling of acceptance than shock.
Cultural shock quickly disappears with the warmth of the people.
Interestingly, many Croatians were surprised when we told them we returned from Australia, often asking: “Why did you leave Australia and come back here?”
Our answer was always the same: because we love Croatia.
What are you currently working on? Are there new singles coming soon or perhaps an entire album on the horizon?
We’re working on new songs in our home studios.
We’re adapting to collaboration between Croatia and Switzerland when it comes to performances and recording.
We can’t say yet when a new album will be released, but we can confirm that new singles are coming.
Along with songwriting and production, we plan to continue performing at various events and festivals.
Do you dream more of regional success or are you targeting the international scene as well?
Our vision is big and long-term, including both regional and international scenes.
We’re overjoyed to be living our dreams every day.
How do you see Gavrani in five years?
We see ourselves with a second album, many more performances and different musical projects.
We would like to travel more and test the international scene, and expand our fan base.
What is the most beautiful moment you’ve experienced as a band so far?
There are too many wonderful moments, but we would agree that the best are those group hugs after a successful performance or when we hear our song on the radio.
There’s no better feeling than achieving something special as a family.
What fulfils you the most when you’re together on stage?
What fulfils us most is the energy we feel while performing together with good sound equipment, having fun and communicating with the audience.
Music is a gift, and sharing it with others is an indescribable experience.
And finally – what would you say to young musicians and families thinking about returning to Croatia?
To young musicians, we want to say believe in yourselves and don’t be afraid of mistakes.
Be authentic and nurture your unique sound because nobody will sound like you, and that’s your advantage!
To families dreaming of returning, we want to say we know how big and difficult that decision is, but we believe it’s worth it.
