Klapa Multipart Singing
A cappella harmony of Dalmatia
The traditional a cappella harmonies of Dalmatia, sung on public squares and in stone courtyards across Hvar's towns and villages.
Klapa is the traditional a cappella singing of Dalmatia: a small group of friends (the word klapa means roughly "company of friends") singing in close multipart harmony about love, the sea, wine and home.
There is no conductor and rarely an instrument. A first tenor opens the melody and the others join beneath, tuned by ear, often in the resonance of a stone square or church doorway at dusk.
UNESCO inscribed klapa singing on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012. On Hvar you will hear it at summer festivals, village feasts, and, if you are lucky, spontaneously after a good dinner.
Summer evenings on the squares of Hvar Town, Jelsa and Vrboska; klapa concerts are a regular part of the island's festival calendar.
See it with someone from here.
Our private experiences weave the island’s heritage into real days out, with local guides who grew up beside it.