Mauro Staraj brings “Radio Memory Book” to Matulji: concert, surprise guests and a music video premiere
On Friday, August 7, 2026, the Matulji Amphitheatre will become the stage for a musical return to the decades that shaped the popular culture of Kvarner and Istria. As part of the Matulji Summer Evenings event – “The Tramontana Will Refresh You!”, singer-songwriter Mauro Staraj will present the concert programme “Radio Memory Book”, created from the album of the same name, which he describes as the “soundtrack of childhood in Kvarner”. The concert is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m., and admission is free. The organisers have also announced surprise guests, meaning that the concert will not merely present the album but will be a more broadly conceived evening of shared remembrance of songs that were listened to for decades in family homes, cars, on the radio, summer terraces and at local festivals.
According to the announcement by the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board, “Radio Memory Book” was conceived as a musical journey through domestic hits that connect different generations. The programme fits into the concept of the Matulji Summer Evenings, a series of concerts, theatrical performances and other cultural events held during the summer in the amphitheatre and at several other locations throughout the municipality. This year’s edition carries the recognisable slogan “The Tramontana Will Refresh You!”, transforming a local Chakavian expression and the motif of the north wind into the identity of the summer programme. The combination of a contemporary concert, local speech and the musical memory of the northern Adriatic is precisely one of the main defining features of the evening dedicated to Staraj’s project.
A concert not conceived merely as a series of cover versions
“Radio Memory Book” differs from an ordinary retrospective concert because the selection of songs is rooted in the performer’s personal story. In interviews for Novi list and Croatian Radio, Staraj explained that his own experience of parenthood inspired him to create the album: while choosing music for his sons to listen to, he rediscovered the songs with which he himself had grown up. Memories of family drives, tapes in the car cassette player, radio programmes, terraces in Opatija and traditional festivities gradually developed into a project through which he wanted to preserve part of the musical heritage and introduce it to an audience that had not witnessed the original era of those compositions.
According to Staraj, the aim was not simply to repeat familiar melodies, but to give the songs a new performance style while preserving their recognisable character. The album brings together compositions by various authors and performers who shaped the regional scene, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. In an interview with the PodUckun portal, Staraj stated that this is the first album of his career on which he does not perform his own original songs, but instead devotes himself entirely to interpreting the music of his role models. Such a choice gives the project a dual function: it brings back the soundscapes of a particular era for older audiences, while offering younger listeners an entry point into a repertoire that has partly disappeared from everyday life due to changes in media and listening habits.
According to HRT’s presentation of the project, the album includes, among others, the songs “Outer Lanterns” by the group Trio Rio and “A Day Like Candy” by the band Marinero. In conversations about the creation of the release, Staraj also highlighted the influence of performers and authors such as Kolaž, Marinero Band, Werner Brozović, Galjano Pahor and lyricist Berto Lučić. It is therefore not a compilation assembled according to the current popularity of individual titles, but a personal selection of songs that influenced his musical taste and development as a songwriter. The concert in Matulji is expected to transfer this intimate logic of the album to the stage, where private memory becomes an experience shared by the entire audience.
Fourteen songs and around fifty minutes of musical memory
The digital edition of “Radio Memory Book”, credited to Mauro Staraj and La Banda, was released in January 2026. According to Apple Music, the album contains 14 songs with a total duration of 52 minutes and was released by Music Kitchen Records. This running time reflects Staraj’s effort to extract a concise and dramaturgically connected whole from the extensive treasury of music from Kvarner and Istria. HRT reported his assessment that selecting approximately fifty minutes of music was one of the most demanding parts of the project, precisely because the number of songs that marked his upbringing was significantly greater than the space available on a single release.
Special attention was also paid to the sound. In an interview with Novi list, Staraj explained that during recording he used instruments and keyboards characteristic of the periods in which many of the selected compositions were created, including the Yamaha DX7, Linn Drum, Roland D-50 and Korg M1, together with a genuine Hammond organ. The intention was to evoke the tone of older productions while processing it through a contemporary studio approach so that the recordings would remain accessible to today’s listener. This approach is not restoration in the strict sense, but a new interpretation of familiar material: the original melody and emotional intensity remain at the centre, while the arrangement becomes a bridge between the time of creation and the year 2026.
The project is also symbolically connected to the format that marked Staraj’s childhood. “Radio Memory Book” was released in a limited edition of one hundred audio cassettes, with a USB accessory incorporated into the release so that the music could also be played on contemporary devices. The album is also available on CD and in digital form. The combination of cassette and USB summarises the project’s fundamental idea: to preserve a physical object and the listening ritual associated with a past era, without confining the music to nostalgia or making it inaccessible to audiences accustomed to modern formats.
The premiere of the “A Matulji Native at Heart” music video as a special feature of the evening
One of the key moments of the concert will be the premiere screening of the music video for the song “A Matulji Native at Heart”. According to announcements published on August 3, the audience in the Matulji Amphitheatre will be the first to have the opportunity to see the new music video, adding an audiovisual premiere to the concert. Not all details about the video’s content or the guests who will participate in the programme have yet been officially announced, so the organisers are deliberately keeping part of the evening as a surprise. The song’s title itself, written in the Chakavian idiom, directly connects the musical programme with Matulji and the local identity of the host community.
The premiere in Matulji is also a logical choice because of Staraj’s professional connection with the area. Novi list reports that his recording studio is located in Matulji, while places between the Rijeka hinterland, the Opatija Riviera, the Kastav area and Istria are permanently present in his creative work. In this region, Chakavian speech is not merely a means of communication but also an important carrier of cultural memory, especially in songs describing everyday life, family, the sea, work, departures, returns and a sense of belonging. Within the concert, “A Matulji Native at Heart” therefore functions as a new point on the timeline that “Radio Memory Book” creates between inherited songs and Staraj’s current work.
Screening the music video in front of an audience, rather than exclusively online, further emphasises the communal character of the event. In such an environment, a music video becomes part of the concert’s dramaturgy, while the viewers’ reactions become part of the premiere itself. This is particularly important for a project based on the idea of collective memory: the songs are not presented as museum exhibits, but as material reactivated through singing, listening and the encounter between performer and audience. The Matulji performance could therefore demonstrate how an album conceived for deeply personal reasons works when it returns to the environment from which it draws much of its language and atmosphere.
The music of Kvarner and Istria between radio, festivals and new platforms
The repertoire of “Radio Memory Book” draws on a musical scene that for decades had its own system of distribution: local and regional radio programmes, summer terraces, dance evenings, traditional celebrations and the Melodies of Istria and Kvarner festival. HRT states that some of the songs on the album once regularly resounded over the radio airwaves and from festival stages, while Staraj specifically mentioned the programmes “From the Coastal Window” and “An Evening for Seafarers” in interviews. Before the era of digital platforms, programmes such as these, together with tapes that were exchanged and copied, shaped the musical tastes of a large number of listeners.
As technology changed, so did the route by which a song reaches its audience. A repertoire that was once present in everyday radio programming now competes with an almost unlimited global selection, meaning that regional musical heritage can easily remain outside algorithmic recommendations and the interests of new generations. Staraj’s project responds to this change without rejecting contemporary platforms: the album is available digitally, while at the same time returning to the cassette, live performance and stories about the authors. In this way, attention is directed not only towards the melody, but also towards the circumstances in which it was created, the language in which it was written and the performers who shaped the northern Adriatic scene.
Projects of this kind have a wider significance than nostalgic remembrance. Cover versions can renew interest in original recordings, encourage research into lesser-known authors and demonstrate that a regional repertoire is not confined to the past. At the same time, every new arrangement raises the question of balance between faithfulness to the original and the performer’s own artistic signature. Staraj described this balance as an attempt to preserve the atmosphere of earlier times while creating a sound that would also be acceptable to younger audiences. The concert format provides the most direct test of such an intention because it brings together, in the same place, listeners who have known the songs for decades and those who may be hearing them for the first time.
The Matulji Amphitheatre at the centre of the summer cultural programme
Matulji is located in the hinterland of the Opatija Riviera, in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on the northern Adriatic, and the local tourist board describes it as a historic crossroads of routes between the coast and the mountainous hinterland. In recent years, the amphitheatre has become one of the central stages for local cultural events. According to the programme of the Municipality of Matulji, the 2026 Matulji Summer Evenings are taking place throughout June, July and August and, in addition to the main amphitheatre, include programmes in Mune, Škrapna, Bregi and at Štacion. The variety of locations allows the event to extend beyond a single stage, bringing summer cultural activities to several settlements and different audience groups.
Mauro Staraj’s concert is particularly connected with the local context, but its content may also be interesting to visitors who are unfamiliar with the Chakavian repertoire. “Radio Memory Book” offers a kind of introduction to the popular music of Kvarner and Istria, while the story of growing up, family memories and the transmission of music from parents to children has a universal dimension. For audiences from other countries or more distant parts of Croatia, the concert can serve as an encounter with the cultural identity of the northern Adriatic beyond the usual tourist images of the coast. Visitors planning to stay in the area because of the programme may find it useful to check accommodation offers in Matulji and the surrounding area in advance.
An important part of the event’s concept is the accessibility of the programme. The Matulji Municipality Tourist Board states that all events within the Matulji Summer Evenings are free of charge. This positions the amphitheatre as an open public space in which local residents, visitors from nearby destinations and audiences arriving specifically for a particular performer can meet. Free admission to “Radio Memory Book” also corresponds to the album’s concept as a project for transmitting musical heritage: there is no barrier to attendance, and the programme is designed to be followed by different generations, regardless of whether they know every song.
What visitors need to know before arriving
According to the official announcement and information provided by the organisers, the basic details of the concert are:
- Event: Mauro Staraj – “Radio Memory Book”
- Festival: Matulji Summer Evenings – “The Tramontana Will Refresh You!”
- Date: Friday, August 7, 2026
- Time: beginning at 9:00 p.m.
- Location: Matulji Amphitheatre
- Admission: free
- Special programme: premiere of the music video for the song “A Matulji Native at Heart” and announced surprise guests
- In case of bad weather: the programme will be moved to the school sports hall
The organisers recommend following official announcements in the period leading up to the event, particularly because of possible weather changes and the relocation of the programme to an indoor venue. As admission is free, no information has been published about reservations or ticket sales. Visitors are advised to arrive before the beginning in order to find a place in good time, particularly because the concert includes a music video premiere and guests whose names have not been revealed in advance. In stable weather, the programme will take place outdoors, in the setting designed as the centre of the Matulji Summer Evenings.
The concert on August 7 therefore combines several elements: the presentation of the album, interpretations of songs that marked regional musical history, a personal story about growing up and the premiere of a new music video dedicated to Matulji. For Mauro Staraj, “Radio Memory Book” represents an expression of gratitude to the authors and performers who influenced his development, but also an attempt to ensure that their music continues to be passed on. For the audience, the evening in Matulji will be an opportunity to hear the project in concert form, in a place strongly connected with its language, Staraj’s studio work and the cultural environment from which it emerged.
Sources:
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board – official announcement of the “Radio Memory Book” concert, date, time and location of the event (link)
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board – programme of the Matulji Summer Evenings, free admission and alternative location in case of bad weather (link)
- Municipality of Matulji – information about the 2026 Matulji Summer Evenings programme and event locations (link)
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board – information about the cultural and tourist heritage of Matulji and the role of the amphitheatre (link)
- Kanal Ri – announcement of surprise guests and the premiere of the “A Matulji Native at Heart” music video (link)
- HRT Radio Rijeka – interview with Mauro Staraj about the creation of the album, song selection and release formats (link)
- Novi list – interview about musical role models, the limited cassette edition, studio approach and instruments used (link)
- PodUckun – presentation of the album concept, regional authors and Staraj’s intention to preserve the musical heritage (link)
- Apple Music – information about the digital release date, number of songs, album duration and label (link)