Anđelo Jurkas

Angelo Jurkas is a writer, musician, publicist, novelist, essayist, lyricist and screenwriter.
Jurkas was born in Koprivnica, Croatia. Grew up and brought up in the city of Rijeka and Podravina region, city of Đurđevac. He was educated in the cities of Zagreb and Rijeka.
He has LL.M. (Master of Laws); Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb and Master of Primary education; Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb.
Regarding literature work he has published six solo literary publications; "Bez Rocka Trajanja/No Time Limits" (Znanje, 2010), "Soundtrack života/Soundtrack of Life" (Znanje, 2011), "Volim te/I Love You" (Produkcija, 2012), "Off The Record – stories from the brighter side" (DOP Produkcija 2012), "Veliki prasak: službena biografija 2 Cellos/A Big Bang: Official Biography by 2 Cellos” (Menart 2013), "Raspelo/The Crucifix" (DOP Produkcija, 2014.)., 15 September 2009.
He is also the author of nine more manuscripts, pending finalization or finalized (four publications; of which one novel, two collected prose writings, two collected poems).
Also, he started a solo music career together with producer Hrvoje Marjanović Sett and he has recorded and published so far two solo albums "Soundtrack for Life" and "Off The Record"., Retrieved 12 March 2013. The new ones, forthcoming and fifthcoming "Happy End" and "Storytelling" are to be published toward the end of the 2014.
Five more of them are pending finalizations and are due to be published during the next few years.
Since 2000 to 2013 he has worked as a journalist/editor in all types of media; ranging from radio stations, foreign and domestic press (e.g. HTV, Večernji list, Heroina Nova, Ritam, Pitchfork, Teen generacija, Klik, Vip.hr, Net.hr)., Retrieved 24 March 2012.

Jurkas started first Croatian national pop cultural web site named DOP Magazin in 1999 It started as printed and internet version. During the years printed version was extinguished but the web site still remains (www.dopmagazin.com).

Over the years he became assistant and journalist on numerous media in Croatia, mostly specialized in pop culture. (e.g. HTV, Večernji list, Heroina Nova, Ritam, Pitchfork, Teen generacija, Klik, Vip.hr, Net.hr). Jurkas has also written essays on various aspects of popular culture, and in particular, he has become known for his writing about pop music, pop culture, movies, media columnism and various journalist styles and forms.

Since preliminary and high school and further more on university and afterwards he wrote reviews, interviews, essays, remarks, travel diaries, short stories, poems, prose and poetry, scripts. Short stories published in several collected works, reviewing young Croatian writers ("Antologija hrvatskih nepoznatih autora“, 2003; "Lift“, collected short stories, 2004; Jesenski Turk and Internet Monitor). Published novellas and short tales in several yearbooks, magazines and young author contests.

He is actively involved in all segments of discography (as a musician, author, performer, DJ, concert promoter and manager, publisher, booking agent, PR agent, the founder and organiser of a national music award).

He started playing with the indie rock band named Karpis (1999. – 2003.). They have toured the region and country making noise rock music and before recording three albums as the result of the contract deal offer, they split up. Afterwards he became a program editor of the cultural center "K2" (2002–2004) during which period he has organised national music awards, concerts, talk shows, exhibitions, music and movie projections, DJ parties, and many of the pop cultural happenings.

In 2003 he found out and started marketing and promotion company DOP Production/DOP Produkcija (www.dopprodukcija.hr). An independent firm consisting of:

a) discograph label DOP Records (Ramirez, Svadbas, Lollobrigida, Dječaci, Quasarr, Pink Studio, Viva Glorio, Batida, …),

b) booking and concert agency A1 Booking Agency (Rokaj fest 2008, Terraneo 2011 – The Fall, La Roux, Raveonettes), Mudhoney, Wedding Present, Future of the Left, The Fall, These New Puritans, Datsuns, Dwarves, Wire, Lemonheads, New Bomb Turks, Nashville Pussy, E Z Rollers, Dub Syndicate, Guitar Wolf, Cedell Davis and many others.

c) department specialized for video production – DOP Art.

He also initiated and organised the national music award Zlatna Koogla/Golden Bowl that lasted from 2003 to 2010 in which he had gathered more the one hundred national and regional artists and bands to play during the manifestation.

In 2006 he patented, as an author of surveys, winning games and a charity project "SMS Elections“, SMS voting in president, parliamentary and local elections (Patent copyrighted at the Croatia Copyright Office).

As a concert promoter he has been doing business with numerous national (TBF, Edo Maajka, Pips, Chips & Videoclips, Overflow, Elemental, Svadbas, Ramirez, Cinkuši, …) regional and international acts and as a booking manager, promotional manager and PR also participated in lots of solo gigs and national festivals (Rokaj Fest, Terraneo Festival).

He became editor and reporter/journalist of "Vip Music Club LP“, the central music TV show on national television (HTV), then he worked as a community manager, editor and journalist at Vip.hr, web portal. He is a co-author of "Film mater“, a radio show, together with Daniel Rafaelic. He is currently working on a manuscript for the movie book "Film nam mater/Motherfilm us“.

Over the years he took part in several national contests with the mentioned works (Jadran film, HTV-redaction of drama) and he is the author of "Celebrity Hit List/Lista za odstrijel/Na meti“; a TV comedy show, combining elements of the subsequently distinguished and globally famous shows, "Jackass" and "Punk'd"; whose script was offered to RTL and HTV television for realization in 2004. He was amongst the 14 candidates for the position of the National Television Program Director (HTV), 2007 and 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

His first published book was called "Bez Roka Trajanja/Without Time Limits“ and is a portrait of the Balkan region through the perspective of 200 most significant albums and artists of this territory. He was the first writer on this territory that started publishing books and audio albums (CDs, MP3s) together in one special package as the multicultural product. It became a huge regional bestseller and one of the most praised by the critics of the territory because of which he earned a nickname "Croatian Nick Hornby“. Retrieved 26 November 2012., 10 May 2011.

The second one is also conceived as a combination of pop culture and popular self-help literature and it is called "Soundtrack of Life; self help with music“ – the selection of the 365 most relevant albums and artists as the perfect music for each and every day of the year.

Music album by the same name is meant to be soundtrack of the day. The album is made of 24 songs, each for every hour of the day and among numerous national and international guest stars there is also the guest participation of the Croatian President, Ivo Josipovic, who is Jurkas' former professor on the Faculty of Law in Zagreb.

Third book was poetry collection "I Love You“, autobiographical story composed of love songs and beatnic street poetry., Retrieved 24 February 2011.

Fourth one was the book and the album named "Off The Record – stories from the brighter side“ detailing the collection of numerous accidents, funny events, short stories from the concerts, promotions and similar stuff regarding more than 300 most interesting bands from world rock scene from The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, Ramones, Rage Against The Machine, Guns And Roses, Metallica, Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Nick Cave, indie scene The Jesus Lizard, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Henry Rollins, Gang of Four, Godfathers, Fugazi, Shellac and the others such as Macy Gray, Sade, 50 Cent, Beyoncé, and many more.

Fifth solo title is "Big Bang: Official Biography of 2 Cellos“, as the title says the official biography of national crossover duo, two classical backgrounded cellists Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, known as 2Cellos that became one hit wonders on the global music market with the cover of Michael Jackson's hit “Smooth Criminal“ played only on two cellos., Retrieved 26 November 2013.

Sixth title is called "The Crucifix“ – collection of the interviews and the works gathered past decade writing and dealing with the pop culture in this area. Jon Spencer, Anna Calvi, Girls Against Boys, Royksopp, De La Soul, Sick of It All, Henry Rollins, Partibrejkers, Disciplina Kičme, Riblja Čorba, Thompson, Laibach, PCVC, Urban, Predin, TBF, Hladno Pivo, Edo Maajka, Damir Avdić, Krankšvester, Fil Tilen, Sara Renar, Irena Žilić, Dunja Ercegović and many more.

He is also the author of nine more manuscripts, pending finalization or finalized (four publications; of which one novel, two collected prose writings, two collected poems)., 2011.

He started literary program Pop Up library within which Dallas Records published biographies of the artists such are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Nick Cave, The Doors and The Clash, with more to come.

His work frequently touches upon music, pop culture, movies, media, etc., Retrieved 20 January 2011.

Along with independent literary career he also started his solo music works. Both of the solo albums ("Soundtrack of Life", 2011. and "Off The Record", 2012.) gained critical acclamations and were noticed as modern combination and melting pot of several music genres from rap, rock, dance, storytelling and similar music forms. He recorded fifteen videos from those two titles, all of them followed by favourable reviews. Those albums were pronounced the album of the week by RTL television and Radio 101; further positive reviews by Nova TV, Jutarnji list and other distinguished national and regional media.

Jurkas played a movie role in "Volim te/I Love You“, a feature-length film by Dalibor Matanić (2006). He directed "Ivicak – moj pop stari“, a documentary about his 100 years old uncle Ivicak (2003). He also directed (along with Hladno pivo) "Knjiga zalbe/Complaints Book“, a short, special-purpose film and is responsible for numerous TV features in the TV show "Vip Music Club LP".

He has directed music videos and is the author of three documentary films in production: “Sex, lies and Croatia” (2008.), “Code name: Gypsy” (2013.), “Fist to fist: a history of violence” (2009). He wrote screenplay for “Sexopolis RH” (2013.), a feature-length film and many scripts for short movie forms. He acted and played in the music videos “Hirosima“ by Urban & 4 (directed by Andrej Korovljev) and “Pravo ja” by Hladno Pivo (directed by Goran Kulenovic) and few more videos., 2013.

Together with director Goran Berovic he recorded “Vanishing” a short movie with Leona Paraminski, one of the leading Croatian actresses, based upon a storytelling music piece from the album compilation “The Crucifix”.

Jurkas was working also as the PR for the Motovun Film Festival (2004–2007), PR for “Karaula“, a film by Rajko Grlić and PR for “100 minuta Slave“, a film by Dalibor Matanić.

• Soundtrack Of Life (2011)
• Off The Record (2012)
• Happy End (2014)
• Storytelling (2014)

• I Love You (Dalibor Matanic, 2006)
• Hiroshima – Urban & 4 (Andrej Korovljev, 2009)
• Pravo ja – Hladno Pivo (Goran Kulenovic, 2013)
• Nestajanje / Vanishing (Goran Berović, 2013)