Vuković, Vice

Born in the Sinjska Krajina region; 6 years of age, he became a shepherd; When 10 years old, he wanted to learn and play the Diple, the price of which at that time was, however, 10 Batakuna [today's rate?; ws. ➺ NB]; Because his father told him that he couldn't afford to buy an instrument for him, Vice started, during his wanderings with the sheep, to collect bones, which he sold on the market in Sinj; Without telling his parents, he saved up the necessary amount, and was able to buy his own Diple; When he had mastered to play the instrument, and had become famous for it, his father bought him a bag, and turned it into a Mješnica; Brömse informs us that he lived as a lay brother (Fra Vice, 68 years old [in 1937]) in the Franciscan monastery in Sinj, to which he had brought his instruments (the Mješnica, a cane flute (Svirala?), and a double flute (Dvojnice)) with him; NB: Unfortunately I was unable (yet) to trace the "Batakuna" as a currency. The term doesn't even occur in »The history of money in Croatia, 1527-1941« by Mira Kolar-Dimitrijević, published by the Croatian National Bank (Zagreb, 2018).