Music was her life when she was just 4 and enrolled in the prestigious Croatian Music Conservatory. Today, at age 38, Tatiana Cameron, nicknamed Tajci (pronounced tay-chee), brings her music across the country, and Maine is on her itinerary. Tajci will begin her run of performances, “I Do Believe” and “Let it Be-Mary’s Story” beginning Oct. 15 in Fort Kent, before performances in Caribou, East Millinocket, Waterville, Bangor, Augusta, Portland and York.
“People are hungry to be fed spiritually and this is a great way to do it, through this woman’s music,” says the Rev. John Skehan of St. Christopher’s Church in York, where Tajci performed last spring. Andrew Brown, 17, of Hampden was in that audience. “She was absolutely amazing and the experience was powerful. She took everything that was about the Passion and summed it up so perfectly with the beauty of her voice.”
The beautiful, talented blonde was born Tatiana Matejas, and today she is a mother of three young boys who, along with their dad, share in Tajci’s musical journeys around the world. Tajci came to America when she was 21, leaving behind fame and fortune. Her talent and beauty put her in a category with the likes of a Britney Spears and Madonna. But stardom was not everything for this young talent. “I was at the top — an idol — and I said to myself, ‘Where am I going from here? There is nothing more that I can accomplish,’ and I felt so all alone at the top.”
Not only did she feel alone, but she was raised in a communist country with no freedom of belief or expression. “My parents were employed by government TV and radio and while they were not members of the party, they had to do their job. We would quietly celebrate Christmas as it was too dangerous for my parents to take risks and share religion or anything spiritual.”
And so, the Croatian’s respect for the Blessed Mother was shunned, “There was this most beautiful song called ‘Queen of Croatians,’ which is what we called the Blessed Mother, that could never be sung,” she says. When her grandfather died, the song was played at his funeral. “My mother got into a lot of trouble at work because her co-workers reported back the song was played, not even sung, just played.”
There was one thing Croatians could be open about. “In Croatia, music was a big part of our culture. Any kind of suffering was healed with music. If you were sick, there was always someone there to sing to you so you would forget you were hurting. We always sang after a meal and that would take our mind away from not having enough to eat,” she reminisced.
Tajci, like all surviving the reigns of communism, forged on. Despite her feeling of loneliness, her days were consumed making the circuit singing to soldiers at war. She claims that despite all this, she began to feel it didn’t promote healing and she was feeling powerless. She kept thinking, “If only I could offer something more lasting.”
While Tajci wanted to offer more to others, she was seeking more for herself as well. “I had a friend who was an underground Christian who helped me meet other Christians. You had to be secretive,” she says with an eagerness to share more. “I met these kids at the church, who were the first to see me in a different light, and I began to feel there was an answer, and the war fueled my desire for new discoveries.
“When you wake to the sounds of sirens and air raids and you think you can’t make it to the end of the day, you need to know it’s not all that hopeless and meeting these kids at the church gave me that hope.”
She admits, “Before the war started, I had decided that in order to be true to myself and God, I needed to detach myself from my fame and all the identity confusion that usually comes with it. I didn’t want to leave before the end of the war came into sight.” Out of respect and concern for her parents’ jobs, her fans and her country, Tajci stayed the course as the teen idol.
Once Croatia won its freedom, Tajci’s quest for her personal freedom heightened. The war was over and now was the time for her to move on with her faith.
So, with her parents’ long-awaited approval and similar to Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America,” Tajci made her journey, traveling light, to a place with freedom’s light burning warm: New York City. She was a complete unknown but soon met people and studied music. Tajci had limited resources, yet she managed by holding tight to her father’s words. “Before I left, my dad put his arms around me and said, ‘Give what you’ve been given freely and people will take care of you,’ and believe it or not, they always have.”
Curiosity then took Tajci to the West Coast and finally, Los Angeles. There she met her husband and partner, Matthew Cameron, and she began writing her own music. Another discovery for Tajci was Denny Bouchard who said, “She wanted piano lessons even though she was highly trained.
“Tajci was seeking to broaden her playing style. At the end of the first meeting, she hired me to produce her next album, and we really never had that piano lesson.”
Bouchard, a 1966 John Bapst grad, left these parts in 1980 when he moved to Los Angeles. “I had no place to live and no job, but I had been touring with Noel Paul Stookey, so I had some national touring experience. It proved helpful. I immediately enrolled at UCLA to study composing and orchestration for film, and my career developed from there,” Bouchard said.
Bouchard works as Tajci’s producer and arranger in the studio and enjoys the challenge of providing electronic orchestration with her in concert. More than this, Bouchard is in awe of this talented woman. “Her talent, her story and her journey of faith are remarkable.”
Many concert-goers claim her performance leaves you speechless. Holly McGillicuddy of Hampden experienced Tajci while in Massachusetts. “I was speechless at the end of the concert. I just couldn’t believe how incredibly spiritually powerful this woman was.” Father Skehan claims Tajci’s performances are more than a concert. “It’s a prayerful experience through music that touches people’s hearts and serves as a way to evangelize.”
Among the communities where Tajci will perform is East Millinocket, where resident Barbara Waters laments that the state of the economy and the Katahdin Paper Mill shutdown has left the area economically depressed. “People in this area think twice about traveling for pleasure, so this concert will provide a bright spot in the lives of the people in this area.”
Tajci’s performances are for an audience of 300 or more. She recognizes free concerts in Catholic churches, “don’t usually translate as highly artistic and professional,” she says with a chuckle. Yet with sincerity she claims, “I can’t charge tickets for something that was given to us freely. Our faith should never be kept behind closed doors.”
You can view a clip of Tacji by visiting: http://www.idobelieve.com
Performance dates (all 7 p.m. starts) are: Oct. 15, UMFK Fox Auditorium, Fort Kent; Oct. 16, Holy Rosary Church, Caribou; Oct. 17, Christ the Divine Mercy Parish, St. Peter’s Church, East Millinocket; Oct. 18, Corpus Christi Parish, Notre Dame Catholic Church, Waterville; Oct. 19, St. Mary’s Church, Bangor; Oct. 22, St. Michael’s Parish, St. Augustine Church, Augusta.