INTRODUCTION: Traditional culture as part of cultural heritage is an indispensable part of national identity. Previous research has shown that the conceptions of public presentation of folklore changed in accordance with the political and socio-historical context. From the beginning, under the influence of the Peasant Concord (educational organization of the Croatian Peasant Party), they were conceived as a way of shaping and preserving national consciousness. There are many written works on amateur folkloric activity, but scientific reviews of the work of the national professional Ensemble of Folk Dances and Songs of Croatia Lado are few so far (Zebec 2008, Vitez 2009, Sremac 2010, Niemčić 2014; 2016; 2024, Ćaleta 2024). The aim of this work is to critically analyze and interpret the artistic activity, meaning and role of the Lado Ensemble using the knowledge and methods of the humanities and social disciplines. As well, to confirm the assumption that Lado's own identity, being cultural and national, which was formed in the 75 years of its artistic activity, and its uniqueness compared to other national ensembles. The starting point is that the identity of the Lado Ensemble changed under the influence of artistic policies, the development of performance possibilities, and the socio-political circumstances in which it was founded and in which it has operated since its foundation. Since 1950, it has been obliged to perform the so-called Yugoslav program, and with the creation of an independent Croatian state, it now performs Croatian programs. Furthermore, reviews of the performances of the Lado Ensemble in the country and abroad are critically questioned, and the extent to which Lado managed to achieve a combination of traditional heritage and the contemporary life of stage art is analyzed: on the one hand, the performance aims to preserve traditional forms as much as possible with high artistic achievements, and on the other hand, to be market attractive. It also wants to show that the Lado Ensemble, with its recognizable artistic personality and consciously created identity, which is part of the national and cultural, and significant international activity, has the characteristics of a cultural brand. RESEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY: Following contemporary ethnographic practice, with a general tendency to create a specific multi-methodological strategy whose purpose is to understand the phenomenon in question (Relja 2009: 121), different research techniques and methods were used in the preparation of the work. During the four phases of the work: collection of material, analysis (qualitative, quantitative, and combined), interpretation and synthesis, analytical, synthetic, comparative, and descriptive methods were used. The text of the work was built by modeling contrasting views, by letting the author's voices of narrators into the scientific text (Čapo Žmegač, Gulin Zrnić and Šantek 2006). In terms of methodology, the work is based on conducted interviews and a survey, as well as on the analysis of the theoretical material of the humanities and social sciences important for the topic under discussion. Due to the lack of written sources about the Lado Ensemble, an extensive and demanding archival research was carried out, which used newspaper articles, concert programs and promotional materials from private archives, statistics of Lado's performances with performed programs, as well as data obtained from interviews with the artists of the Ensemble. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ARTISTIC POLICIES OF LADA: The Lado Ensemble was founded on November 11, 1949, by a decree of the Government of the People's Republic of Croatia with the task of presenting artistically processed folklore treasures and helping folklore groups in their artistic development. Zvonimir Ljevaković, the founder and long-time artistic director of the Lado Ensemble, from 1949 to 1974, gave the basic conception of the Ensemble's artistic work, which is based on the aspiration to be as close as possible to authentic traditional forms in performance while respecting the specificities of the local style. In order to understand Ljevaković's artistic conception, it is necessary to have an insight into the development of the stage presentation of folklore in Croatia, which was initially used for the purpose of shaping and awakening national consciousness (Sremac 2010). Namely, the Croatian Peasant Party and its educational organization Seljačka sloga, with a well-thought-out policy and organization of the festival, use folklore to confirm and emphasize national identity and develop national consciousness in a large part of the illiterate Croatian people. Sremac (2010) describes how the initiative for the establishment of national professional folklore ensembles came from the then Soviet Union, where Igor Mojsejev founded the famous ballet ensemble in 1937. This famous ballet dancer and choreographer is inspired by folklore, but in addition to ballet stage aesthetics, he puts skill and attractiveness in the foreground with elements of acrobatics. This way of presenting folklore was accepted in Eastern European countries, and ensembles from the eastern part of the former Yugoslavia were also prone to it. The national professional ensembles of the former Yugoslavia were created from already established amateur folklore groups, such as the Croatian ensemble was created from the folklore section of the Youth Cultural and Artistic Society (OKUD) "Joža Vlahović". In the first years of activity, along with Ljevaković, Ana Maletić, a dance pedagogue of contemporary dance, was appointed as the artistic director. However, she has a different idea of stage presentation of folklore, with which, due to stylization, she departs more from traditional templates, and due to the difference and disagreement in approach, she leaves the Ensemble (Đurinović 2008: 55-62). The famous composer of choral music Emil Cossetto also worked in the Ensemble, who with his arrangements and interpretations from the Kajkavian regions greatly contributed to the recognition of the Lado Ensemble's vocal expression. Ljevaković shapes his vast knowledge based on many years of field research of Croatian tradition, with exceptional skill, sensibility, and an artistic gift, into a stage presentation of folklore presented in the performances of Lada. Ensemble Lado is Ljevaković's vision of how the values of the Croatian tradition, "in which the spirit of the Croatian people is reflected", should be presented on stage, and therefore preserved from oblivion. Božo Potočnik (2009: 130) thus writes that Zvonimir Ljevaković is a folklore expert who decided to artistically convey the life force of the Croatian people on stage, using the language of folklore, music, and dance. Ljevaković's choreographic opus consists of about thirty choreographies (Ladarke, Prigorski dances, Posavski dances, Vrličko kolo, Krčki tanac, Dubrovnik kolo poskočica - Linđo, Drmeš etc.) and despite the changes in the artistic policies of his successors and the expansion of the program with new choreographic visions, forms the basis of the Lado Ensemble's artistic program. After more than two decades of artistic leadership of Lado, Ljevaković departs, but his artistic vision of performing folklore on stage has remained to this day. After Ljevaković, Ivan Ivančan (1974 – 1980) came to lead the Ensemble, who is also important for Lado as a choreographer (he is the author of about twenty choreographies in Lado's repertoire). Aware of Ljevaković's importance, Ivančan designs concerts whose backbone is Ljevaković's choreography, but Lada's dance repertoire begins to expand with new choreographies, he is the author of some of them, and for some he engages other folklore creators (Branko Šegović, Savo Popović, Mirko Ramovš, Stanimir Višinski etc.). It certainly brings variety to Lado’s program and thus opens a new page of Lado’s artistic activity. He also creates thematic concerts, which were a great step forward for those times, when the concept of dance folklore performances was based on the exchange of choreographies from different regions. He invites the distinguished pedagogue and choirmaster Dinko Fio to work daily on vocal technique and expand the Ensemble's musical repertoire. Also, an important point should be noted is his role in educational development. For example, he designes many educational concerts for school-age children. After the departure of Ivančan in 1980, Lado was without an artistic director for three years, and during that period the dance leaders, Ivan Šulina, Stjepan Poček and Ivica Dabac, work with the Ensemble and shape concert programs according to the experience and performance capabilities of Lado. Considering the activities of Lado during the time of Hanibal Dundović (1983 – 1991), we can say that there was a lack of great strides and folklore achievements in Lado, however, it was a period of stability. In his tenure, most of the new choreographies were signed by folklore creators: Vido Bagur, Karlo Mikačić, Dobrivoj Putnik, Branko Šegović, Vlado Šoć, Ivica Ivanković etc. It should be mentioned that Dundović created three choreographies for Lado. Also, Dundović accepted the initiatives of music directors Tomislav Uhlik (1983 – 1985) and Bojan Pogrmilović (1985 – 1998) for the increased activity of Lado as a concert ensemble, which improved the Ensemble's vocal potential. Analyzing the activities of Lado during the time of Ivančan Jr. (1992 - 2016), it can be said that it was a fruitful creative period. Lado’s repertoire has been enriched with about 40 new choreographies in the spirit of the "Zagreb school of folklore" (by Dr. Ivan Ivančan, Branko Šegović, Vidoslav Bagur, Miroslav Šilić, Ajša Ruždija, Milan and Goran Oreb, Andrija Ivančan, Vlado Šoć, Tomislav Miličević, Ivica Ivanković, Mojmir Golemac, Krunoslav Šokac, Valentina Šepak etc. Ivančan Jr. is the author of the choreography of the songs and dances of Međimurje Med Murom i Dravom. Furthermore, Ivančan Jr. designed and very successfully directed many thematic concerts and was also open to different musical and dance expressions inspired by folklore to attract a younger, non-folkloric audience (the first was the Lado Electro album by Hrvoje Crnić Boxer and Boris Harfman). The Ensemble's musical potential developed to unimagined heights. Until then, Lado, was known for singing related to the musical traditions of central and northern Croatia, and had mastered the stylistic features of the southern Croatian regions (thanks to the collaboration with Joško Ćaleta). Within Lado, the Orchestra, female vocal ensemble Ladrice and male vocal ensemble Lado’s Vocalists operate as independent performing bodies. The third point being that there is a collaboration between Lado and numerous collaborators, leading Croatian composers, arrangers, and ethnomusicologists, systematically researches and presents folk sacred traditions of the Lenten and Christmas cycle and Marian songs. Lado’s sacred repertoire was permanently enriched by: Božo Potočnik, Tomislav Uhlik, Marijan Makar, Joško Ćaleta, Dražen Kurilovčan, Ljubo Stipišić Delmata, Ivica Ivanković, Mihael Ferić, Branko Ivanković, Branko Starc. This laid the foundations of Lado's musical activity in the field of sacred music, which contributed to Lado growing into a top folk choir with high performance capabilities, which for the first time received awards usually reserved only for classical music performers. Ivančan Jr.’s role as artistic director during the four-year period (2016-2020), was followed by Andrija Ivančan, and Krunoslav Šokac. Given the brevity of their tenure and activity, during which there were no changes in Lado’s identity, we didn’t particularly look at the features of their artistic policies. LADO AS A NATIONAL AND CULTURAL BRAND AND ITS IDENTITIES: The identity of the Lado Ensemble was shaped and changed under the influence of artistic policies, the development of performance possibilities, and the socio-political circumstances in which it was founded and in which it has operated since its foundation. From 1950 to 1989, depending on the politics of the time, it was obliged to perform the so-called the Yugoslav program, and since the creation of the independent Croatian state in 1991, only the Croatian program has been carried out (except for special thematic projects). Furthermore, research into the artistic activities of Lado confirmed that, regardless of the socio-political circumstances in which the Ensemble operated, the artistic leadership and members expressed a strong sense of national identity. Lado has always been recognized as an artistic ensemble that primarily cherishes the values of Croatian dance and music tradition, and thanks to its founder and first artistic director Zvonimir Ljevaković, it strives to be as close as possible to traditional forms. Furthermore, by analyzing the work, we confirmed that Ljevaković's artistic expression of high aesthetics with respect for local stylistic features is what makes Lado recognizable, and that Ljevaković's refinement and subtlety in the artistic representation of folklore is what separates Lado from other folklore ensembles. Ljevaković's conception continued to be applied and developed by his successors, and it has remained until today. At the same time, the Ensemble's performance abilities, especially musical ones, have developed. The analysis of artistic policy confirmed that Lado’s identity is cultural and national, which was formed during more than seven decades of artistic activity as an ensemble identity, unique in comparison to other ensembles. Identities are the starting point for showing the value of a brand, including Lado, and include all those features that show that, compared to other folklore ensembles, it is Lado that best fulfills the needs, expectations and wishes of the audience and that it means the greatest value to them. The brand's values are the brand's identities, and Lado's identities are: Lado - the "guardian" of the Croatian dance and music tradition; "2 in 1" - Lado is a superb dance folklore ensemble and a great folklore choir; Lado – "ambassador" of Croatia in the world; Lado – "traveling museum"; Lado – center for education on national intangible heritage; Lado – a successful symbiosis of tradition and modernity; Lado trademark – Posavina wheel. Independent performing bodies in the Ensemble, the female vocal ensemble Ladrice, the male vocal ensemble Lado’s Vocalists and the Orchestra, act as sub-brands, which have become part of Lado's identity. Today's Ladarice consists of the Lado female choir, which continued the work of the legendary nonet Ladarice, although with a completely different sound and program. Namely, Ladarice were not officially part of the Lado Ensemble until 2008, but with their artistic activity under the leadership of Božo Potočnik, they significantly influenced the popularity of traditional music and the popularity of Lado among a wide audience. The performing body of Lado is also the Orchestra, which consists of musicians who are mostly multi-instrumentalists and perform independent concerts, as well as Lado Vocalists who cherish the musical expression of Dalmatia. COMPARISON OF CROATIAN FOLKLORE ENSEMBLE LADO WITH RUSSIAN ENSEMBLE IGOR MOJSEJEV AND IRISH RIVERDANCE ENSEMBLE: Comparing the performance of Lado with the spectacular performances of other well-known professional ensembles, we question whether Lado as a folklore ensemble, whose artistic expression is far from what is called a spectacle, can gain a greater presence on the world cultural market. We received a positive response from reviews by well-known American dance critics Heather Desaulniers and Anthony Shay. Desaulniers (2009) believes that spectacles like Riverdance and Lord of the Dance attract the audience like some television reality shows of dance competitions and expresses the opinion that attracting a mass audience is a success, but that these excessively produced performances leave a feeling of fakeness. He emphasizes that their technical excellence was indisputable and absolute, but what he remembers most about that evening was the artistic emptiness on stage. In the following, Heather Desaulniers positively comments on the performance of the Croatian ensemble Lado: "This past weekend, Music Center Strathmore proved that an evening of ethnic dance can be both technically great and deeply emotional. They hosted Lado, the Ensemble of Folk Dances and Songs of Croatia, which was generous and graceful in its performance and in which it honestly shared its customs and folk dances. Anthony Shay believes that Lado is a symbol of Croatian identity and says that Lado has an advantage over other national ensembles because it has retained the traditional values. "And the source has always been in the field, in the countryside. Ljevaković has always been my biggest role model. He respected the original folk dance, costumes, musical accompaniment much more than other choreographers. He managed to make art without being spectacular, and Lado respects that to this day" (Shay according to Derk 2008: 39). LADO – AMBASSADOR OF CROATIAN CULTURE IN THE WORLD: From an exhaustive analysis of Lado’s foreign performances, the Croatian professional folklore ensemble performed on the world's most famous stages and that it always received the undisputed and indisputable enthusiasm of a wide audience and expert critics who recognized it as an ambassador of national culture from the very beginning. Considering the presented reviews, it is easy to read that what Lado conquers with, in addition to exceptional dancing and singing qualities and the perfect technique and musical skill of the Orchestra, is a display of folklore art that provides an experience of sincerity and conquers with purity of style and refinement. The comments and criticisms of the domestic and foreign press confirm that Lado is a top performer who does not resort to stylization and acrobatics to impress the audience, but, moreover, tries to present all the splendor, wealth, and exceptional diversity of the Croatian tradition, from folk costumes, dances, songs to customs, with the desire for the audience to feel the spirit of the Croatian people. Expert criticism recognizes the joy and emotion that Lado’s artists give to the audience. In addition to valuable recognitions, Lado was also awarded the INA award for the promotion of Croatian culture in the world for 2006, and the jury wrote in its explanation: "We can rightly say that Lado has been our ambassador in the world throughout its existence, promoting our cultural heritage at the highest level." PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE LADO ENSEMBLE - SURVEY RESULTS: In order to examine the views more closely and empirically on the importance of the Lado Ensemble of Folk Dances and Songs of Croatia for national and cultural identity, a survey was conducted in 2002 using a Google form. In the descriptive part of the questionnaire, demographic characteristics such as gender, age, level of education, habits of attending Lado's concerts etc. were examined, while in the value section, the views on folklore in general, about the Lado Ensemble were examined (questions: "Do you consider yourself a Lado lover?", "Do you consider the Lado Ensemble important for the preservation of Croatian traditional values?", "Do you consider that Lado is an important part of the Croatian national identity?", "Do you consider that is the artistic activity of the Lado Ensemble important for Croatian culture?", "Do you consider the Lado Ensemble a Croatian cultural brand?"...), and about the female vocal group Ladarice. The survey questionnaire was divided into nine main populations of respondents: general audience, expert audience, members of amateur folklore societies, Lado’s friends, high school population, media representatives etc. A total of 460 respondents completed the questionnaire, which speaks of the excellent response to the survey research and at the same time confirms that the Lado Ensemble is an interesting topic. In conclusion, the descriptive results of the conducted survey (on a large, diverse sample) confirm the claim that the Lado Ensemble is recognized as important for the preservation of Croatian traditional values, that it is part of the national identity and that it is a Croatian cultural brand. The descriptive results of the research on the questions: "Describe what you consider special in the Lado Ensemble" and "What is Lado for you?", give the same results and for the most part confirm the experience of Lado as an exceptional artistic ensemble that is identified with national and cultural identity. In some answers, an emotional relationship towards Lado is also visible, and what is characteristic of the brand, the brand provides additional value that is the result of personal associations of its users, in this case Lado’s audience. CONCLUSION: The Ensemble of Folk Dances and Songs of Croatia, Lado is a professional folklore ensemble that, in more than seven decades of rich artistic activity, has built itself into a Croatian cultural brand recognized by the audience as a symbol of national values, guardians of Croatian tradition and promoters of unique Croatian heritage in the world. It could be said that Lado despite social changes, the process of globalization, changes in audience tastes and trends, has been surviving, attracting and living for decades. Lado managed to maintain a recognizable artistic expression of high aesthetics and refinement in which harmony was achieved between the authentic forms of Croatian tradition and artistic adaptation for the stage (the performance on the stage requires respect for the stage perspective and dynamics). Namely, the original founder and long-time artistic director of Lado Zvonimir Ljevaković was an exceptional folklore creator with refined taste who shaped Lado's performances in such a way as to give the audience an experience of authenticity, striving to portray the spirit of the Croatian people. Ljevaković's style is Lado's style, Ljevaković embodied his vision of the stage presentation of folklore in Lado and thus gave a new life to folklore art while respecting authentic forms as much as possible. Ljevaković's approach to the stage presentation of folklore (from which the so-called Zagreb School of Folklore was formed) managed to be preserved to this day, and Lado’s artists of the older generation, warn that it should not be tampered with because it forms the basis of the artistic activity of the national folklore ensemble. The special projects that Lado has realized in the last twenty years (Lado Electro, folklore ballet with singing Veronika Desinićka, JazzLAnDO, album Untamed, etc.) in cooperation with prominent Croatian musicians and composers are not deviations from Ljevaković's concept, but a path to win over and attract a new, younger and mostly non-folkloric audience who will come to watch Lado’s standard program afterwards. Some disagree with Lado's "excursions" into other art forms, but the leadership of the Lado Ensemble has always emphasized that special projects are only a small part of its activities. Thanks to special projects, Lado also receives significant media coverage, which contributes to its presence and additional popularity. From the presented analysis of the artistic performance of the Lado Ensemble, we have seen that in the last thirty years Lado has developed into a top folklore choir (one can safely say that it is one of the best in the world) and is truly unique compared to other professional ensembles because Lado's artists are great dancers and at the same time excellent singers who can perform an dance program one evening, and perform as a folk choir the very next. Confirmation of Lado's high musical capabilities are performances at prestigious domestic and international festivals and events, then a rich discography with more than 30 sound carriers and 26 Porin awards (the highest Croatian discography award), and Orlando awards for exceptional artistic achievements in the musical program of the 54th Dubrovnik summer games (2003), the Ivan Lukačić award for the highest performing performance at the 34th Varaždin Baroque Evenings (2004) and for ethnomusicological work and the preservation of Croatian musical heritage in 2014. These valuable awards are usually given to performers of classical music and were presented for the first time to a performer of folk music, which significantly influenced the evaluation of traditional music in high academic circles. Here, it is extremely important to point out that Lado, in cooperation with the Festival Pasionska baština and leading Croatian composers, arrangers and ethnomusicologists, entered a research and presentation of the folk sacred tradition of the Lenten and Easter cycle, then the Christmas cycle and Marian carols, which resulted in many new musical works. With this, Lado made an exceptional contribution to the preservation of the Croatian sacral tradition and encouraged others to nurture and perform it. Lado, until then known for singing related to the musical traditions of central and northern Croatia, has mastered the stylistic features of the southern Croatian regions, and the Lado Orchestra, Ladrice Lado Vocalists operate as independent performing bodies within Lado. Lado inherited the values of Croatian tradition in his repertoire, and with its performances in small towns, according to Ivančan Jr., Lado repays that debt: "The great Lado came to our small town. These are the places that gave what Lado has in its repertoire. The people of those small places, are the artistic DNA of the Croatian person that is stored in Lado, and Lado is now repaying that debt." Finally, in conclusion, the exceptional ensemble that Lado is today, is far more than a top performer of traditional values. Tvrtko Zebec (2004) says, based on his ethno-choreological research, that amateur choreographers, observing some of Lado’s performances, could imagine that this representation was how it was in the field, they did not research it themselves, but copied them and created a new world on stage that was less and less connected to the template. This "returns" folklore forms to the field in these "artistically refined forms" and this points us to the enormous responsibility of the Lado Ensemble that it is today. Potočnik speaks very well when he says that there are numerous amateur folklore groups, klapa, singing female vocal groups, and "... There is only one Lado and it must never fail the basis from which it started - Tradition! It is because of the tradition that it exists, the tradition that guarantees identity recognition, the tradition that makes that authenticity. Lado is a substance, Lado is the tabernacle in which the golden heart is stored, cherished, and should be protected. Lado is an identity!"