Club Committee

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Martin PUSIC

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Martin Pusic is founder of the Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championship, and founding member and President of the Button Akordion Rocks, Slovenian cultural club.

As a member of Slovenski Park for more than 30 years, Martin served 25+ years on either the Executive Committee or Board of Directors, in a number of roles including director of rentals, sports, and Chairman of the Board.

Martin worked 29 years for the municipal government as a senior inspector and manager of heating, plumbing and building inspectors in Toronto and Oakville where one of his duties was to serve in the court of law on behalf of the city as expert witness, presenting evidence for the prosecution or for the defense in lawsuits related to building code disputes.

With his extensive knowledge of the construction industry, Martin has also built several residential and commercial properties in Etobicoke, Stoney Creek, Oakville and Brantford.

A life long musician, Martin started taking piano accordion lessons at 9 years of age. He also picked up the button accordion and synthesizer on his own. By the time he was 14 Martin had started his own band with his brother John. Under his leadership, the “Ansambel Bratov Pusic, Veseli Vandravcki" entertained several generations of Slovenian, Austrian, German, Swiss, and Italian audiences for more than 30 years from 1965 to 1997, at countless weddings, banquets, picnics, concerts, festivals, and special occasions for Prime Ministers, Presidents, Premiers, and Mayors. The band had three successful European tours to Slovenia and Austria in 1972, 1979 and 1988. They produced two long-play albums and two 45’ records, appeared on local and Slovenian television programs, and garnered first place at the Canadian Polka Bands Festivals in 1978 and 1979.


Majda PUSlC

Majda  is founding member of the Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championships, and founding member and Director of the Button Akordion Rocks, Slovenian cultural club.

Majda has worked in the information technology business for several decades in a variety of roles such as systems engineer, database architect, business intelligence consultant, and manager for a number of computer hardware/software/services companies. For the past 20 years she has been self-employed, providing consulting services to clients in a wide range of industries including telecom, banking, retail, health care, and government.  

Over the years, Majda has volunteered in a number of community and cultural organizations, including:
- Board of Director and Executive Committee member - Sloveniski Park (Cambridge, Ontario).
- Founding member and Board of Director - Le Club, Before and After School Child Care Program (Thornhill, Ontario).
- Past member of the Nagelj Folklore Dance Group (Toronto).
- Past member of the Veseli Vandravčki musical band for over 20 years (Toronto).

Majda continues to nurture her love of music by singing in a choir and entertaining her family at home on the ukulele, piano and most recently on the diatonic accordion.


Franca ANDERSON

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Franca (Drozina) Anderson is a founding member and Director of the Button Akordion Rocks Club. 

Franca has served in various capacities in the Slovenian community over the years. She was involved on the executive committee of Društvo Simon Gregorčic as Vice President, then President.  She also served as a Director of the Canadian Slovenian Historical Committee.  

Franca has found it rewarding to liaise with various Slovenian communities in Canada, America and Slovenia. These include cultural events or projects with other Slovenian clubs or hosting/visiting clubs and groups from Canada, America or Slovenia. 

Franca’s parents immigrated to Canada in the 1950’s and the family participated in Toronto’s Slovenian church parish and community events. As a young girl Franca enjoyed music. She participated in choirs and took piano accordion lessons from Kazimir Fojs and Matt Lebar.

Franca’s love of music and the arts has also carried on for life in the field of education. As school principal, she supported her school community’s ongoing  enrichment in various music and arts initiatives.    

As a member on the Board of Directors for the Button Akordion Rocks Club, Franca is dedicated to preserving music and the Canadian Slovenian legacy for future generations. 


Tanja TRIGIANI

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Tanja (Pusic) Trigiani volunteered for the inaugural Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championship at Slovenski Park, Ontario, in 2016 and is now a proud member of the Organizing Committee for the Button Akordion Rocks Club.

Growing up around entertainers, Tanja always enjoyed listening to her family’s musical band “Veseli Vandravčki” while performing at banquets, weddings, picnics, festivals as well as during a tour through Slovenia in 1988.

She was also a member of the Mladi Glas Folklore Dance group for many years and toured Slovenia with them in 1995. 

Tanja has been a part of the community at Slovenski Park since she was a child and has been an official member with her young family since 2005.





 Danny ŠUŠTAR

Danny Šuštar is an audio impresario with over 40 years of technical music industry experience. He was given his first mixing console at age 13 and has never looked back.  His mixing and recording abilities include many aspects of the music industry including television, live broadcast, studio recording, radio, music production, movie soundtracks, digital mastering, live band mixing, outdoor festivals, stadiums, theatres and clubs.  

Danny has recorded and mixed music for over 500 television dramas and movie soundtracks for television networks including CBS, NBC, CBC, CTV, SN, TSC, CITY-TV and ABC. He has recorded countless indie bands and classic older bands. 

Danny currently works full time at City-TV on two of their most popular shows, Breakfast Television and Cityline.  He gets to meet a lot of interesting people but has the most fun mixing the bands on BT. Danny was even sent to LA to mix the red carpet show for the Grammy’s broadcast on City-TV across Canada.

He is also freelancing at MF Music’s recording studio mixing award winning TV and radio commercials. Danny’s specialty is surround mixing for which we won a New York Promax BDA award. He mixes various tracks for the Toronto Maple Leafs , Blue Jays, and Raptors sports teams.

Danny was inspired to start a Slovenian band at age 12. He formed his first band called “Valovi Krke” and later formed the band “Kvintet Soča”. Danny directed and played accordion for Mladi Glas & Planika Slovenian Dance group. He even played for the MGP dancers during their last tour in Slovenia with Sašo Avsenik in 2017. Danny also is the musician for the newly formed Plesati Slovenian Dance group in Ottawa which came in 2nd at the 2019 Canadian Slovenians Have Talent competition.

Danny hopes to bring his professional technical expertise to Button Akordion Rocks Club. He will be responsible for all of their technical requirements at the festivals, competitions and picnics. 


Klemen ROŠER

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Klemen Rošer is an established musician, accordionist, composer, author and mentor. He has released several music albums in his career, representing his periods of creative expression and reflection. With his virtuoso works, he brought freshness and many innovations to folk music, in which he revealed guidelines that were hidden to many other performers. 

With the band Frikeros, Klemen moved his diatonic accordion sound to jazz, blues, Latin, funk and rock'n roll music genres, thus introducing himself as one of the few accordionists who pushed the boundaries of the mentioned sounds, in the world of the diatonic accordion. Due to his sincere devotion to the diatonic accordion, to which he dedicates himself entirely, he is known today as one of the more prominent virtuosos of this instrument.

As a mentor, Klemen has achieved over 300 awards at regional, national, European and world diatonic accordion competitions. His greatest personal achievement from his competition period is, in addition to the two first prizes of the World Competition and two gold plaques of the National Competition, the title of absolute European champion in playing the diatonic accordion.

Klemen is also the author of the Rošer teaching method, in which hundreds of accordionists are taught in Slovenia and abroad.

Klemen regularly participates in diatonic accordion competitions as a member of expert juries (Slovenian National Championship, Austrian National Championship, Slovak National Championship, Alpe Adria International Competition, World Diatonic Accordion Championship).


Sarah LARSEN

Sarah Larsen is an award-winning screenwriter, digital/broadcast producer, experienced editor and creative thinker. Some of her past work includes writing on a number of drama TV series (Aftermath, Darknet, Good Witch), filming promo videos in Bali for a yoga studio, producing a documentary for a Canadian charity building schools in Guatemala, and leading the postproduction department at a digital content agency. 

Born in Canada, with a dual Slovenian and Norwegian heritage, Sarah is very passionate about exploring stories on identity, ancestry and the importance of celebrating your cultural roots. 

As an active community volunteer in several non-profit organizations, Sarah has produced short films for Canadian Slovenian Youth Day in 2010, the Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championship in 2016 and 2018, and the first annual Pečenkafest at Slovenski Park. 

Sarah's love of music started at an early age when she would listen to her family’s musical band “Veseli Vandravčki” performing at banquets, weddings, picnics and festivals. She was also a member of the Mladi Glas Folklore Dance group for many years and toured Slovenia with them in 2010. Sarah plays the saxophone, guitar and piano.


Adrianna ŠUŠTAR

Adrianna Šuštar is a young Canadian Slovenian who wears many hats. During working hours she is the executive assistant of the Ambassador of Slovenia, and during the rest of her day she is a fiction filmmaker, highschool/community video production instructor, professional pet photographer, podcast host of Cockta Chatter, co-founder and teacher of Plesati Slovenian Dance Group, and all around Slovene-phile. 

Growing up in Toronto, Adrianna’s grandparents were members of Simon Gregorčič Club in Newmarket where she attended picnics as a child. She has been dancing her entire life. Adrianna and her family were an important part of Mladi Glas and Planika Slovenian dance group in Toronto. Her father was the director, mother was on the council, older sister was a teacher, and she and her younger sister were dancers.

After receiving the Krek Slovenian Credit Union and Slovenski Dom scholarships for exceptional participation in the Slovenian community, she remained active in the Slovenian community despite her 500 km move to Ottawa. 

She volunteered and worked at the Embassy of Slovenia where she was the main organizer of Slovenia Day in 2017. This was the biggest gathering of Slovenians in Ottawa  to date, and was attended by the Minister for Slovenians Abroad, Gorazd Žmavc. She also co-founded the Plesati Slovenian Dance group for Slovenians of all ages in 2018. 

She has spent her past few summers in Slovenia in various capacities, including the travelling official videographer for Mladi Glas/Ansambel Saša Avsenika tour of 2017, and Slovenian language student at Filozofska Fakulteta in Ljubljana. 

Adrianna is honoured to be a part of the Button Accordion Rocks Club and hopes to help them with whatever they might need. Though her first instrument is bass, her membership to this club has inspired her to start learning the piano accordion under the tutorship of her father Danny Šuštar.


Matthew LEBAR

Matthew Lebar was lead Judge at the Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championships in 2016 and 2018. 

Matthew was born in Dolnja Bistrica, in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia in 1943. He began his musical career at the age of 16 when he started taking accordion lessons. His first band experience was playing in Triglav Orkester for about four years in the early sixties and then in his own band known as the Matt Lebar Ensemble in which he still performs today. 

Throughout the years Matt's band has enjoyed many successes across North America and the Caribbean. His band has provided backup on several occasions for Myron Floren of the well known Lawrence Welk Show fame, as well as for John Candy and Eugene Levy of the SCTV television series. The band has provided backup for singing stars from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on North American tours.

Matt was employed by the Metro Toronto Separate School Board where he taught band music for ten years. In addition, Matt taught private classes to young Slovenian Canadians for many years. 

It is not an exaggeration to say that through his tutelage and example, Matt has inspired more young musicians to enter the music business than any other Slovenian in Canada.


Vida GODINA

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Vida’s love of playing music began many years ago in the old country with her cousin Stefan. Vida was blessed to have warm, fun-loving relatives that were musicians who regularly played around the table for family and friends in Canada and in Europe. She was exposed to this since toddlerhood and was fascinated by the joy it gave her. She soon became determined to learn it for herself. Through different stages in her life, Vida connected with dedicated teachers who were persistent about helping her develop her passion and talent to express herself through music. She respected their willingness to coach her and followed through with endless hours of practice to learn more and get better. 

Vida Godina took music lessons at age seven on the piano accordion. By age nine, she was learning the chromatic accordion and taking piano lessons as well. As part of her training, she entered into competitions, examinations, and performed. By age 16, while learning ear training and music theory, she completed her Collegial II McGill examination for practical piano under the instruction of the pianist Dagmar Rydlo who taught at McGill University. This was followed by completing a two-year college program as a Music Major from Marionopolis College. Vida then earned her University B.Mus degree in piano performance at McGill University studying with the renowned professor Dorothy Morton. 

It gives Vida great satisfaction to pass her knowledge and experience on to others. With years of dedication to the art of music and specializing in Piano and Accordion; Quality lessons are Guaranteed at her music school: “Vida Piano School”.  Vida Provides the most thorough lessons in both Accordian and Piano with assured quality and professionalism. 


Dave PUSIC

Dave Pusic is a founding member of the Canadian Slovenian Button Accordion Championships  and committee member since 2016.

Dave has worked in the construction industry for over 15 years, and currently manages his own company, Mastered Masonry, serving the west GTA.

Outside of work, Dave's hobbies include reading and sports, with a specific passion for baseball, which he has played from the age of 8 to the present day. Dave has been manager of his baseball team for over 15 years and has won multiple championship trophies over that time.

Dave has been an official member of Slovenski Park since 2009, but has been coming to the Park with his family pretty much all his life. He served on the Executive Committee for four years, first as a manager of construction projects and then as the Executive President for two years.

Dave has some musical genes too. He played trumpet during high school and danced with Mladi Glas Slovenian Folklore dance group for many years. 

© Martin Pusic 2015 - 2024
martin.pusic@rogers.com