Anthony Muselin Inducted - Detroit 1985
	Anthony (Tony) Muselin, a popular and well known tamburas, arranger, music teacher, and director was born to parents of Slovak, German, and Croatian descent on September 25, 1926, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
	Tony is the Musical Director of the Sloboda Junior Tamburitzans.  A graduate of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, he also directs the 'Muselin Continentals Tamburitza Orchestra' and has appeared with various tamburitza troupes across the United States and Canada.
	He has enjoyed his musical hobby while carving out an exciting and gratifying career in the communications industry with the Western Electric Company, now AT&T Technologies, Inc., where he has held various supervisory engineering positions for the past 33 years.
	Active in the CFU, Tony serves as Vice President of Sloboda Lodge 32 in Chicago and has held various lodge offices over the past several years.  Since he became director of the Sloboda Junior Tamburitzans in 1971, the troupe has appeared in all of the CFU Tamburitza Festivals.  At almost all of the CFU events he attends, Tony is a familiar figure with tambura in hand and entertaining with his Muselin Continentals or other orchestras.
	He took his first tamburitza lesson on November 2, 1934, with a junior group called 'Sjajna Zvijeszda' (Bright Stars) in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.  His first teacher was Professor John Rosguy who started him playing on the Farkas system.  He was followed by the famous Djoko Dokich who switched young Tony to the 'Sremish' instruments.  Dokich was soon to move away and Mr. Paul A. Perman became his instructor.  Tony still plays the Perman brac which his instructor built for him in 1947.
	In 1938, Matt L. Gouze became Tony's director and teacher.  He had a tremendous influence on Tony who soon adapted to his style of picking, fingering, and love of international music.
	Probably the occurrence which most affected his entire life happened in 1942.  Because of World War II, most men aged 18 and older were called to the service and this left most university organizations short handed.  In October 1942 when prim player Ed Sambol got called up, Matt L. Gouze, then the Director of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, chose Tony as the first high school student to join the Tammies.  He officially started as a student at Duquesne in the fall of 1944.  Shortly thereafter, he too was called upon and reported for duty with the U.S. Navy until his discharge in 1946 when he returned to Duquesne University to continue his education and perform with the Tammies.  After graduation, he returned to serve 16 more months in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict.  After his discharge from the Navy, he settled in Chicago where in August 1956 he organized the 'Muselin Continentals' with whom he still entertains today.
	Throughout the years, he played with such tamburitza orchestras as the Jorgovan Tamburitza Orchestra of McKeesport, Pennsylvania; charles Elias Jr.'s Tamburitza Orchestra of Kenosha, Wisconsin; John Pavkovich Tamburitza Orchestra of North Side Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Marty Vidovic Tamburitza Orchestra of Chicago, Illinois; Fran Seminic, Nick Skertich and their Cavaliers of Chicago; and many others.
	In 1971, he was contracted to become the director of the Sloboda Junior Tamburitzans, a position he proudly holds and considers one of the most satisfying ongoing experiences of his life.
	While Tony is still a young man, it is somewhat startling to realize he has been playing the tambura for more than half a century.  We recognize the fact that he is deserving of this honor and are proud to welcome him as a member of the TAA Tamburitza Hall of Fame.
	Our support and good wishes will allow this talent to continue his life's work in perpetuating the music of the worldly tamburitza.
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