Đorđe Balašević

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Đorđe Balašević in his home

Đorđe Balašević (Serbian cyrillic: Ђорђе Балашевић, born May 11, 1953 in Novi Sad, FPR Yugoslavia, now Serbia) is a prominent Serbian songwriter and singer.

1 Early biography
2 Musical career
3 Music
4 Concerts
5 Fans
6 Politics
7 Controversy
8 Releases
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Early biography

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Balašević was born to a Serbian father, Jovan Balašević, and to Veronika Dolenec, half Hungarian, half Croatian from a village near Koprivnica, Croatia. He has a sister, Jasna. His grandfather's surname was Balašev, but in 1941 (being a religious Orthodox Christian) the grandfather changed it to Balašević in order to avoid magyarization. ^[1]

The younger Balašević grew up in Jovan Cvijić street in Novi Sad, in the same house where he currently lives with his wife and three children. He started writing poetry in primary school. He left high school in the third year (because he hated subjects like mathematics, physics and chemistry) but managed to get a high school diploma as part-time student and passed the preliminary exam for the university study of geography. He never graduated from the university, but instead joined the band Žetva (Harvest) in 1977.

[edit] Musical career

[edit] "Žetva" and "Rani mraz"

Upon Balašević joining, Žetva recorded a tango single hit "U razdeljak te ljubim", which sold more than 180,000 copies, a huge success by Yugoslav standards.

In 1978 he left "Žetva" and together with Verica Todorović formed band "Rani mraz" (Early Frost). The band has its début on Opatija '78., music festival with song "Moja prva ljubav" (My First Love)). The same year Biljana Krstić and Bora Đorđević joined the band, and together they recorded "Računajte na nas" (Count on Us) (written by Balašević), a song celebrating young generations as being the followers of the communist revolution. The song became popular with both the authorities and the people, making the song a kind of a hymn for his and generations to come.

After just few months of cooperation, Verica and Bora left the band (Bora forming his famous Riblja Čorba band), so Biljana and Balašević recorded "Rani mraz"'s first album "Mojoj mami umesto maturske slike u izlogu" (To my Mother instead of Prom Photo in the Shop-Window) on their own.

At the Split '79. music festival Balašević won the first prize with single "Panonski mornar" (trans. Pannonian sailor). Few months later he sells out Beograd's "Dom sindikata" hall eight times in a row and the new star is born. In 1980 he serves in the army in Zagreb and Požarevac but finds time to write a song for Zdravko Čolić and another one for Zlatna krila.

By the end of 1980 "Rani mraz" released their second and final album and the band dissolved shortly afterwards. The album reaffirmed Balašević's status and delivers few unforgettable songs such as "Priča o Vasi Ladačkom" (Story of Vasa Ladački) and "Život je more" (trans. Life is a Sea) which, 20 years after their release, still have great popularity.

[edit] Early solo career

Đorđe Balašević on stage (Virovitica, 2004)

He started his solo career in 1982 with the album "Pub" (Jack) which was excellently received too. Shortly after he had a role in TV series "Pop Ćira i pop Spira". In the following 1982/83 tour he sold out Belgrade's Sava Center hall for the first time. His Sava Center concerts would become his trademark in years to follow. The next two albums "Celovečernji The Kid" (1983) and "003" (1985) follow the same path of success and Balašević established himself as respectable singer-songwriter.

The next album, "Bezdan" (Abyss), released in 1986, was a milestone in his career. The record was produced by Đorđe Petrović and arrangement was done by Aleksandar Dujin. Those two would be the key associates of Balašević for the next 20 years and substantially influence his work. They became the backbone of Balašević supporting band "The Unfuckables" (although this is just a nickname, as he performs under his own name and the support band is never mentioned) and part of his stage appearance.

The next album was his first and (as of 2005) the last live album "U tvojim molitvama" (In Your Prayers). The album was recorded on his concerts in Sarajevo (Zetra hall), Zagreb (Ledena dvorana and Šalata), Belgrade (Sava Center) and Novi Sad (Studio M) in 1986 and 1987. Apart from his well-known previous songs, the album featured few previously unrecorded tracks, one of which is "Samo da rata ne bude" (Just Let There be no War). The song features a large children's choir which, together with lyrics warning about the war (which indeed will start in 3 years time), delivers a hymn of pacifists throughout then still existing SFR Yugoslavia.

The same sensation of imminent disaster predominates his next album "Panta rei" (1988). The "Requiem" was dedicated to late Josip Broz Tito and those who identified themselves with his ideas, while satire "Soliter" caricatures Yugoslavia as a highrise in which only façade still holds while foundations slide. The atmosphere of the album is dark and bitter as Balašević realises the hard times are coming.

Famous guitarist Elvis Stanić takes part in recording of album "Tri posleratna druga" (1989) (Three Afterwar Friends). Josip Kiki Kovač joined "The Unfuckables" on album "Marim ja.." (I Care...) (1991).

[edit] War years and after

As the war began, Balašević withdrew to isolation. He was forced to stop collaborating with Croatian artists such as Elvis Stanić and his tempo of one album per year was disrupted. His next album "Jedan od onih života" (One of Those Lives) (1993) featured songs such as "Krivi smo mi" (It's Our Fault) and "Čovek sa mesecom u očima" (The Man with Moonlight in the Eyes) which heavily criticised and denounced the ongoing war.

After a long pause, he issued "Naposletku" (Ultimately) (1996). The change in sentiment was obvious and would be more or less prevalent on all of his albums up to date (as of 2005). Nearly all instruments on this album are acoustic, violin becomes dominant and woodwind instruments are heavily used.

Đorđe Balašević and his band, Ljubljana 2004

"Devedesete" (2000) was his most politically involved album. He engaged himself in broad criticism of current political situation in Serbia, openly making fun of Slobodan Milošević with song "Lege'da o Gedi Gluperdi" (Legend of Geda the Stupid), criticising police officers who defended the corrupt system by confronting demonstrating youth in "Plava balada" (The Blue Ballad), looking back to 1990s with disgust in song "Devedesete" (Nineties) (first line of refrain was "Ma, jebite se devedesete" – Fuck you, nineties), supplying young demonstrators with a hymn "Živeti slobodno" (To Live Freely), reaching out for his lost friends in Croatia and Bosnia with "Stih na asfaltu" (A Verse on the Asphalt, singing about Zagreb) and Sevdalinka, but still preserving patriotism with "Dok gori nebo nad Novim Sadom" (While the Sky over Novi Sad is Burning, song about NATO bombardement of Novi Sad). This album clearly marked the atmosphere in Serbia in the year when Slobodan Milošević lost the power. The lyrics of the album are available in English here.

After this open engagement in politics, he returned to romance. Album "Dnevnik starog momka" (Diary of the old bachelor) (2001) comprises 12 songs, each having a female name as the title, and each singing about another girl. Balašević repeatedly stated that the girls and songs are pure fiction, and song titles form acrostic "Olja je najbolja" (Olja is the Best), Olja being nickname of his wife Olivera Balašević.

His last album (as of 2006) "Rani mraz" (2004) follows the style developed on "Naposletku" and "Dnevnik starog momka". He is often criticised to plagiarize himself and to write songs which resemble each other, but he rebuffs such criticism by saying that "Balašević ought to sing Balaševićian songs".

[edit] Music

Songs of Đorđe Balašević can be divided into 3 groups:

Emotional songs (love songs and songs filled with nostalgia)
Politically engaged songs
Humoristic songs

Songs that have more than one of this characteristics are quite rare, so his songs form 3 quite disjoint sets.

Songs of the first group are marked by nostalgia and saturated in gentle moods. He was influenced by poets such as his native Mika Antić and songwriter Arsen Dedić, the latter being "debted" openly, as acknowledged by Balašević himself ("I am an Arsen-addict"). These are the songs he is most famous for, and which take up the best part of his concert repertoire.

His politically engaged songs deliver the message of pacifism and tolerance, so he is often "accused" of yugonostalgia. Even though he is known for his patriotism what is not so well known is that he was against the Serbian wars and was accused of being pro-Croatian and pro-Bosnian, causing anger amongst the Serbs and even threats from the government; this caused him to stop writing and performing almost completely in the 90s. This can also be seen in his later works such as Devedesete complaining against the government and the wars.

"Pesma o jednom petlu" (Song about a rooster) is one of his most famous songs. It tells a story of his younger days when he had a pet rooster. The theme works very well since Balašević is himself from a farm-rich area of the country (Vojvodina) thus making the story conceivable. The truth however is that the rooster is a metaphor for his male sexual organ that female birds tend to go crazy for. The lyrics go on to list different kinds of female birds which in turn depict stereotypical characteristics of women in Serbo-Croatian slang. The song also includes one of his most famous lines of all times “Princip je isti, sve su ostalo nijanse” (The principle is the same, everything else is nuances) referring to the way of courting the opposite sex. The lyrics conclude in his later years as he misses the good times gone by and giving advice to never make your rooster suffer, let him fly around so that female birds can see him, afterwards it will be too late, even roosters have a life span.

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[edit] Concerts

His New Year concerts in Sava centar in Belgrade are always sold out

His concerts are known to last for more than four hours at a time, almost always are sold out and his fans are extremely faithful to his work and his performances, following him wherever his concerts are held.

Apart from his very large opus and fanatic fans which make possible for him to sing few hours time of songs his audience regards as hits, he has a custom of making long pauses between songs and commenting current events. Therefore his concerts are more of a cabaret than pop concerts in the common sense of the word.

His first concert in Zagreb after the war (in "Ledena dvorana" hall, capacity 10.000 people), on December 13 2002. was sold out 3 months in advance, so another one had to be scheduled for the next day. That one too was sold out, an achievement rarely seen in Zagreb.

His traditional New Year's concert in "Sava Center" hall in Belgrade (capacity 3672 seats) are traditionally sold out too. He sold out "Sava centar" for the first time in 1982/1983 season^[2], started his regular New Year's concerts in 1986[1] and in 1990s and 2000s he was performing up to 11 evenings in a row (4 concerts in a row in 1993/1994[2], 10 in 1996/1997[3], 9 in 1997/1998[4], 7 in 1998/1999[5], 11 in 2001/2002) The fact that he sings in Serbo-Croatian did not prevent him to perform all over the globe: even in Sydney [6].

[edit] Fans

Poster for 2005 Ljubljana concert

During the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, Balašević fans formed two Internet fan clubs named Oaza and (ne)normalni balaševićevci. The former club went so far to form a tribute band called "(ne)normalni bend" which at first played at meetings of club members, but now (as of 2006) tours Serbia and sometimes other countries playing Balašević's songs.

He has a particularly large group of fans in parts of former Yugoslavia other than Serbia, so he frequently tours Slovenia and Croatia. Although there is a number of his older fans who were "infected" during 1980s, while Yugoslavia still existed, most of his fans are "younger than some of his songs" as he likes to say and were recruited during the war. During war years he was not welcome in Croatia because of his Serbian descent and residence, but his concerts in Slovenian cities of Ljubljana and Maribor where attended by large groups of (mostly younger) Croats, who often outnumbered Slovenians. His war-time concerts (like the one on April 2 2000 in Budapest, attended by both Croats and Serbs from all around their countries[7]) were demonstration of ability of Croats and Serbs to coexist in harmony.

At that time, small group of people from Split (calling them selves "Optimists") became famous for traveling large distances to attend his concerts as he couldn't perform in their town. They became a symbol for stubbornness and devotion of Balašević's fans. Balašević finally performed in Split on December 16 2004.

There is also a Balašević fan club called "Remorkeri" in Zagreb.

[edit] Politics

Đorđe Balašević having one of his famous speeches between two songs (Ljubljana, 2004)

Since one of his first songs "Računajte na nas" (1978), Balašević has been politically involved. Together with another early single "Tri put sam video Tita" (I Saw Tito Three Times) (1981), these songs summed up his early political position: pan-southslavic patriotism and Titoism, although he sometimes confronted with hard line conservatives for playing pop music which was perceived as western influence.

During the second half of 1980s, new feelings started to emerge from his songs. Bitterness and depression (culminated with songs "1987" and "Samo da rata ne bude" (1987) and album "Panta rei" (1989)) were messengers of the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia which ensued in the first half of the 1990s. His songs and stage speeches began showing disillusionment and sadness over the fact that brotherly bloodshed was possible in the Yugoslavia he once admired. He summed that overall feeling up in a sentence of his book "Tri posleratna druga": "While we were growing up, the biggest insult for us was when dark emigrant forces called our homeland unnatural, artificial creation. When we grew up, the biggest insult for us was when we realised that was true." He openly criticized the negative and destructive aspects produced by the changes in the political and economic system, and the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian nationalism.

In the ensuing war years, Balašević had some serious problems with the regime of Slobodan Milošević because he refused to join the army and stated open opposition to the regime. At his concerts he often criticised and made fun of Milošević and other Serbian politicians. The pressure on him escalated after NATO bombing of Serbia and Montenegro in early 1999, when his family fled to Maribor, Slovenia, but he remained in their family house in Novi Sad so that he could not be accused of fleeing the city in the times of trouble.

In 2000 he took part in demonstrations during and following the downfall of Slobodan Milošević.

In 1996 he became the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for his antiwar statements during the Yugoslav wars and held the first post-war concert in Sarajevo as the first Serbian artist visiting war torn Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[edit] Controversy

Being actively involved in commenting society and being such a high-profile celebrity in countries of former Yugoslavia, it was easy for Balašević to become controversial.

In 1991, when Croatia and Slovenia were on the verge of declaring independence from SFRY, he performed a song named "Bluz za braću Slovence" (trans. Blues for Slovenian Brothers ) where he openly criticised Slovenians for their plans to secede from Yugoslavia, going so far as to even make fun of them. Later he apologised for that song and his family even lived in Maribor for some time.

His critics state that in his song "Ne lomite mi bagrenje" (1985) (Don't Break my Locusts) he was metaphorically speaking against Albanian terror over Serbs in the conflict on Kosovo.^[3]. Balašević later explained that "it is not a song about ethnicities, but about good and evil, and I don't regret, I called the Evil its full name even when others praised it."^[4]. Later, he stated that "I didn't know that Serbs would become Shiptars to Shiptars. That turned around. We are the ones who break locusts now, but I can't take the blame for that".^[5]

He is often accused of hypocrisy as on concerts he often states that he doesn't do the music for money or fame, but for his fans, and that the money made from his concerts is of no importance for him. He is said to profit from pathos and nostalgia.

In years after the breakup of Yugoslavia he refused to play songs like "Računajte na nas" (Count on Us) and "Tri put sam video Tita" (I Saw Tito Three Times) stating that he wrote those songs not because he felt like that but because he was supposed to write songs like that.^[6] Many see these statements as betrayal of his own principles in favour of daily politics.