Oliver Mandić
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| Oliver Mandić | |
|---|---|
 Oliver Mandić during his Poludeću phase. |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
| Genres | Jazz, Pop, Dance |
| Labels | PGP RTB Jugoton |
Oliver Mandić (Оливер Мандић, born July 13, 1953 in Titovo Užice, Serbia, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia) is a Serbian pop musician - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s.
Musically involved from a young age, he first started playing the accordian before taking up the piano. In his early youth, Mandić's family moved to the capital Belgrade where he pursued a career of a pianist after getting accepted at highly reputable Kornelije Stanković musical high school. However, despite a lot of promise, he left school in 1969 to try to branch out into pop music.
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[edit] Early career
When he debuted on the scene as an underage instrumentalist in the early 1970s, most observers considered him somewhat of a wunderkind. His wealth of formal musical education combined with his tender age certainly made him stand out on the Yugoslav pop scene, which at the time mostly consisted of amateurs and do-it-yourself ethusiasts.
Towards the end of 1971 he started playing in a jazz-rock band called Oliver with members of Pop mašina along with Dušan Prelević on vocal. The group performed only once - January 2, 1972 at Hala sportova. Mandić then played with Pop mašina couple of times, and was in combinations to join YU grupa and Time but neither transfer took place.
Around the same time, he took part in his first studio recording (made with Dušan Prelević): single "Tajna" / "Prošlo je sve".
Mandic's next notable outing came at the 1976 BOOM festival where he played as part of the City of Belgrade rock selection. The ad-hoc band included some notable musicians of the time: bassist Robert Nemecek, guitarist Zoran Božinović, drummer Lazar Tošić, trumpet player Stjepko Gut, and saxophonists Jovan Maljoković and Ivan Švager. That gig brought Mandić his first eccentric episode in public, something he would become known for later on, as he smashed his synthesizer on stage and walked out in the middle of performing because of not being satisfied with the level of commitment his fellow musicians were putting forth.
[edit] Solo career
[edit] 1970s
Mandić's solo performing career began almost by chance in 1978 with "Ljuljaj me nežno" single. He composed that song, with text supplied by Marina Tucaković, for singer Maja Odžaklijevska, but since she failed to show up in Split studio 'Tetrapak' for a booked recording session, Mandić was persuaded by producer Enco Lesić to record it himself.
The material was released the same year as a 2-side single "Ljuljaj me nežno" / "Šuma" by PGP RTB, garnering positive reactions both commercially and critically. A year later, Mandić put out another succesful single release with "Sutra imam prazan stan" and effective balad "Osloni se na mene", cementing his place on the scene.
Zdravko Čolić came calling next, inviting Mandić as guest on his country-wide tour that included stadiums and sports arenas. Mandić's part in the show consisted of coming out in the middle of Čolić's performance and doing only "Ljuljaj me nežno", which had by that time become a sizable hit.
In 1979 he wrote and recorded a track "Cvećke i zloće", which was included in Goran Marković's movie Nacionalna klasa.
[edit] 1980s
[edit] Probaj me
Mandić then took some time off to concentrate on his debut Probaj me album which came out in 1980, featuring hits "Samo nebo zna (Poludeću)", and a re-recording of "Osloni se na mene". The record was promoted somewhat unconventionally - through TV show Beograd noću ('Belgrade by Night') directed by Stanko Crnobrnja. The ambitiously avantgarde programme even won Rose d'Or (Golden Rose) award at the 1981 Montreux TV festival. Mandić's controversial image on the show, created by conceptual artist Kosta Bunuševac, raised quite a public furor due to the singer's cross-dressing and aggressive makeup. It was noted at the time that a viewer from Zemun smashed his TV set at the sight of Mandić in high heels and tight mini-skirt.[1]
[edit] Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen
In 1982, second album Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen came out, delivering a new batch of hits: "Smejem se, a plakao bih", "Neverne bebe", and controversial disco track "Sve su seke jebene" (using motives from Crven ban, book of erotic folk poetry collected by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić). Recorded in Switzerland and produced by Mandić and Peter Taggart, the album features Nenad Stefanović on bass, Điđi Jankelić on drums, Srđan Miodragović on guitar, Laza Ristovski on organ, Mića Marković on saxophone, Stjepko Gut on trumpet, while Bebi Dol provided the backing vocals. In addition to singing, Mandić played the acustic and electric piano.
In the mid-1980s Mandić incorporated slight folk elements into his sound. In late 1984 he won top prize at the inaugural MESAM festival with the folkish sounding "Pitaju me pitaju, oko moje" written by Marina Tucaković.
[edit] Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime
Next year in 1985, he triumphed at the same festival again with another folkish track "Pomagajte drugovi". He used the widely publicized festival appearance to promote his third album Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime, produced again by Peter Taggart. In addition to the title track, the album brought further hits that flirt with folk like "Bobane", etc.
For all intents and purposes, this is when Mandić's solo recording career ended, at least in the classic album-tour-album sense, as he began keeping a noticably lower profile on the scene. He got an executive job at PGP RTB record label, staying there for two years (most of 1986 and 1987), before releasing a greatest hits compilation Sve najbolje marking the 10th anniversary of his solo career.
For the remainder of the decade he recorded an album of kids' music (Deca bez adrese) with popular children's entertainer and TV personality Branko Kockica, and in 1989, he again collaborated with old friend Dusan Prelević who wrote a screenplay for the movie Poslednji krug u Monci. Mandić recorded a song Odlazim, a volim te, which became the movie's titular track, as well as a sizable commercial hit. The song, along with some other material by Mandić used in the movie, all came from the recordings he made with diffierent musicians while staying in the United States during late 1980s.
[edit] 1990s and 2000s
The beginning of the new decade saw Mandić appear with Marina Perazić on the Jugoton-released 12-track various artists collection of duets called 12 popularnih dueta - udvoje je najljepse. Their track, recorded some years earlier, was "Mandarina i banana".
Around a year later, towards the end of 1991, he took part in an interesting project - becoming in essence an extended member of Riblja čorba. The idea was to include Mandić in the creative process of the band's farewell album Labudova pesma by having him write and compose half of the songs, and later, upon its release, tour as the band's synthesizer player. The material was recorded in Vienna, but as it was being prepared for wide release a huge row erupted between Mandić and Bora Đorđević. As a result, Mandić demanded that all his tracks be removed, and even obtained a court-ordered junction prohibiting their release. In the end, the album's released version contained only eight tracks - half of the originally planned number, and it also ended up not being Čorba's last as they soon changed their minds, deciding to continue playing and recording. On the other hand, raw studio versions of Mandić's unreleased tracks have since then become rare and valuable collectioner's items.
Over the next period Mandić placed music on the backburner completely, choosing to live off releasing greatest hits compilations. First Smejem se a plakao bih in 1993 which sold surprisingly well in the hyperinflation-ridden FR Yugoslavia, followed by The Best of in 1994, which included the previously unreleased track "Odlazim, a volim te".
He then composed a couple of songs for his friend Arkan's new girlfriend and later bride Ceca, including the Marina Tucaković-written "Lavlje srce", and even appeared as guest at her Hala Pionir concert in 1994 along with Knez, Zeljko Šasić and Mira Škorić.
In 1997 Mandić finally ventured back into music, recording the album Kad ljubav ubije. In addition to the material he recorded in the United States during his late-'80s stay, it featured fresh music with Freddie Hubbard, Vlatko Stefanovski, Bebi Dol, and Radomir Mihajlović Tocak among the guests. However, the material was never released due to never fully explained reasons. Intially, Mandić was not satisfied with the financial terms and promotional commitment record companies were offering, but after some time the whole thing fell into oblivion and the material is still unreleased.
Coming years brought more musical inactivity, only briefly interrupted in 2002 when City Records decided to re-release the 1994's Best of compilation with a bonus track - previously unheard and unreleased "Ako lažem tu me seci". After almost fifteen years, Mandic even shot a video to accompany the song, appearing in traditional Serbian attire with Ksenija Pajcin as dancing eye-candy. The song failed to make much of a splash in Serbia.
In early 2006 Banca Intesa's Serbian subsidiary used his song "Osloni se na mene" in a series of TV spots as part of their credit loan marketing campaign.
[edit] Personal life, public image and other endevours
As a consequence of Mandić's outrageous transvestite image, which the unprepared Yugoslav public found to be especially shocking in the early 1980s, his life was under considerable media scrutiny. Rumours of homosexuality followed him closely early in his career, followed by reports of heavy drug use.
He also holds a longstanding reputation of being difficult and fussy to work with. His various in-studio and on-stage temper tantrums are well documented, painting him as an arrogant perfectionist.
He certainly didn't help himself in this regard as he occasionaly gave outspoken and opinionated interviews in which he viciously went after certain fellow performers whose abilities and music he considered to be substandard. Some of his favourite targets in the '80s included Sarajevo populist pop-rock bands such as Merlin, Hara Mata Hari, Crvena jabuka and Plavi orkestar, which he collectively referred to as abortus rock.[2] He also frequently called out Goran Bregović for his complete lack of formal musical education and a practice of borrowing/stealing and re-arranging riffs & bars from foreign hits. On the other hand Mandić often praised the work of Korni grupa, Josipa Lisac, Indexi, Time, and even Zdravko Čolić.
In the early 1990s, he became involved with Serbian paramilitary Arkan whom he knew since childhood. Mandić was often seen wearing the Serbian Volunteer Guard uniform around Belgrade and even made a couple of trips to the frontlines in Slavonia where according to most accounts his role was distributing food and cigerettes in the Guard's Erdut headquarters.[3]
During mid-1990s Mandić started spending more time in his Zaovine village cottage on the slopes of Tara Mountain, effectively starting to live there year-round. For a while he entertained the idea of building a sketchily defined theme park named Oliwood there, but soon abandoned it due to lack of funds.
Since the late 1990s Mandić has been active as a club owner and restauranteur. He still owns multiple nightlife spots in downtown Belgrade including a cafe named Jazz on Obilićev venac Street, as well as Kuća umetnosti club on Zmaja od Noćaja Street.
More recently, a series of bizzarre reports featuring Mandić as the main protagonist appeared in Serbian tabloids. One talks about the supposed woes of his Zaovine village neighbours who accuse him of antisocial, borderline psychopathic behaviour ranging from extreme arrogance to shooting their sheep with a rifle.[4] Other mentions his propensity for visiting masked sex parties.[5]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
- "Ljuljaj me nežno" / "Šuma" (1978, PGP RTB)
- "Sutra imam prazan stan" / "Osloni se na mene" (1979, PGP RTB)
[edit] Albums
- Probaj me (1980, PGP RTB)
- Zbog tebe bih tucao kamen (1982, Jugoton)
- Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime (1985, Jugoton)
[edit] Compilations
- Sve najbolje (1987, Jugoton)
- Smejem se a plakao bih (1993, PGP RTS)
- The Best of (1994, Adamol)
- The Best of re-release + bonus track "Ako lažem tu me seci" (2002, City Records)
