Marko Perković

Marko Perković

Marko Perković, 2013
Background information
Born 27 October 1966
Čavoglave, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Čavoglave, Republic of Croatia)
Origin Croatia
Genres Patriotic, political rock music
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instruments Singing
Years active 1991–present
Associated acts Thompson

Marko Perković (English transcription: Marko Perkovich) (born 27 October 1966) is a Croatian musician and has been the lead singer of the band Thompson since 1991. In June 2008, Marko Perković was named the third most influential person in Croatian showbusiness by Globus magazine.

Early life and War

Marko Perković in Frankfurt

Marko Perković was born in 1966 in Čavoglave (at the time SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia) to Marija and Ante. He rarely saw his father, who worked as a Gastarbeiter in Germany and rarely came home. He finished high school in Split. In 1991, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, prompting the Croatian War of Independence. He joined the Croatian National Guard where he was given the American Thompson gun, which became the nickname given to him by his battlefield comrades.

It was during the time where he was defending his home village in the that Perković became inspired to write one of the most popular songs during the war: Bojna Čavoglave (Čavoglave Battalion), which launched his music career. In 1992, Perković held numerous humanitarian concerts throughout Croatia, and released his first album the same year. He continued to write songs to raise morale during the war. In 1995 he returned to the Croatian Army and the 142nd Drniš Brigade, and became one of the first soldiers to enter the captured cities of Drniš and Knin during Operation Storm.

Career

Perković has said he is a fan of Nightwish, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Dream Theater.[1]

The lyrics of his songs often feature patriotic sentiments and relate to religion, family, the 1991-1995 Croatian War of Independence, politics and media.[2]

Accused of neo-Nazism, in 2004, he was banned from performing in the Netherlands.[3] In 2009 a concert in the Swiss city of Lucerne was canceled after the Social Democratic Party called for an urgent statement on the issue of Thompson's concert, citing that he is a fascist.[4] This resulted in a three-year ban from Switzerland.[5] As Switzerland is a member of the Schengen Agreement, Thompson was prohibited from entering into all Schengen countries for a period of three years, confirmed by Michele Cercone, spokesman for the Vice President of the European Commission.[6]

The biggest concentrations of his fan base are in Dalmatia, Lika, and Herzegovina. He created controversy performing "Jasenovac i Gradiška Stara", a song openly glorifying the Ustaše regime and its crimes against Serbs, Jews and others during WWII.[7] The Simon Wiesenthal Centre filed complaints to Croatia's state television channel regarding its broadcast of a singer accused of expressing nostalgia for the Ustaše, although Perković denies any connection with that period in history.[8] His fans are known for their ultranationalism, demonstrated by Ustaše uniforms (including black hats associated with the movement), symbols, and banners.[9]

At the beginning of the song "Bojna Čavoglave", Perković invokes "za dom - spremni!", which means "Ready for the homeland!", and was the slogan/rallying cry of the Ustaše.[10] He has performed two large concerts in Croatia. One was held in Poljud Stadium, Split, on 15 September 2002 with about 45,000 people. The other was held in the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb on 17 June 2007 for 60,000 people. Following the June 2007 concert, the Croatian government released a statement decrying the use of Ustaša symbols. His concert at Maksimir Stadium was aired live on the state owned HRT plus pay-per-view channel, and several days later on the main national channel as well.

Personal life

Perković's nickname, "Thompson", is actually a nom de guerre deriving from his time as a soldier in the 1991-1995 Croatian War of Independence, during which he carried a Thompson submachine gun. In the mid-1990s he was in a relationship with Croatian singer Danijela Martinović. Although never legally married, they had a marriage ceremony in the Catholic Church. After their separation and his marriage, he sought a Church annulment, which was granted by the Ecclesiastical Court in Split in 2005. Subsequently he was able to join in church marriage with his wife Sandra, a Croatian-Canadian he met during a concert in Canada. Together they have five children: Petar, Ante, Diva Maria, and the twins Katarina and Cvita.

He owns a 20% share of the radio station Narodni radio,[11] the most successful Croatian private station, notable for airing exclusively Croatian songs. Thus he was able to, at least in part, override the ban on his songs on the state-owned radio stations.

Pope Benedict XVI received Perković in an audience in December 2009.[12]

CDs

DVDs

See also

References and notes

  1. ↑ Thompson: "God-willing, maybe I'll sing in English", Slobodna Dalmacija, 17 April 2008; retrieved 24 April 2008.
  2. ↑ Wood, Nicholas (2 July 2007). "Fascist Overtones From Blithely Oblivious Rock Fans". New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2007. On a hot Sunday evening in June, thousands of fans in a packed stadium here in the Croatian capital gave a Nazi salute as the rock star Marko Perkovic shouted a well-known slogan from World War II. At a recent concert in Zagreb, some fans of ... Perkovic wore the black caps of Croatia's World War II Nazi puppet government, known as the Ustaše. Some of the fans were wearing the black caps of Croatia's infamous Nazi puppet Ustaše government, which was responsible for sending tens [sic] of thousands of Serbs, Gypsies and Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.
  3. ↑ "Alert!: Croatian hate music group banned in Netherlands". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  4. ↑ Anamarija Kronast (29 September 2009). "Ne žele "fašiste": Thompsonu zabranjen koncert i ulaz u Švicarsku" [They want no "fascists": Thompson's concert banned and entry to Switzerland declined]. Nacional. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Thompsonu zabranjen ulazak u Švicarsku i otkazan koncert, lifestyle, showbiz, glazba" (in Croatia). Vecernji.hr. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Thompson čak tri godine ne može ući ni u Europsku uniju". Večernji list (in Croatian). 30 September 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Staff (28 December 2003). "Thompson - domoljub ili fašist? Konačan odgovor je... - Vijesti.net" (in Croatian). Index.hr. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Wiesenthal Center slams Croatian star nostalgic for pro-Nazi regime"; accessed 5 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Ustashe rock n' roll". Fr.jpost.com. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "A Croatian rock star flirts with the Nazi past", iht.com, 1 July 2007.
  11. ↑ "Thompson kupio 20% Narodnog radija za 4000 kuna". Index.hr (in Croatian). 14 April 2004. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Papa primio Thompsona dan prije Mesića" [Thompson received by Pope before Mesić] (in Croatian). Dnevnik.hr. Retrieved 18 April 2012.

External links