WHEN THOUGHTS COLLIDE Nensi Mujčinović, Amsterdam A report from the concert of Balkan Rock Legends and guests: Marina Perazić, Vlada Divljan, Saša Lošić and Elvis J. Kurtović in Paradiso, Amsterdam on February 25th 2005 "Muzika prenosi slavu ..." (B.J. Štulić) On Sunday February 20th of this year Balkan Rock Legends (BRL) played in Paradiso, a legendary music venue in Amsterdam (a former church turned into a rock music temple), which in past hosted The Rolling Stones and everyone else, "dead or alive" whose name bears any relevance for rock'n'roll music. The Bolgarian band Artery which opened the show, plays a sort of anglosaxon heavy rock music, enriched with colorfull Balkan (Bolgarian-Greek) etno music inserts, and is constituted as a classic rock band (guitar, drums, bass) with an additional instrument namely buzuki embedded in a marshall sound amplifier. And they all wear tattoos - all over! Anyhow, an interesting performance of more than an hour and an excellent opportunity to warm up the neck muscles! And then the place transformed into a slightly dark-ish scene with a screen emerging on stage playing a video clip of 60 seconds titled "New Immigrants". Accompanied by a musical insert from Led Zeppelin LP III: "Immigrant Song" (number 1-A on the LP!) - mixed with our well-known and loved traditional music and slides on the edge of sublime messages (images of Nikola Tesla, J.B. Tito, Dutch royal family, Danilo Kiš, Bogdan Bogdanović, Mostar, the bridge in Višegrad, "Vučko", the winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, burned down Sarajevo, Pariz, Amsterdam ... ) - and at the end the slogan: "We came!" (a double entandre, at the same time representing all of our people who back in those days were forced to leave and never thought they would end up here, but first of all at this concert of course!) which officially promoted what Sergej Kreso, Antonije Nino Žalica and Edo Barak together with Pero Finci and Miško Stanišić created to be(come) an "artistic network" with an internet site (www.newimm.com), a sort of an "artistic front" which would re-connect all of our people (now dispersed all over the globe) in order to unite their creative forces in projects concerning literature, painting, music, film, in short, culture and art in general. Then came the BRL From a purely music critic point of view, BRL are nothing more than a "cover band", a group which plays someone else's popular hits. However, there are two things which make BLR an extraordinary band compared to similar bands from ex-Yugoslavia, be it "back home" or abroad. First of all, a very carefully chosen repertoar even though it's still (read: according to the marketing laws) following the receipe: "a little bit of everything - something for everyone". More importantly though, most of the BLR repertoar consists of music which fits the label urban ex-yugoslav pop rock music: Ekatarina Velika (EKV), Azra, Električni Orgazam, Zabranjeno Pušenje, Atomsko Sklonište, Idoli, šarlo Akrobata, Psihomodo Pop, Pankrti, Partibrejkersi ... Furthermore, since its beginning in 2003 BRL played with many refined and renowned musicians who were members of a number of some of the most influential pop-rock music groups from ex-Yugoslavia (to name but a few: guitar-player Ljubiša Racić: ex - Formula 4; drummer ?i?i Jankelić: ex - Bijelo Dugme, Divlje Jagode; guitar-player Zoran šerbedŽija: ex - Azra, Bombaj štampa, Crvena jabuka, Valentino; bass-player Dario Trobok: ex - Vatreni Poljubac and drummer Sergej Kreso: ex - Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, Gino Banana, Torpeda) - this alone attests to the fact that BLR isn't and never can be just an ordinary "cover band". In this third BRL formation, next to already mentioned drummer Sergej Kreso - Garo there is Vlado Morrison - vocal, Davor Lazić - guitar, Denis Lukas - bass, Nikola Demonja - saxophone and keyboards and Miško Stanišić as guest on piano. At the same time, thanks to Lazić, Lukas and Demonja, this is the youngest and most educated formation so far considering all three of them study at the Muziek Conservatorium in Amsterdam: Davor - electric guitar at the recently opened department for pop and rock music, Denis - bass guitar and Nikola - saxophone at the department for jazz. The singer Vlado Morrison (his real name is Vladimir Doknić) comes from Sarajevo and was born in 1969 in Slavonski Brod (Croatia) when his parents were visiting his grandma in Slavonia for the weekend. One day after he was born, Woodstock began, as one can read in his autobiography on the BRL website, with no formal education or background in music (in fact, a self-made man) Vlado is the only one who's been with the group from the beginning. His "unconventional" behaviour on and off the stage had made him into a true frontman, someone who's giving a very recognizable and at the same time idiosyncratic identity to the whole group. BRL began slowly but ceremoniously: "Ima neka tajna veza" (Bijelo Dugme) which was followed by five more songs and concluding with "Marina" (Azra), which was also an annoucement of the first guest, better yet lady-guest: Marina Perazić. Marina Perazić who was born in Rijeka (Croatia) was the first lady of ex-YU pop music scene when she formed a duet together with Davor Tolja, called Denis & Denis (an ex-YU answer to the Eurythmics). Already back in 1984 she was mixing erotic with technology singing songs about computers, dancing to the techno-pop beat, and then disappeared from the music scene for years. She sang four of her classics from the golden age of her carrier: "Program tvog kompjutera", "Soba 23", "Oaza snova" and "Kolačići". And it was truly an intriguing mix: Marina with her powerfull voice which only became better with age, and BRL who accompanied her without too many "electronic improvements", like classic rock musicians do - an electric guitar, a bass and "live drums", while Vlado Morrison performed marvelously with her in a duet. And then it was BRL's turn again: "čekala sam čekala" (does anyone even remember this Bregović's song performed by Jadranka Stojaković which was re-made in the 1990's by a rock band from Belgrade Prljavi inspektor BlaŽa i Kljunovi?), the electronic version of "Računajte na nas" from Balašević, "Pakleni vozači" (Atomsko Sklonište) and "Novac u rukama" (EKV). Vlada Divljan, one of the most important musicians of the ex-YU rock scene and a former member of the legendary VIS Idoli, entered the stage with a guitar, which, when the first music notes of "Plastika" raised the temperature in an already fairly heated Paradiso, released another load of energy and the heat went up. I can't get rid off the impression though that Divljan's performance was based on the often used (and always succesful) receipe which was used by the pioneer DJ's in the past: "H - M - H"! - where "H" (written with a pen on a LP cover!) meant "hard" and "M" for mellow! Because "Plastika" was followed by an even "harder" "Zašto su danas devojke ljute", and then three mellow ones followed: "Devojko mala", "Jedina malena" and "Dok dobuje kiša u ritmu tam-tama", to conclude his performance with a hard(-core) - "Maljčiki"! BRL played a few more songs and then announced Saša Lošić. And Loša was the climax of the party. Who else indeed?!! - "Goodbye teens"! "Zelene su bile oči te"! "Bolje biti pijan nego star"! "Suada"! Some got so carried away they tried to clime on stage and sing together with Loša (three Bulgarian girls in particular showed extreme enthousiasm) and no one can confirm or deny that some were about to cut their wrists - the algrebra way (where I come from, youngsters but not only they, when they were drunk enough and the right music was played loud enough, used to cut themselves up with sharp objects, in two ways: the "linear" way or the "algebra" way, the first one being only horizontal lines and the latter the lines in forms of squares!) And then the BRL again. This time, in my opinion their best part of the concert: "Bandiera rossa" (Pankrti, KUD Idijoti), "Plima" from Indexi (whom they played so well and Vlado sang so fantastically good that even Indexi would be proud of them!), "Par godina za nas" (EKV), "Kreni prema meni" (Partibrejkers), "Da bog da crko rock 'n' roll" (Elvis & His Meteors), "Niko kao ja" (Šarlo Akrobata), "Nedjelja kad je otiš'o Hase" (Zabranjeno Pušenje). Accompanied by the tunes of Branko's "Kockica": "U svijetu postoji jedno carstvo/U njemu caruje drugarstvo!", which the band played "sotto-voce", Vlado was introducing the members of the band, called all the guests to the stage and lead a 3-hour show (the opening Artery not included) towards the end: a punk version of "Kockica" played "pesante" (as Vlado and Gile used to do on their LP's "for the children"!). Or rather, this was the official end of the concert.... Because then came the first "bis": "Amsterdam" (Riblja čorba). Elvis J. Kurtović - of whom I don't know if he's now become a mandatory guest at the BRL concerts or a part of the group since he's lately been performing at BRL concerts regularly (twice in Amsterdam last year!), and who - apart from singing his own songs with the band - took upon himself the role of the MC and entertained the audience with his stand-up jokes and surrealist stories: first he shows up dressed as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (a suit and a tie), after that as a rastafarian (wearing a black rasta wig, a rainbow-colored hat and huge sun glasses) and then as The King - Elvis Presley (in a white Nashville cowboy costume, opened half way down the belly and decorated with little shiny things on the edges of the collar and the sleeves); and after he joined the rapping of the famous "Amsterdam" (originally sang by Eddy Grant as guest on "čorba" LP!), the band left the stage again. Then came the second "bis": about a 1000 souls (an improvised estimate) craving to hear them play, demanded more. So Miško Stanišić on the piano and Vlado singing, they played "Slavenska" from Djordje Balašević ... And this pure impro - the sound of the piano accompanied by Vlado's rusty exhausted voice which floated in the semi-darkness of the club - contributed to the fact that Djoka's verses were shining more brightly and purely than ever (much more so as a general metaphysical outcry: "we're only here to maintain the balance of the stars"!, than a simplified (Yugo-)nostalgic scream: "my pure and simple Slavic soul". Many who were there, couldn't grasp what they just witnessed, when the lights were turned on again and the musicians left the stage. Honestly though, I have never seen a better BRL performance. I watched them twice last year (in April with Elvis J. Kurtović, and in June with Elvis and Vanja Alič from Zaklonišče prepeva, as guests). At the first concert the place was totally crowded (the public was craving for an event like this so badly that even if they'd put the children's choire like ''Kolibri'' on the stage, they'd still enjoy themselves. But unfortunately the sound was awful and the second time they fixed the problem (another sound-guy was the solution), however people didn't show up. This time though, everything was in place and the technical aspects were taken care of: the place, the sound, the lights, and video clips (some made especially for certain songs), and "Lokice" (a group of girls accompanying the band with their choreographies and raising blood pressure of the male members of the audience), the band, the guests and the audience! Maybe because this time they had no less than 4 renowned guests. And because this time BRL were much more of an accompanying band than a "cover band". And maybe because Antonije Nino Žalica and Edo Barak (the grey eminences of BRL and co-organizers of the concert together with Vlado Morrison) were the wheels behind a marketing campaign which on all levels surpassed the previous ones. And maybe because this time people came all the way from Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, France to hear them play ... (and I am sure there were also some native Dutchmen to be found in the crowd)... And maybe because there were youngsters there of 17-18 years of age who were conceived while their parents listened to these very songs, but also fathers and mothers of 47 ­ 48 years of age who probably infatuated their children with the same songs... And maybe because it was in Paradiso... And maybe because the whole concert could be watched live on the internet... Or maybe because it was meant to be, because it was fate... Because dear Allah wanted it...Or maybe because it was written in the stars. And maybe because "somewhere, some stream... flows as red!" And maybe because everything once simply has to return to its place... just like when thoughts collide, as Johnny Štulić would put it. Nensi Mujčinović, Amsterdam (translated by Barbara Hribar)

		2004©